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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... means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. John E. CurranJr has asserted his moralright under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the ...
... Yethe forswears bringing Gertrudeto penance—assigning to administer toheronly heaven and herown priesthood, “those thornsthat in herbosom lodge/To prickand sting her.”Lutherthought penance should mean a never ending punishment.
... mean a never ending punishment oftheOld Adam's sinandgrieving over human imperfection and depravity—not buyingyour way outof Purgatory. Hisassault on the sacramental system elaborated from the thirteenth century onward offeredto replace ...
... yourgriefs to yourfriend.” “The Churchshut uphell by means ofthe Sacrament of Penance. But at some periodin the futureit was felt thatthings would go very badlywith sinners,and thatlikewise onsuch aday theysurely must expiate alltheir sins.
... means. He seemsto speakfrom a Purgatoryfrom which there's no foreseeable reprieve,a penitentiary indistinguishable from the hellor underworld from which Senecan ghosts haleto predict whatthey likewise command: catastrophic redressof ...
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 |