Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ INDEX OF POSTS IN THIS SERIES: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/01/index-hamlet-in-32-as-boy-jesus-lost.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This series has considered Hamlet’s allusion to Luke 2:46-52, the tale of the boy Jesus amazing temple elders and his parents.[1] Last week we considered a similar thematic echo in Macbeth , when the son of Lady Macduff amazes and humors his mother with wit and grace while also catching her conscience, like a court fool. But Hamlet and Macbeth are not the only Shakespeare plays that echo or allude to the Luke 2 story: King Lear contains an allusion to this gospel story, spoken by Lear’s exiled daughter, Cordelia.[2] We might recall how in Luke 2, Jesus tells his parents that he went to the temple because he had to be about his (heavenly) “father’s business.” Hamlet also believes he must be about his father’s business, but he is confused, at first striving reluctantly to be about the ghost’...

Last week I posted about instances of "beg" and "poor" in 1 Henry VI, in light of references in Hamlet to the prince as begging or poor, and of the Lazarus allusion in that play. I mentioned how, in 4.5, John Talbot begs his father to flee, while he himself will stay behind and fight to his death. This is a touching moment, as is the moment when the father later finds the dead body of the son. And as my blog often focuses upon biblical allusions, I should mention that this scene echoes two essential plot ideas from the Christian story of the gospels: First, it echoes the idea that Jesus is the son who was sent and sacrificed for the salvation of humanity. The son has to die, and is obedient to the father to the end. (In fact, some Biblical scholars and theologians have noted that Pauline theology assumes that the human Jesus only becomes divine through his love/service and obedience to the father, to his death, rather than being divine from birth; Paul's let...