Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

CHRISTMAS IN HAMLET’S DENMARK In Hamlet (1.1), Marcellus says, “Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long: And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad; The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.” This is the longest positive quote in Shakespeare’s plays that is explicitly about Christmas (but as scholars have long noted, it also seems to embody a kind of pagan or superstitious belief that is not based on scripture, but on tradition - so it would have been associated with Catholicism for many in Shakespeare's audiences. Notice how Horatio replies politely that he "half-believes" what Marcellus has said about Christmas...). 1. Is this a foreshadowing? At some point in the play when the ghost (or spirit) no longer appears (“stirs abroad”), will this mark a rebirth ...

Wonderful article: “The Difficulty is the Point” https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/dec/24/the-difficulty-is-the-point-teaching-spoon-fed-students-how-to-really-read?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other Wonderful article. Not only on bridging the gap between teachers who love literature and students who often don't, but also on the business of universities, and on the sense of entitlement (and depression?) that comes from being pampered. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Links to a description of my book project: On LinkedIn : https://lnkd.in/eJGBtqV On this blog : https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/05/hamlets-bible-my-book-project-im.html [Originally posted around the week of 12/23/17 on LinkedIn ]

"WHOEVER FIGHTS MONSTERS should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche Nietzsche may at least in part have been thinking of Hamlet after he accidentally kills Ophelia's dad, or of the central problem of the play: Can Hamlet kill Claudius without becoming a murderous usurper like Claudius? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Links to a description of my book project: On LinkedIn : https://lnkd.in/eJGBtqV On this blog : https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/05/hamlets-bible-my-book-project-im.html [Originally posted around the week of 12/19/17 on LinkedIn ]

IS GERTRUDE (in part) LIKE CATHERINE OF VALOIS? If the play Hamlet seeks assessment & closure for the House of Tudor, Claudius is like Henry VIII who married a brother's widow, but Gertrude is perhaps like Catherine of Valois, whose warlike king-husband died, & she joined with "a mildew'd ear": Owen of Tudor! A lowly descendant of a Welsh rebel! Shakespeare had portrayed Catherine of Valois in Henry V, and everyone knew that after the death of her husband, Henry V, her marriage to Owen Tudor was something of a scandal, as he was not of royal blood. But their joint lineage would lead to Henry VIII. Did Catholics especially, in 1600, think something was rotten in England in part because Catherine of Valois did not remain celibate after the death of Henry V, so she joined with Owen of Tudor, and from her intemperance, more things became rotten and out of joint? A recent film version of Henry V adapted for TV stars Tom Hiddleston as Henry V...

ALL MY FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT PURGATORY I LEARNED FROM SHAKESPEARE'S HAMLET (with a little help from S. Greenblatt): Part I Hamlet toys with purgatory: English church adherents could think the ghost is a demon in disguise; secret Catholics, that he’s from purgatory. But note that Hamlet uses his last breaths to heal wounds that he and his father had created in life: —He offers an apology to Laertes, which Laertes rejects at first, but they later reconcile before dying. —Hamlet uses his dying breaths to give the throne to Fortinbras,* son of the man his father killed, healing a wound his father had created (and helping what remains of Dad, among the living, out of “purgatory”; some call this re-imagining metaphysics as phenomenology). (*In one sense, of course, Young Fortinbras is James, whose parent, Mary QoS, had been executed by Elizabeth, just as Old Hamlet killed Old Fortinbras.) This sort of change of heart and reconciliation works far better than causing many wou...

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Laertes conspires with Claudius to kill Hamlet. Bernard of Clairvaux conspired with church officials to condemn Peter Abelard’s ideas on the Trinity, ideas that, in a century, might not have been quite as controversial from the pen of a Thomas Aquinas. For a time, Abelard was excommunicated and silenced. Bernard later reconciled with Peter Abelard just before Abelard’s death, as Laertes reconciles with Hamlet before they die. The reconciliation of Bernard with Abelard became as important in the biography of Bernard (or more?) as Bernard's defense of the transcendent mystery of the Trinity against Abelard’s ideas. This may be yet another reason why a Hamlet sentinel is named “Bernardo.” The reconciliation of Laertes and Hamlet has no parallel in Saxo Grammaticus or François de Belleforest, usually cited as sources of the Hamlet story. Shakespeare's father was a boy during the dissolution of English monasteries associated with Bernard and Franc...

