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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... seems tobea directreference. the coherence (and the impressiveness) of Marston's plays depends on “a pattern behind the pattern,” an inner organization of ideas and attitude to whichthe surface actionandexpression is merely accessory ...
... seems tobea directreference tothe Requiem Mass. The insane desireof Antonio,in this same scene,for a perfectjustice whichwill kill thefather'spart ofJulio without harming the mother's, catches another essential component of the whole ...
... seems vexed andperplexed by anequally doctrinal Oedipus complex. Ernst Jones' Hamlet and Oedipus argues that what is buriedin Shakespeare's play, inplain sight, is an exploded viewof the famous complex: the beloved but displaced father ...
... seem to presuppose, actually retain any power ofexercising awill ofhis own?Oraresuch paragons mere instruments oftheir dramaturgical fate—not itsdeterminers— contracted from birthtobetheir owncasualties? Hamletchafesat the“cursed spite ...
... seems abrutal andblindimmanent will, unconscious or regardlessofhuman merit ordeserts. Horatio will havedifficulty explainingwhat divinity has roughhewn the telosof the historyhe's toreport.For itfalls tohim tobecome its custodian ...
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 |