Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

OPHELIA'S VALENTINE & CLAUDIUS.... In Shakespeare’s time, it was widely assumed that the martyr St. Valentine (d. 269 AD) was executed under orders from the Roman Emperor Claudius II, an idea not lost on many in his early audiences when Ophelia sings her Valentine song. They would make the connection: Claudius II ordered the execution of St. Valentine; Claudius of Denmark secretly ordered the execution of Ophelia’s Valentine, Hamlet. CONSIDER: Some form of “Valentine” occurs 70 times across seven Shakespeare plays [1]. “Saint Valentine” is mentioned only twice: once in A Midsummer Night’s Dream , and once in Hamlet . The only St. Valentine’s Day song is sung by Ophelia (taken from a familiar folk-song of the time) with interjections from Claudius. The pagan precursor of Valentine’s Day, Lupercal, is mentioned twice in Julius Caesar. It is often claimed that Pope Gelasius I disliked the pagan feast, and in 496 AD, set the feast of the martyr St. Valentine to be on February 14 to...

INDEX and INTRODUCTION (this post: see INTRODUCTION following this index) https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/11/index-why-claudius-not-feng-whats-in.html PART 1: Hamlet's uncle "Claudius" as lame, satyr, & polysemous - 26 Nov, 2024 https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/11/part-1-hamlets-uncle-claudius-as-lame.html PART 2: Hamlet, Claudas, and Arthurian legends (Claudius series) https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/12/hamlet-claudas-and-arthurian-legends.html PART 3: Arthurian Wastelands and rotten Denmark under Claudias https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/12/arthurian-wastelands-and-rotten-denmark.html PART 4: Claudius, Hamlet, and Chaucer's Physician's Tale (Part 4, Claudius series) https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2025/02/claudius-hamlet-and-chaucers-physicians.html PART 5: Ophelia's Valentine and Claudius - February 10, 2025 https://pauladrianfried.blog...

Unlike Claudius, who ignored qualms of conscience to murder his brother and usurp the throne, Ophelia’s relationship to her conscience is more healthy, rich, and self-directed.   Claudius just doesn’t get it, so he needs Hamlet to catch his conscience in The Mousetrap, [1] which reenacts Claudius poisoning his brother and wooing his victim’s wife. Hamlet says playing holds a mirror up to the age [2], and he uses the playlet to hold a mirror up to Gertrude and Claudius, showing what they’ve done. But Ophelia gets it, and doesn’t need someone to hold up a mirror for her conscience. She chooses her own songs, stories, and allusions to reflect upon her sadness and conscience. [3] She knows her father died, but doesn’t know that Hamlet killed him thinking it was Claudius. She sings songs of mourning for perhaps her father and/or the dead king [4], songs of her own choosing. Ophelia knows Hamlet made to her “almost all the holy vows of heaven” [5] perhaps the equivalent of a handfast w...

VALENTINE'S DAY not only makes sweethearts, florists, chocolatiers and greeting card manufacturers happy: It is also associated with various Christian martyrs... one of whom was beheaded [1] by order of Claudius II (r.268-270). NOTE: Hamlet escapes the beheading order of Claudius; Ophelia sings of Valentine's Day. COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT. TAKEAWAY: Make sure your Valentines don't include orders for your beheading from a guy named Claudius! ALSO CONSIDER: St. Valentine's day was probably more of a Catholic and popular feast (taken over from paganism) than a Protestant church feast in Shakespeare's time, because although it included a tale of martyrdom and divine "caritas" love (a theological virtue), it is transformed in popular culture into a feast of Eros or human and romantic love. Scripture does describe the church as the bride and Christ as the groom, and yet perhaps some Protestants or Puritans of Shakespeare's time may have frowned up...