"
I HEREBY REQUEST that my body or any part thereof may be used for therapeutic purposes including corneal grafting and organ transplantation or for the purposes of medical education [...] with the exception of my skull, which shall be offered by the institution receiving my body to the Royal Shakespeare Company for use in theatrical performance."
[more inside]
posted by oulipian
on Sep 11, 2010 -
17 comments
To honor the
Greatest's birthday, one could consider his greatest work by reading this
excellent post by matteo which touches upon the religious issues facing our
confused Protestant hero, the student at
Wittenberg, who
doubts orthodoxy, cannot decide
if he is a
scourge or
minister, but ultimately accedes to a
belief in
divine Providence.
Or, if you would rather dive into an
intriguing amusing royally f'ed up "unique" analysis of the play, check out this
extensive theory (?)
[cache] of Hamlet which corrects our accepted and flawed interpretation by explaining that a literal reading of the play tells us, among other things, that King Hamlet was never killed; that Horatio--our narrator--is the King's son and prince Hamlet's half brother; that the guy we incorrectly think of as Claudius is in fact King Hamlet; and that prince Hamlet's father is Fortinbras. Oops. Boy do we have egg on our faces.
posted by dios
on Apr 23, 2007 -
40 comments
The Death of Hamnet and the Making of Hamlet. In the spring or summer of 1596,
William Shakespeare received word that
his only son Hamnet, 11, was ill. In the summer he learned that Hamnet's condition had worsened and that it was necessary to drop everything and hurry home. By the time the father reached Stratford the boy—whom, apart from brief visits, Shakespeare had in effect abandoned in his infancy—
may already have died. On August 11, 1596, Hamnet was buried at Holy Trinity Church: the clerk duly noted in the burial register, "
Hamnet filius William Shakspere."
It might have been possible that Shakespeare's Catholic father urged his son to have prayers said to speed the child's release from purgatory. The problem was that
purgatory had been abolished by the ruling Protestants, and saying prayers for the dead declared illegal. Hence, the possible dilemma for Shakespeare was whether to risk punishment by praying for their deceased loved ones or
obey the law and allow those souls to languish in flames.
This anxiety regarding one's obligations to the dead,
Stephen Greenblatt suggests,
lies behind Hamlet's indecision about whether to obey his father's ghost and take revenge on his uncle Claudius.
posted by matteo
on Oct 1, 2004 -
21 comments
