Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

In the past, I have posted about the sea-voyage of Hamlet as resembling that of the prophet Jonah . [1] But the connection of Hamlet to Jonah also connects Hamlet to Jesus in the tomb, like Jonah in the belly of the fish. Jonah later emerges alive, as Hamlet survives his sea voyage and capture by pirates. Hamlet does not = Jonah or Jesus, but Shakespeare holds the mirror up for us to compare them. Christian tradition holds that after Jesus’ crucifixion, he was placed in a tomb (on Friday), and “descended into hell” to free all the souls of the just. In Matthew 12:39-40, Jesus says, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh a sign, but no sign shall be given unto it, save that sign of the Prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly: so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. People in Shakespeare’s time would have known this passage, not only because there were many avid bible readers in his tim...

In Act 3, scene 4, Hamlet kills Polonius behind the arras, thinking he is stabbing Claudius. This exchange follows (emphasis mine): Polonius : [Behind the arras] Oh, I am slain! Queen : Oh, me, what hast thou done? Hamlet : Nay I know not . Is it the King? 3.4.2405-2407 For English audiences in Shakespeare's lifetime, required to attend church each Sunday and on Holy Days, the combination of Gertrude's question about what Hamlet has done , followed by Hamlet's reply, "I know not," may have sounded quite familiar. If there is any Biblical passage those audiences would have found echoed in the exchange, it would have been from the Gospel of Luke (23:34), with this passage included in a larger section from Luke chapter 23, read every year on Holy Thursday (emphasis mine): "Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do ." [ "The Crucifixion" - 1616 (the year of Shakespeare's death), by Pieter Lastman, oil on ...

When a country's leader is responsible for many crimes, either in secret or publicly known, including the murder of one or the deaths of many, and he shrouds his actions in lies, what is to be done with old school-friends who tried to hitch their wagons to the dark star of the corrupt regime? Are they, essentially, complicit in the crimes and deserving some share of any punishment, should it come? Or were they just human beings who had average human ambitions to get ahead, and should not be held responsible for the evils in which they participated, even knowingly? These were questions asked by the Nuremberg trials after World War II, and that some asked after the Bush-Cheney regime with its scandals of torture and lies that got the U.S. into a war with Iraq that violated international law. They are questions that may soon be asked if Trump is replaced by Biden as U.S. president. And they are questions we might consider regarding Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Shakespeare's Ha...

Besides blogging here, I post links to new blog posts on FaceBook forums related to Shakespeare as well as on Twitter and LinkedIn. Last week, on LinkedIn , in a discussion thread below last week's blog post on anagnorisis , Dan Decker noted: " Hamlet is a tale of redemption. It is not a revenge plot." In fact, if one compares Hamlet (as many often do) to The Spanish Tragedy , it's interesting to note not only the many similarities scholars point out, but also how, while the protagonist in TST sinks deeper into revenge before the very bloody ending, while in contrast, Hamlet descends into violent and bloody thoughts, but then reascends after having his life saved by pirates, and after finding the skull of Yorick, identified with the help of the gravedigger. Yes, he still fights with Laertes over Ophelia's grave, but something has changed in him.  Yes, after being wounded by Laertes and unknowingly poisoned in what was supposed to be a fair fencing match, ...