Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

The First Commandment, "THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BUT ME,” doesn’t mention pride, but Christian tradition considered it to be like playing god, the worst of the seven deadly sins from which the others proceed [1].  By apocryphal tradition it was the sin of Satan and the fallen angels, who in their pride believed they were equal to God or might usurp God’s throne [2].  KING HAMLET & OLD FORTINBRAS: Horatio in 1.1 notes pride: […] our last king, [...] Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway, Thereto pricked on by a most emulate *pride,* Dared to the combat… (1.1.92-96)  King Hamlet was “Dared to the combat”; instead of humbly urging peace instead of violence, “pricked on by… emulate pride,” he accepted the challenge and killed the Norwegian king, both of them gambling their lives and sons’ inheritance – and the future of their countries – on pride.  No “sealed compact,” “law” or “heraldry” (1.1.98-101) can excuse this sin of pride, and it may be among t...

Deaths in Hamlet are shrouded in lies, including Ophelia’s. The play offers a king murdered by his brother, but the murderer’s lie claims it was by snake bite [1], and an Ophelia who died from the accident of a broken branch [2], but the “churlish priest” insists that she died by suicide.[3] The ghost says, "… the whole ear of Denmark Is by a forged process of my death Rankly abus’d Upon my secure hour thy uncle … … … in the porches of my ears did pour The leperous distilment Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother’s hand Of life, of crown, of queen at once dispatch’d (1.5.36–8, 61–4, 74–5) So the king was killed by Claudius with intent, but the truth was obscured by his murderer’s lies of accidental death. Ophelia drowned by accident, but the truth was obscured by claims that she died by intent, suicide. A reversed echo? One could say (paraphrasing), "… the whole ear of Denmark Is by a forged process of (Ophelia'sdeath Rankly abus’d..." I tend to believe Gertrude’s stor...

Sometimes what looks like a gamble may be a risk taken in faith. (Does gambling for money parody such faith?) FORTUNE AND GAMBLING IN HAMLET : THE DEAD KING HAMLET GAMBLED, in an agreement with Old Fortinbras, to engage in single combat, described by Horatio in 1.1. The survivor won the loser’s land. We learn in 5.1 that this combat took place on the day that Hamlet was born.[1] CLAUDIUS BETS that Hamlet will win the duel with Laertes in 5.2, though he and Laertes plan to kill Hamlet. Claudius takes his chances that the plot will succeed, but to increase his chances, a poison cup is a back-up plan, and instead of Laertes merely using an "unbaited" rapier (with no blunt safety tip), Laertes also anoints the rapier with poison. This combines cheating with gambling. [EDIT: Grace Tiffany of Western Michigan University adds to the list of gambling references: Gertrude's marriage vows are "false as dicers' oaths" (3.4), referring to how gamblers, wh...