The Relationship between Hamlet and the Bible. Essay -- GCSE Coursewor

The Relationship between Hamlet and the Bible.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It may appear that anything could be twisted into a typological pattern. Such interpretations appear to suffer from the structuralist faults of skating too lightly over actual texts, ignoring details that cannot be forced into a preconceived mold, and robbing narratives of their concrete shapes through abstraction. I would stress that there is more to Shakespeare than typology, but I would also insist that typology is often an important part of his drama. To make this claim plausible, however, requires more detailed attention to the text of his plays. In what follows, I will call attention to the textual and dramatic details that justify a typological reading of Hamlet. Claudius's murder of King Hamlet, the act catalyzing the drama of the play, is presented as a  sin of primordial character and cosmic implications. Claudius confesses that his fratricide parallels the murder of Abel: O, my offense is rank, it smells to heaven; It hath the primal eldest curse upon 't, A brother's murder (3.3.36-38). Hamlet's description of his psychological condition at the beginning of the play pushes the imagery back to the beginning of biblical history: How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! Fie on 't! Ah fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden, That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature Possess it merely (1.2.135-37). Claudius has not only committed fratricide, but regicide. The king being peculiarly the image of God, regicide is a kind of deicide. At least, it is an act of rebellion against divine authority. Claudius is thus not only Cain but Adam.(7) Claudius's sin has, for Hamlet at least, turned Denma... ...y identical to all the other links." (A Theater of Envy, p. 273). Works Cited Erlich, Avi. 1977. Hamlet's Absent Father. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Fineman, Joel. 1980. 'Fratricide and Cuckoldry: Shakespeare's Doubles.' In Representing Shakespeare: New Psychoanalytic Essays, edited by Coppelia Kahn and Murray M. Schwarz. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins Press, 70-109. Fleissner, Robert. 1982. ' "Sullied" Or "Solid": Hamlet's Flesh Once More.' Hamlet Studies 4:92-3. Fowler, Alastair. 1987. 'The Plays Within the Play of Hamlet.' In 'Fanned and Winnowed Opinions': Shakespearean Essays Presented to Harold Jenkins, edited by John W. Mahon and Thomas A. Pendleton. London and New York: Methuen. Freud, Sigmund. 1953-74. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works. 24 vols, trans. James Stachey. London: Hogarth.