Hamlet, Protestantism, and the Mourning of Contingency: Not to BeBuilding on current scholarly interest in the religious dimensions of the play, this study shows how Shakespeare uses Hamlet to comment on the Calvinistic Protestantism predominant around 1600. By considering the play's inner workings against the religious ideas of its time, John Curran explores how Shakespeare portrays in this work a completely deterministic universe in the Calvinist mode, and, Curran argues, exposes the disturbing aspects of Calvinism. By rendering a Catholic Prince Hamlet caught in a Protestant world which consistently denies him his aspirations for a noble life, Shakespeare is able in this play, his most theologically engaged, to delineate the differences between the two belief systems, but also to demonstrate the consequences of replacing the old religion so completely with the new. |
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... Thomas from The Complete Works of St. ThomasMore, 15vols., ed. Clarence Miller et al.(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1963–86). Allreferences to JohnCalvin are from Institutes of the Christian Religion,2vols., trans. FordLewis Battles ...
... Thomas Heskyns explained thatthe divine benefits we receive“haue condicions annexed.”18For Catholics,it remained afundamental tenetof belief anda major point of contention against their Protestant adversaries thatthe machineryof ...
... Thomas Heskyns, The Parliament ofChryste (EnglishRecusant Literature #313,1976), fol.cclxxxvii. 19 Calvin, Institutes, I.16.4,1:202, III.22.9, 2:943. See Paul Helm, John Calvin's Ideas (Oxford:Oxford University Press, 2004), 93–128, esp ...
... Thomas Harding, and Thomas Hill pointed out, the Eucharist epitomized howCatholics stoodon what is, Protestants merelyon whatis not.5 In confirming the meaning of “is” asanabsolute adhesion betweentwothings, admitting nothing other ...
... Thomas Becon, WilliamPerkins, Andrew Willet, andWilliam Whitakercontinued inthis modethatthe only possible interpretation forChrist's words wasfigurative, and touchedonthe distance thisimplied. Willet crystallized their viewpoint in ...
Contents
TheLoss of Contingency 2TheBe the Eucharist and the Logic of Protestantism | |
4The Theater of Merit 5 Chastity andthe Strumpet Fortune 6 The BeProtestantism and Silence | |
Index | |
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Hamlet, Protestantism, and the Mourning of Contingency: Not to Be John E. Curran Jr Limited preview - 2016 |
Hamlet, Protestantism, and the Mourning of Contingency: Not to Be John E. Curran Jr Limited preview - 2016 |
Hamlet, Protestantism, and the Mourning of Contingency: Not to be John E. Curran Limited preview - 2007 |