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 67
... Ghost's meaning is tied directly to them : " Well may it sort that this portentous figure / Comes armed through our watch so like the King / That was and is the question of these wars " ( I.i.112–14 ) . The Ghost comes armed as a sign ...
... Ghost's meaning is tied directly to them : " Well may it sort that this portentous figure / Comes armed through our watch so like the King / That was and is the question of these wars " ( I.i.112–14 ) . The Ghost comes armed as a sign ...
Page 68
... ghost points to a special and at least potentially humanized revenge , just as a special and ambiguous ghost suggests a special revenge pattern that could run in any number of directions.2 But the Ghost is only distinctive if we view it ...
... ghost points to a special and at least potentially humanized revenge , just as a special and ambiguous ghost suggests a special revenge pattern that could run in any number of directions.2 But the Ghost is only distinctive if we view it ...
Page 89
... Ghost and to what is inherently good and right . What then accounts for Hamlet's delay ? Why is there any misuse of time if time means so much to him ? This question must be addressed quite a bit more fully in the next chapter , but for ...
... Ghost and to what is inherently good and right . What then accounts for Hamlet's delay ? Why is there any misuse of time if time means so much to him ? This question must be addressed quite a bit more fully in the next chapter , but for ...
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