Saints exemplify bible truths. If Hamlet sentinels Francisco & Bernardo are named after saints, what bible themes (also in Hamlet) did the saints embody? Bernard of Clairvaux helped avoid schism (Jn 21:17); Henry VIII, like Claudius, married a brother’s widow; this led to schism. Bernard defended the mystery of the Trinity against Abelard (Is 55:8-9); Hamlet warns against plucking the heart of his mystery (3.2). Francis of Assisi renounced his father (Lk 14:26) and found a heavenly father, as did Jesus as a boy, lost and found in the temple (Lk 2:41-52); Bernard also found heavenly parentage in a vision or dream in which he drinks milk from the breast of a heavenly Virgin Mary, a scene repeatedly depicted in art; Hamlet mentions no ghost after his sea voyage (5.1), having shifted from focus on his earthly father to Providence and the memory of Yorick. Francis called himself God's fool (1 Corinthians 4:10, "fool for Christ's sake"); Hamlet's beloved fo...

After a sea-voyage and capture by pirates, Hamlet's life is spared, a gift of mercy. He sees in this the hand of Providence, like a father to whom he owes more than he does to the ghost of his earthly father. The sentinel Francisco has a namesake, Francis of Assisi, who underwent a similar conversion from an abusive, earthly father, to a heavenly father, a scene often depicted in art. This work by Giotto, often called "St. Francis Renouncing Worldly Goods," is in the Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence, Italy. It might be called "Renouncing the Earthly Father" (see Luke 14:26). Francis was a soldier who became a prisoner of war and was held for ransom for about a year while his father refused or delayed payment. Once returned, he suffered depression and probably PTSD. He gave away some of his father's money and material goods to care for the sick and poor, so his father tied him up, a prisoner in his home. In this painting, the abusive father is rest...

Names of the sentries in Hamlet may seem unimportant. They might have been named Tom and Harry for all some care. But if they were named after Saints Francis of Assisi and Bernard of Clairvaux, their names matter. Both saints founded monastic movements present in England before Henry VIII dissolved them and sold off the land. Protesting Cistercian & Franciscan monks, priests, and abbots ("fathers") were executed after Henry's divorce and break with Rome. Francis of Assisi's biographers said his heart ached for the sick and poor; so "honest" Francisco has to be the one who ends his watch with heart-sickness, and then Hamlet is later heart-sick before the duel at the end of the play. It would make less sense if that sentinel were named Bernardo. Bernard of Clairvaux preached the second crusade, a kind of revenge for earlier setbacks in the Holy Land. Its failure haunted him; he blamed this failure on the Crusaders' sins. So it is appropriate that...

HAMLET THE CHARACTER MAY NOT HAVE AN OEDIPUS COMPLEX, BUT HAMLET THE PLAY DOES (says critic Frederick Crews).* The problem with Freudian readings: They accept in advance, as primary truth, another text, before they begin to read the new text. They accept Freud's quirky reading of the Oedipus tale: Oedipus unknowingly kills Dad & marries Mom? Instead of bad karma coming back to Oedipus' father (Laius), Freud assumes that this must demonstrate a secret sexual desire of all men for their mothers (something not present in the text). As Tamara Hammond has observed , citing Julia Kristeva's critique of Freud, this relocates the guilt of the violent, negligent father, to a sexually shamed son. Then this and all related Freudian truths have to be found in, or imposed on, all new texts. Any details that don't conform have to be ignored. If a new text challenges the Freudian doctrine, it must have penis envy, or perhaps the new text has not yet been sufficiently ...

