Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

My previous post noted that Hamlet alludes to John the Baptist [1]. Consider the religious, symbolic, and political significance of John baptizing at the Jordan [2], for Jews who knew their founding story by heart, that Moses led their ancestors through parted waters of the Red Sea to freedom and a promised land, escaping a foreign oppressor [3].  John at the Jordan plays into the same tropes, where Rome (not Egypt) is the foreign oppressor (which in part explains why Rome and Herod Antipas saw him as a threat). England’s Henry VIII claimed he needed to repent of incest, had seen action in battle, but was thought to have died a sinful man, guilty of foul crimes. Hamlet deals with an incestuous king and the ghost of a king, fearsome in battle, who died with sins on his soul, foul crimes. Same tropes. Hamlet alludes to both Julius Caesar and Jesus. Consider Jesus, preaching where Roman coins bore the image of a Roman emperor [4] with an inscription calling the emperor “son of a go...

Ophelia and Hamlet are an interesting variation on a recurring Shakespeare theme, almost willing to elope like Romeo and Juliet, or Othello and Desdemona, but not willing to disobey Polonius’ parental authority once he expresses disapproval. In stark contrast with the sins of Claudius, at first the play displays children submitting to authority: Ophelia to Polonius [1]; Hamlet to his mother (no return to Wittenberg [2]) and to the ghost (to obey and avenge [3]); Laertes seeking parental and royal approval before returning to France [4]. Forbidden contact with Hamlet [5], but used as bait for spying [6], Ophelia resembles Viola disguised as Cesario in Twelfth Night , tasked as messenger for Duke Orsino, but in love with the duke. Blameless, obedient, but scolded, ordered “to a nunnery” [7], she resembles Hero in Much Ado About Nothing , victim of deception and misunderstanding, rejected by her betrothed.  Hamlet made to her “almost all the holy vows of heaven” [8], probably a be...

In 2003, in the journal, Connotations , E. A. J. Honigmann reviewed a 2001 book by Hildegard Hammerschmidt−Hummel, Die verborgene Existenz des William Shakespeare . She had claimed to offer conclusive evidence of Shakespeare’s Catholicism. Exodus 3:1-5 tells of Moses’ encounter with the burning bush. God tells him, “put thy shooes off thy feete: for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground” (1599 Geneva). [1] [Moses and burning bush, detail from illumination on parchment, Bible de Souvigny, circa 1180-1200. Bibliothèque municipale de Moulins (Allier). Public domain, via Wikipedia . In its entry on the burning bush, Wikipedia also notes, "The burning bush has been a popular symbol among Reformed churches since it was first adopted by the Huguenots (French Calvinists) in 1583 during its 12th National Synod."] When faced with transcendent mystery, one should tread carefully, humbly. [Moses and the burning bush. Icon from 12th or 13th century. Saint Catherine...

MARY JO KIETZMAN's book, The Biblical Covenant in Shakespeare (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018) To introduce some thoughts on Mary Jo Kietzman's fine book and its good chapter on Hamlet, I need to say a few words about my own relative unfamiliarity with certain books of the Hebrew scriptures, and to do that, some observations about the scripture readings people heard in church in Shakespeare's England, as compared to Catholic churchgoers of the last 50-75 years. Why? Because Kietzman's book helped me realize some gaps in what scripture readings I had internalized during my years growing up Catholic, and later, as a church choir director and liturgist. REQUIRED BY LAW, OR CATHOLIC "OBLIGATION"? In Shakespeare's lifetime, Sunday church attendance was required by law, so if one were a law-abiding citizen, one tended to hear the entire Sunday cycle of readings as listed in the Book of Common Prayer. I was raised Catholic, a strand of Christianity in which th...

I am realizing that, more often, I should highlight some of the books I've enjoyed and benefitted from regarding Hamlet studies. One of these recently is called Thinking with Shakespeare: Essays on Politics and Life , by Julia Reinhard Lupton , and more specifically, her chapter called "The Hamlet Elections." Lupton begins the chapter explaining how she is borrowing some ideas from Carl Schmitt, including ideas about similarities between Hamlet the prince and James the king. She also explores a variety of meanings and implications of the word "election" in the play, and discusses Hamlet's first meeting with the ghost as a dark retelling of Moses going up on the mountain to receive the law from God (Hamlet says he will erase all else from the tables of his memory and remember only what the Ghost has told him). Moses Breaking the Tablets of the Law - 1659, by Rembrandt, via Google Cultural Institute I have mentioned in the past on this blog the possib...