Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

CLAUDIUS I, EMPEROR OF ROME, IS IN MANY WAYS A MIRROR IMAGE OF HAMLET, making “Claudius” a fascinating name choice for Hamlet’s uncle. In 1948, E. G. Berry explained this, drawing on Suetonius [1]: Claudius, like Hamlet, pretended to be mad or stupid as a survival strategy (74). [2] “Like Hamlet, Claudius is delayed and obstructed in his coming to his rightful authority [...]; Claudius has to remain in a state of pupillage to a late age, kept in that state by his uncle Tiberius, and Hamlet [...] spent a longer time than usual at Wittenberg and then [...] is detained a virtual prisoner by his uncle Claudius.” (76) Hamlet’s “extraordinarily loose, even obscene language in addressing Ophelia in III, i  and in the play scene” resembles Suetonius’ description of Claudius’ behaviors. (76) “In [...] ability and scholarship there is [...] likeness between Hamlet the scholar and the talented and scholarly Claudius. [...] denied authority and recognition by the usurping emperor.” (76-77) “...

In her alleged madness, Ophelia says things that seem merely mad ramblings. But to original audiences, these may have been allusions to well-known tales, and there may be a reason for their ordering. First: OPHELIA: They say the owl was a baker’s daughter. Lord, we know what we are but know not what we may be. God be at your table. (4.5.47-49) [1] Second: OPHELIA:  You must sing “A-down a-down”—and you “Call him a-down-a.”—O, how the wheel becomes it! It is the false steward that stole his master’s Daughter. (4.5.194-197) Consider: “THE OWL WAS A BAKER’S DAUGHTER” is a reference to a tale in which a baker’s daughter is turned into an owl after being repeatedly ungenerous with a beggar at the door - who was Jesus in disguise. This is a folktale retelling of the gospel tale of the Rich Man (Dives) and the beggar Lazarus.[2] Ophelia summarizes: “Lord, we know what we are but / know not what we may be.” Ophelia may feel punished, like the baker’s daughter, and as people in Denmark’s ...