Lazarus & other Hamlet-correlations in Cranmer's Homily IX (part 10 in series)
This is part 10 in a series on the allusion in Hamlet 1.5 to the beggar Lazarus in Luke 16. Previous posts have considered aspects of leprosy in England ("Lazar-houses,"), the legal status of beggars and vagabonds, and some aspects of the historical context of the Biblical tale in its original context. For an index of posts in this series, see the end of this post. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SOMETIMES, part of the fun of research is what one finds by accident in the process of looking for other things. This was the case in my search for the official homilies of Cranmer and Jewell mentioning beggar Lazarus of Luke 16, alluded to by the ghost in Hamlet 1.5. There are three such homilies. This blog post contains my annotations for the first, “An Exhortation Against the Fear of Death.” We cannot travel back in time and experience what it might have been like to attend Shakespeare's Hamlet at the Globe, and then attend church and hear sermons of Cranmer a...