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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... one's judgment against one's sins,it was an arm ofjustice. Hamlet calls the Ghost a vision, and swears by St.Patrick it'san honest ghost. But questions arose. Are merits acquired after death, even while amendmentby fire proceeds? Are ...
... one's grief in orderto receive ghostly counsel, advice and comfort [so] as [one's] consciencemay berelieved.” But the doctrine of Predestination addresses soulsearching toentirely different questions, more akinto an examination ofone's ...
... one's power in theworld is most suspect. Curran sees the inevitable kind ofaction asstripped of contingency. Its agent doesn't choose his dire lot,he's chosen for it. Rosencrantz fails tocomprehend Hamlet's heart. Chapter13 of Karen ...
... one's ability tochoose. To demand what is not is not onlyto demanda change, butalso tograsp one's right to make that change happen. Tocommit suicide would be to alter all the conditionsof Hamlet's life,hateful conditions that have been ...
... one's virtue. Theyare insteada “sea oftroubles.” Immersed in a sea of troubles, how can we separate from “external things”? There is norising abovea sea of troubles, no senseof an endurance that would bein anyway liberating. As Hamlet ...
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 |