Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

In a recent National Theater/PBS production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet , some of the most demanding, harsh lines scripted for Juliet's father, addressing Tybalt (1.5) and Juliet (3.5), were reassigned to her mother. [Screenshot from "The Making of Romeo and Juliet via PBS. Fair use.] - In 1.5, when Tybalt at the Capulet masque sees/hears Romeo, Tybalt says he wants to kill him on the spot. Instead of Juliet's father confronting him, her mother does, demanding Tybalt show better civility on this occasion, in her house. - In 3.5: Instead of Juliet's father demanding that Juliet (who has secretly married Romeo) must marry Paris or be disowned, again, Juliet's mother gets these lines; in the original text, Lady Capulet was merely given the chance to briefly assent to her husband's harsh castigation of the daughter. [Photo by Rob Youngson via PBS .] - The scenes were played convincingly, I thought. - On the one hand, Shakespeare would ...

This is just a brief post to alert my readers to a new stage/film production of Romeo and Juliet. You can view it at this link : https://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/romeo-juliet-about/12239/ [Photo by Rob Youngson via PBS .] Here's a review by Jesse Green for the New York Times : https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/22/theater/review-romeo-and-juliet-josh-oconnor-jessie-buckley.html I have not viewed it yet, but I've heard enough good things about it to consider it worth viewing soon (before May 21, when the review above says it will no longer be available at PBS). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks for reading! My current project is a book tentatively titled Hamlet’s Bible , about biblical allusi...

ROMEO & JULIET: If I could change just two things about how most people think about the play (and how it is sometimes taught) what would they be? 1. IT'S NOT MERELY ABOUT YOUNG LOVE, but also about how little chance young love has when families are stuck in old grievances. 2. JUST BECAUSE IT'S SET IN VERONA DOESN'T MEAN IT'S ABOUT VERONA. Shakespeare often used far-off settings to talk about things in his own England that were prohibited or difficult to address directly. - Shakespeare's England was torn by religious feuding between Catholics and Protestants (& other factions). - Shakespeare's family is believed by some to have had strong Catholic sympathies, but not many years after he wrote the play, his daughter Suzanna married a Puritan, John Hall, perhaps bridging a denominational divide. - When early audiences heard "Capulet & Montague," the syllables may have prompted more than a few to think: "Catholic & Protestant....

Some of the harder biblical allusions to spot in Shakespeare's plays are the ones that are more thoroughly paraphrased, or subtle plot echoes. - Some of these might have been made subtle for aesthetic reasons (e.g. to avoid cliches) or to avoid the censors (avoid criticizing the crown and its advisers with political commentary laced with righteous biblical quotes). - But some of the paraphrased and subtle references may be among the most important, in part because, to paraphrase or create a subtle plot echo, you must have internalized the scripture reference very deeply and insightfully; then you can make it your own in fresh writing that resonates with the influence of the buried allusion. This idea contradicts most of the major works (and many minor ones as well) that attempted to catalog all the (obvious) biblical allusions in Shakespeare's plays. These include books by authors Bishop Charles Wordsworth (1864), Thomas Carter (1905), Richmond Noble (1935), Naseeb Shahee...