Jephthah, Cecil, & Three Instruments in Hamlet
There are three occurrences of the word "instrument" in Shakespeare's Hamlet , one on the lips of Claudius, a second from Prince Hamlet, and a third from a dying Laertes. Each of these, considered in their contexts in the play as well as together, may strengthen the argument for Polonius being based at least in part on William Cecil, Lord Burghley, and the Jephthah allusion as pointing at least in part to what scholars usually call The Bond of Association (full text of which is provided below, near the end of this blog post, with some highlights for emphasis). I have blogged recently about Polonius and Cecil, on November 24 of this year , and also on December 8 . This connection between Polonius and Cecil is not new or original with me, as many other scholars have noted the same thing for many years since at least 1869 when George Russell French suggested it (as noted by Connie Beane).[1] Scholars have also long associated the swearing of vows in the play (and in its all...