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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Page 4
... Catholicism of Hamlet see for example I. J. Semper , Hamlet without Tears ( Dubuque : Loras College Press , 1946 ) ; H. Mutschmann and K. Wentersdorf , Shakespeare and Catholicism ( New York : Sheed and Ward , 1952 ) , 220–22 , 238-48 ...
... Catholicism of Hamlet see for example I. J. Semper , Hamlet without Tears ( Dubuque : Loras College Press , 1946 ) ; H. Mutschmann and K. Wentersdorf , Shakespeare and Catholicism ( New York : Sheed and Ward , 1952 ) , 220–22 , 238-48 ...
Page 6
... Catholicism and forcing him — and us - to come to these Calvinistic conclusions . The play casts Calvinistic Protestantism in a negative light even by making a total commitment to it by revealing , through a confirmation of the simple ...
... Catholicism and forcing him — and us - to come to these Calvinistic conclusions . The play casts Calvinistic Protestantism in a negative light even by making a total commitment to it by revealing , through a confirmation of the simple ...
Page 8
... Catholicism , the deterministic slant of Elizabethan theology comes to light most vividly when its spokesmen set that theology against Catholic interlocutors ; it is in anti - Catholic polemic that divines most openly posit the utter ...
... Catholicism , the deterministic slant of Elizabethan theology comes to light most vividly when its spokesmen set that theology against Catholic interlocutors ; it is in anti - Catholic polemic that divines most openly posit the utter ...
Contents
The Be the Eucharist and the Logic of Protestantism | 18 |
Purgatory and the Value of Time | 65 |
The Theater of Merit | 103 |
Copyright | |
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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 |
Common terms and phrases
action actually answer appears audience become believe called Calvin Calvinistic Cambridge Catholic Catholicism cause Christian Claudius comes common concept conscience contingency course dead death determinism display doctrine Drama dream Early effect effort Elizabethan England English example existence expression fact faith fall father feeling Fortune Gertrude Ghost God's Hamlet happen heaven hope Horatio human idea imagine inner John killing kind King lack Literature living logic London Mark marriage matters means merely merit mind move nature never Ophelia Oxford particular performance person play Polonius possible prayer Princeton proportion Protestant Protestantism providence Purgatory Quarterly question reason Reformation remains Renaissance revenge Richard Robert role scene seems sense Shakespeare soliloquy soul speech Studies tell theater things Thomas thoughts Tragedy true truth trying turn University Press whore York