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...

It is easy to be confused when the ghost in Shakespeare's Hamlet says that the poison his brother Claudius poured in his ear made King Hamlet's skin all "lazar-like." There are many possible sources of confusion: LAZAR-LIKE? LAZAR-HOUSE? LEPROSY? - First, many modern readers and potential audience members of the play don't know what leprosy is, or that a "lazar-house" was a hospital for lepers. This was common knowledge in Shakespeare's time, but is much less familiar to modern readers and playgoers. SORRY TO DISAPPOINT SCHOLARS OF EARLY MODERN SCIENCE We might imagine at this point that there may be a scientist or botanist who is also a Shakespeare fan, and who wonders if there may have been some poison known in Shakespeare's time that had the ability to curdle the blood and change the victim's skin so quickly to be entirely covered in crust. I hate to disappoint those scientists whose inclination might be to start at the literal...