"Not the Resuscitation of a Corpse": How Literally did Shakespeare Take the Bible? (Who am I to Interpret Hamlet? Part 2: Religious Assumptions)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is a continuation of a four-part series of blog posts, “Who am I to interpret Hamlet ?” June 16, 2019: To be or not? (Part 1: English Studies & Teaching) June 23: How Literally Did Shakespeare Take the Bible? (Part 2: Religious Studies & Assumptions) July 30: Reading Hamlet through personal & national traumas (Part 3: Lies & PTSD) August 6: Hamlet , PTSD & Entitlement (Part 4) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The first sentence in Hamlet is a question that Bernardo asks Francisco: “Who’s there?” If the audience feels that the question is directed at all of us as well, we might ask: Who are we, reading or viewing this play? This week I’ll consider some key moments in my religious studies that changed my assumptions about the Christianity in which I was raised, assumptions I also ruminate about in my study of Shakespeare generally, and Hamlet in particular. Who a...