In the David Tennant Hamlet, in the final scene, Hamlet tries to stab Claudius with the "envenomed" sword, but Claudius (played by Patrick Stewart), ever trying to maintain control, grasps the blade that Hamlet is wielding (perhaps still poisoned). Hamlet pulls and Claudius cuts his hand. People at court cry "Treason," and some (not all) rush to restrain Hamlet from hurting the king. But this restraint keeps Hamlet from forcing the rest of the poison wine down Claudius' throat, which is a sort of long-standing tradition, and which some claim goes back to the original performances (but which some dispute). So how does Claudius get the cup? Hamlet offers it, Claudius takes it. Claudius realizes his game is up, he's been exposed as a murderer and coward (not stopping Gertrude from drinking), and he has no more reason to live. He drinks of his own volition, choosing the "Roman" way of suicide that Hamlet soon asks Horatio to reject. In the 1988...

A KING WITH TOO MANY HATS? In Shakespeare's Hamlet, for four centuries, readers and viewers have noted the confusion of roles Claudius tries to assume. After insulting the prince in a variety of ways for mourning too long (1.2), he calls Hamlet "most immediate to our throne," "Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son." Claudius tries not only to be king and uncle, but critic and father as well. Later, to highlight this and the "one flesh" marriage union, Hamlet twice calls Claudius his "mother" (4.3). What about "pope"? The play was written 65-70 years after England's break from Rome. Henry VIII asserted himself as head of England's church and granted his own divorce, usurping the role of religious leader for England's Christians that the pope had played. This created what Rome viewed as a schism, a new division in Christendom where there had previously been more unity of authority, belief, and ritual. In the...

DO HAMLET'S MASKS INCLUDE MELANCHOLIC MISOGYNY? In an article from the 1995 edition of Hamlet Studies, Francesca Bugliani (Knox) interprets Hamlet's famous "To be or not to be" soliloquy. She does not consider biblical allusions, like Job's dilemma of whether to remain faithful to his God, or to curse God and die (a sort of "to be or not to be" crossroads). But she has a wealth of insightful observations. I've said before that I don't buy the Freudian explanation for Hamlet's apparent misogyny to Gertrude and Ophelia, but the Christian biblical and cultural tradition in which the play was written was certainly patriarchal and misogynist. Bugliani suggests it's melancholic misogyny, and may be one of many forms of feigned madness. But why feign melancholy misogyny with Ophelia? To sound her out, suspecting she's working with the enemy? To push her away from the threat to his life? (Or both?) In contemplating revenge and the sinfu...

Meet me in St. Louie? (for Hamlet) St. Louis Dispatch ARTS AND THEATER At last, the Rep goes big with Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' By Judith Newmark St. Louis Post-Dispatch Oct 8, 2017 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Links to a description of my book project: On LinkedIn : https://lnkd.in/eJGBtqV On this blog : https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/05/hamlets-bible-my-book-project-im.html [Originally posted around the week of 10/10/17 on LinkedIn ]

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, do we want Gertrude to suspect poison in the "chalice" of wine into which Claudius drops a fine pearl? Or not? Various critics (like J. Dover Wilson in his book, "What Happens in Hamlet") have claimed that an older tradition believes Queen Gertrude likes immediate gratification of her desires. To them, this explains in part why she marries her dead husband's brother so quickly (get me sex!), and why she drinks the cup of wine that Hamlet refuses (she claims she's thirsty), in spite of the urgings from Claudius for her not to do so. In the Kenneth Branagh Hamlet and the Franco Zeffirelli Hamlet (starring Mel Gibson), Gertrude in both of these films seems unsuspecting of poison, and is later shocked at the realization of Claudius' foul play as the poison takes effect. But in both the David Tennant version and the Ethan Hawke version, the queen clearly suspects poison, and clearly volunteers herself (and risks her life). ...

