Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

My last post was on "Works vs. Faith" [1], relating to Hamlet changing the death letter on his ship to England. Salvation by faith and/or works was a hot topic in Shakespeare’s England, much less so today. But an analogy can be found in economics: - Some advocate Laissez-faire (or “free-market”) economics with minimal guidelines or interventions, a materialistic parallel of salvation by faith. - Others advocate managed economics (like democratic socialism). This is like faith plus works: basic faith in the system, but more “works” regulating it, and more social safety net to level the playing field. Some critics and scholars note a reference to a faith vs. works in Act 1, scene 4, when Hamlet wants to follow the ghost and commands his friends not to stop him: MARCELLUS: Let’s follow. ’Tis not fit thus to obey him. HORATIO: Have after. To what issue will this come? MARCELLUS: Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. HORATIO: Heaven will direct it. MARCELLUS: Nay, let’s f...

“...that season … / Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated…” There is a tendency at times for some to approach the Christmas reference in Hamlet as if it is merely about Catholic superstition. But it’s far richer than that. The ghost appears; the cock crows; the ghost disappears (an allusion to Peter’s denial during the passion [1]). Then: MARCELLUS: Some say that ever ’gainst that season comes Wherein our Savior’s birth is celebrated, This bird of dawning singeth all night long; And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad… (1.1.173-176) The cock crowing and season of Christmas point to a large sweep of Christian salvation history.   Even regarding the Christmas reference alone, we might treat it as an invitation to view the play in the mirror of the Christmas season tales, which are in part hospitality tales: Some welcome guests and strangers; others inconvenience, neglect, or kill them. There is a similar contrast in Hamlet : — The Christmas tale requires Annunciation and...

Hamlet is a reformer who hopes to set right what is rotten and out-of-joint in Denmark, but becomes corrupted himself when slaying the unseen Polonius. Bernard of Clairvaux was a reformer who wished to set right what was rotten and out-of-joint in the monastic movement and in Christian Europe, but became corrupted himself for ignoring the gospel command to love enemies & promoting a (failed) crusade against unseen Muslims— and corrupted also for conspiring against Peter Abelard. More on Bernardo in Hamlet (and Peter Abelard) : https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/12/bernardo-abelard-hamlet-laertes-reconcile.html [April 12, 2024 note: Much is made of the fact that Hamlet is upset with his mother for marrying his uncle, considered a scandalously incestuous marriage in Shakespeare's time, and also perhaps, by doing so, denying him the throne he expected after his father's death. Perhaps more famously, St. Francis of Assisi is famous for having disowned his fa...

CHRISTMAS IN HAMLET’S DENMARK In Hamlet (1.1), Marcellus says, “Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long: And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad; The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.” This is the longest positive quote in Shakespeare’s plays that is explicitly about Christmas (but as scholars have long noted, it also seems to embody a kind of pagan or superstitious belief that is not based on scripture, but on tradition - so it would have been associated with Catholicism for many in Shakespeare's audiences. Notice how Horatio replies politely that he "half-believes" what Marcellus has said about Christmas...). 1. Is this a foreshadowing? At some point in the play when the ghost (or spirit) no longer appears (“stirs abroad”), will this mark a rebirth ...