Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

LINKS TO LEPERS IN HAMLET: References to tales of famous lepers, confusion about them, and those who cared for them: 1. The ghost says the poison made his skin lazar-like (1.5), like that of the beggar Lazarus in Luke 16:19–31 [1];  - Claudius poured “the leperous distillment" in the “porches" of the ghost's ear (1.5): In some art, the beggar Lazarus is left untended on the porches of the rich man’s house.  - Ophelia’s “the owl was a baker’s daughter” (4.5) references a folktale retelling of the Luke 16 gospel tale;  - Horatio’s “angels sing thee to thy rest” (5.2) references the Requiem Mass lines based on the Lazarus story. 2. The saint-namesake of the sentinel Francisco (1.1) is Francis of Assisi, who cared for lepers, and famously kissed one [2]. (Katherine of Aragon’s confessor was a Franciscan, John Forest, burned at the stake for opposing Henry’s divorce.)   3. In medieval and Elizabethan times, leprosy and venereal disease were confused, and leprosy thou...

When the ghost in Shakespeare's Hamlet says that the poison made his skin "Most lazarlike with vile and loathsome crust, / All my smooth body" (1.5.757-8), the worst thing a viewer or reader can do is to assume (perhaps after reading a footnote) that "lazarlike" is meant to convey only something about the physical effect on his skin, and nothing more. ["The Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man," 1618/1628, Workshop of Domenico Fetti, 1589-1623. National Gallery of Art, USA, open access image, cropped.] In the biblical parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man, the skin of the beggar Lazarus was covered by sores that were licked by dogs. A "lazar-house" was a name for a place where people with skin afflictions like leprosy. HistoricEngland.org notes that "At least 320 religious houses and hospitals for the care of lepers (known as leper or 'lazar' houses) were established in England between the end of the 11th century and 1...