“This is a very weird time in the world...." (Kazuro Ishiguro winds the Nobel prize in literature 2017— article from The Guardian ) “This is a very weird time in the world, we’ve sort of lost faith in our political system, we’ve lost faith in our leaders, we’re not quite sure of our values, and I just hope that my winning the Nobel prize contributes something that engenders good will and peace,” he said. “ It reminds us of how international the world is, and we all have to contribute things from our different corners of the world.” - Kazuro Ishiguro https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/oct/05/kazuo-ishiguro-wins-the-nobel-prize-in-literature ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Links to a description of my book project: On LinkedIn : https://lnkd.in/eJGBtqV On this blog : https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/05/hamlets-bible-my-book-project-im.html [Originally posted around the week of 10/5/17 on LinkedIn ]

A few weeks back, I listed ways that Shakespeare’s Hamlet parallels the biblical King David more than the Oedipus tale, and especially to the story of David's infidelity with Bathsheba and his arranging for the death of Bathsheba’s husband so he can marry her. (To view that very brief article, click here.) Some may wonder: Why would there be so many allusions to the biblical King David in Hamlet? There are three important things to remember while contemplating these parallels with the King David story in Hamlet: First, bear in mind that people in Shakespeare's time could not openly criticize the government. Playwrights had to say things indirectly, or risk being caught by the censors and punished by the state. Second, recall that Shakespeare wrote the play at the end of Elizabeth's life, and was probably using certain events in the play's fictional setting in Denmark as analogies for various things about the end of the House of Tudor, most notably, Henry VIII an...

I have posted a new article about Hamlet and King David Below is the link to my new article about Hamlet, the biblical King David, and Henry VIII: On LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hamlet-king-david-part-ii-paul-adrian-fried/?trackingId=gNgP1NASMbRZuXApS%2BEbng%3D%3D On this blog: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/10/Hamlet-David-pt2-HenryVIII-2blame.html [Shakespeare uses Hamlet and King Claudius to demonstrate some connections with the David stories, and these would have been seen by audiences as implying connections with Henry VIII as well, connections that most everyone living in that age would have recognized.] But to prepare for that, here's a helpful blog that mentions how Henry VIII commissioned a book of the Psalms, with illustrations that included Henry VIII himself in the role of the biblical King David . To understand why there are so many allusions to King David in Hamlet, it's essential to understand how fascinated Henry was with t...

HOW MACHIAVELLIAN DO YOU LIKE YOUR POLONIUS? In Shakespeare's Hamlet, how much Machiavelli should we imagine in the king's key adviser, Polonius? Is Polonius an aging and self-absorbed old man— a bootlicker too concerned about his daughter’s virginity? (Then why is he the key adviser?) Or is he a manipulator who purposefully withholds his daughter's affections so they will be more desired by Hamlet, so that the match will get royal approval, and so that she might marry into royalty? (Does he lead Gertrude to want her son’s heart mended by the return of Ophelia’s once-denied love, so his daughter will then be the next queen —implied perhaps in the David Tennant version?) In 2.2, Polonius is certain that the denial of his daughter's affections has caused Hamlet's madness, in spite of Claudius' inclinations otherwise. In 3.1, Gertrude, manipulated by Polonius, says, "for your part, Ophelia, I do wish That your good beauties be the happy cause ...

HAMLET, WITTENBERG, & . . . FAUST? A trend among scholars of Shakespeare & Religion is to view Hamlet as a Protestant v. Catholic play: The ghost regrets not receiving Catholic sacraments before death, and the prince goes to school in Wittenberg (of Luther fame). But Marlowe's Wittenbergian, Faust, is not so often cited by scholars seeking hints of Catholic or Protestant ideas in the play. If we expand the Catholic-Protestant binary at least to three (Wittenberg-Luther-Faust), then Wittenberg points not only to Luther, but to temptation. Hamlet is tempted to revenge and madness, but perhaps (according to some) recovers a bit after his sea voyage. Luther questioned how literally Catholics should take Jesus' words over the break and wine, "This is my body/blood." A good question. But this opens a can of worms (no Diet of Worms pun intended, but—OK). If we don't take eucharist literally as a "real presence," then why should we ta...

