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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... but also for resignationin the face ofthe inevitable. PurelySenecan revengers are compelledto contrive bigger and ... but the noblest ofyour occupation[s]. ...Have you known how totake rest? You havedone more than he whohath taken ...
... but if wetake them purely forthe contentofthe ideas they convey,we seeinthem a highly optimistic philosophical stance whichis strongly referenced and then rudely undercut. Hamlet repeatedly inthis exchange calls attention to humanistic ...
... but also detailing how these particular religiousmatters comeintoview. Wewill seehow the play'ssalient preoccupations, includingrevenge, ontology,reason, pneumatology, memory, time, theatricality,fortune, sexuality, and tragic ...
... but certaine.”20 For Protestants, Catholicideasof contingency inthe universein general andin humansalvation in ... but also benevolentand gentleheavenly influence; theheavensare likea wondrouslyregal kingoverlooking hissubjects ...
... but a fouland pestilent congregation of vapours” (II.ii.300–303). Interesting here is notmerely thathe sees foulness, but alsothat he seesnothing but foulness; imposing itself onhimis the notion of having no way toseethings butone, and ...
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 | |
Other editions - View all
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 |