Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

February 2 is the anniversary of the 1602 first public performance of Twelfth Night. Consider the influence of St. Paul on the play: St. Paul was in at least three shipwrecks [1]. - One account from Acts 27 was read at morning prayer on the Sixth Day of Christmas, December 30, every year of Shakespeare’s life [2]. - Although there would be many tales of shipwrecks, these familiar Bible readings would have offered a persistent religious association. - Twelfth Night begins with a shipwreck. Every January 21st at morning prayer [3], churchgoers would hear St. Paul’s letter, 1 Cor 3, which reads as if it’s speaking of the fool Feste, and Malvolio’s vanity, in Twelfth Night: 18 …If any man among you seem to be wise in this world, let him be a fool, that he may be wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God: for it is written, He catcheth the wise in their own craftiness. 20 And again, The Lord knoweth that the thoughts of the wise be vain. Twelfth Night revelry was like ...

If Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is related to Christmas and Epiphany, how so? Some would say only by title [1] and only in a secular sense for having Sir Toby Belch as a “Lord of Misrule,” a secular Christmas tradition [2]. There’s no baby Jesus, no shepherds, no angels, no Magi.  But consider: Viola and Sebastian come from far away, like the Magi. They are shipwrecked, like St. Paul, saved from water, or like the inhabitants of Noah’s ark (which Sir Toby mentions) after storms and flood. The scripture readings for both St. Paul’s shipwreck and Noah’s ark were read every year in English churches during the Christmas season [3]. The twins are refugees in enemy land, like the Holy Family in Bethlehem under Herod the Great [4]. “Wise men/man” is spoken six times in the play by various characters [5].   The use of Sir Toby Belch as “Lord of Misrule,” and the downfall of the proud and Puritanical Malvolio, echo what the Virgin Mary says in reply to the angel Gabriel on being told ...

ON THE 12TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS IN CHURCHES OF SHAKESPEARE’S TIME, JANUARY 5, here are the scriptures congregations would have heard: In Psalm 5, David again assumes that God is vengeful and will come to his aid [1]. In Romans 4 we hear of works vs. faith, and again, of circumcision of the heart, a topic repeated in church every day since the Feast of the Circumcision [2]. (How does a character in a play outwardly manifest inner change?) Genesis 7 and 8 continue the Noah tale, referenced in at least two Shakespeare plays [3]. In Gen 7, the flood comes, 40 days and nights of rain. In Gen 8, rains stop, floods subside; all on the ark are saved. From December 30 (Paul’s shipwreck, with echoes of Pericles ) [4], to January 4-5, we get perils on water, a theme in many Shakespeare plays in which the sea features prominently [5]. Shakespeare had many sources for his plays, but the scriptures stories read in church that involved water – Noah, Moses parting the Red Sea, Jonah, Jesus walking on w...

On the 11TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS IN SHAKESPEARE’S TIME, JANUARY 4, church congregations would have heard the following scriptures, part of the religious-literary fabric from which Shakespeare borrowed: Psalm 4 involves David’s prayer when he was persecuted by King Saul. David must be clever to avoid being killed by Saul, as Hamlet must be clever to avoid being killed by Caudius. Genesis 5 tells of Lamech, descendant of Seth and Methuselah, not to be confused with Lamech descendant of Cain, mentioned on the 3rd, “Lameth” being an anagram of “Hamlet” [1]. Matthew 3 speaks of John the Baptist (mentioned on Christmas Day, "First Day of Christmas," and on the last two Sundays of Advent), and of his baptizing of Jesus in the Jordan, an echo of Moses leading the Israelites out of Pharaoh’s Egypt. John the Baptist, as previously mentioned [2], is alluded to in Hamlet and his player queen, “Baptista” (3.2.263). Romans 3 speaks again of circumcision, as did the Feast of the Circumcision ...

On the 6th day of Christmas (December 30) if Shakespeare attended church for morning or evening prayer, what Bible passages would he have heard? MORNING: Psalm 30 - The House of David [1]. Isaiah 63 - A vengeful God [2]. Acts 27 - Paul shipwrecked.* EVENING: Isaiah 64 - Divine intervention [3]? 3 John 1 - Welcome strangers [4]? “Demetrius” [5]? * Acts 27 is about St. Paul and a shipwreck, reminding us of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night , but also of the Shakespeare collaboration, 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘴, which echoes the geography of Paul’s travels. Hannibal Hamlin refers to the play as “The Acts of 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘴” for all of its resemblances to Paul’s journeys [6]. After Paul’s shipwreck, Roman soldiers at first want to execute all prisoners so they don’t escape, but one wants Paul to be spared, an act of mercy. Paul argues that they can all swim to shore: Paul takes the gift of the soldier’s mercy and expands it to include all of the prisoners, not just himself (like a figurative multiplica...