Of the many aspects of Branagh's Hamlet that critics noted, one involved images of Hamlet and Ophelia, naked in bed (plucking the heart from the mystery of the question of whether they had been lovers, or whether—as Ophelia tells her father—Hamlet had merely expressed his love in "honorable fashion").  Another involves the entry of an attacking Fortinbras at the end of the play, with an army. An older tradition assumes Ophelia is a virtuous, virginal and obedient daughter who alludes to scripture in conversation with her brother, but as women were considered the "weaker vessel" (a-hem), she goes insane and perhaps (contrary to Gertrude's account?) commits suicide. Others have noted the presence of abortifacient herbs among the flowers she names in her mad scene, and claim that she is pregnant with Hamlet's child, but that this could not be stated explicitly due to the censors. Another old tradition likes to believe that the diplomatic overtures  ...

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR HAMLET? Madman? Privileged drop-out? The Man-who-would-have-been-king? Examination of just three film actors in the role of Shakespeare's Hamlet since the 1990s (Branagh, Hawke, Tennant) reveals distinctly different approaches to casting and portraying the prince.  Kenneth Branagh: It is easy to imagine Branagh as a prince who could have made a good king, and that Claudius "Popp'd in between the election and [his] hopes." It's also easy to see how he may have been "loved of the distracted multitude" (4.3). Ethan Hawke: Hawke plays an angst-filled hipster, a privileged drop-out caught in a cul-de-sac of life ("Denmark's a prison"). It seems he has little interest in being king and may prefer Occupy Wall Street (kudos for that). It's easy to see why the board of directors prefers Claudius. Perhaps loved mostly by hipster students among the distracted multitude? David Tennant: Tennant's Hamlet is ...

Ophelia was hoping for some quality time with Hamlet after the chaos of the show, listening to "I Think We're Alone Now," an Elizabethan madrigal cover of the song by Tommy James and the Shondells. But it was "not to be." (This image has been on Twitter since at least July, and Reddit since at least April) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Links to a description of my book project: On LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/eJGBtqV On this blog: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/05/hamlets-bible-my-book-project-im.html [Originally posted around the week of 9/15/17 on LinkedIn ]

Nothing male or female but thinking makes it so? To paraphrase Shakespeare's Hamlet: Is there nothing male or female but thinking makes it so? (Or when Hamlet spoke the original line to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, "nothing good or bad," was he feigning, playing a role, pulling their chain?) Although not the norm, there have been notable productions of Hamlet in the last two centuries in which the prince haas been played by an actress, Sarah Bernhardt's performance in a 1900 film adaptation being one of the more famous. Some productions rotate actors through key parts; this was the case in the recent Guthrie production of King Lear in Minneapolis, where two excellent actors took turns playing the role of Lear. A Great Lakes Theater production of Hamlet in Cleveland has one male actor and one female actor take turns with the role of the prince (not in the same show, but on different nights). . . . After "The Mousetrap" play-within-the-play, Hamlet...

Richard Utz: Race, Racism, and the Middle Ages When Shakespeare fans and scholars speak of antisemitism and racism, they often talk of The Merchant of Venice (with its shylock the Jew), Othello (with a black Muslim as its title character), and The Tempest (with its "savage" Caliban) for starters. Richard Utz and "friends at The Public Medievalist" have assembled a wonderful and thought-provoking list of readings more related to the Middle Ages than Shakespeare, but some of my connections may find it interesting and helpful. It is intended in part to counter the tendencies of certain people of the far right to hijack the Middle Ages (via arm-chair revisionism) for white supremacy. - PF https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/race-racism-middle-ages-richard-utz/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Links to a description of my book project: On LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/eJGBtqV On this blog: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/05/hamlets-bible-my-bo...