Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

One last Twelfth Night post before the anniversary of its first 1602 public performance on February 2: In Shakespeare’s time, a young male actor would have played the female Viola, later disguised as male Cesario: Much analysis of the play deals with gender, disguises, social constructs. Some of it considers Elizabeth I, Shakespeare’s monarch, in a role usually reserved for men. The fifth pageant for her coronation portrayed Deborah, a prophetess of Hebrew scriptures who led Israel as judge [1], contrary to Christian assumptions that kept women from female authority roles. Some scholars and historians note that Elizabeth had a reputation for swearing, not so much sexual profanity as religious, like Hamlet’s “swounds” (by Christ’s wounds) or “sblood” (by God’s blood). Elizabeth’s favorite was “by God’s death,” which listeners assumed was for shock value, by a woman in a man’s world, striving to maintain attention and control [2] Like Portia disguised as Balthazar in the courtroom sce...

On the first day of Christmas in Shakespeare’s time, what Bible tales did they hear? People in England were required by law to attend church on Sundays and Holy Days, so hearing at least some of the Bible readings in church [1] would have been mandatory. On Christmas Day, if one rose early and made it to church for Matins (early morning prayer), one would hear the tale from the Gospel of Luke of the shepherds hearing the angels announcing the birth of Jesus, and going to adore him [2]. But if one attended only the later liturgy with communion service, one would hear from the Gospel of John about the Word of God being made flesh (the incarnation, the God of heaven made “incarnate” as a human being on earth), and about John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus [3]. John the Baptist was already familiar from the gospels for the last two Sundays of Advent, a theme repeated on the first few days of Christmas at morning prayer. How do these come up in Shakespeare? - The infant princess,...

When a song or orchestral piece changes keys, we not only hear it with our ears, but also feel it in our bodies, our bones, vibrating at a new frequency. Shakespeare accomplishes something similar, not only in Hamlet , but also in The Merchant of Venice when he sets up one character as a Christ-figure, then changes key, shifting to a new (improved) Christ figure. [Image: “Supper at Emmaus” (French: Le Repas d'Emmaüs), 17th century, by Matthias Stom (1615–1649). Collection: Museum of Grenoble. Public domain, via Wikimedia .] In Luke 24:13-35, after Jesus dies and rises, he later appears as a stranger on the road to Emmaus. I’ve noted previously how in Hamlet , biblical allusions suggest the ghost is a flawed Christ-figure/victim, with divine attributes.[1] But in the graveyard scene (5.1), instead of the ghost appearing as the stranger[2], our expectation is redirected: Yorick’s skull and the gravedigger-clown fill the role of the stranger in whom divine "infinite jest...