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 104
... audience , for all feelings and actions , and their intensity - level , contribute to the ledger of merits and demerits on which salvation is hinged . Not only do others watch attentively , but this audience encompasses the dead , the ...
... audience , for all feelings and actions , and their intensity - level , contribute to the ledger of merits and demerits on which salvation is hinged . Not only do others watch attentively , but this audience encompasses the dead , the ...
Page 120
... audience , specifically Claudius and Gertrude , must see themselves in the play and be moved at least toward a disconcerting guilt and at best , in Gertrude's case , toward a turn- around . 43 The playlet is thus to reveal truth in two ...
... audience , specifically Claudius and Gertrude , must see themselves in the play and be moved at least toward a disconcerting guilt and at best , in Gertrude's case , toward a turn- around . 43 The playlet is thus to reveal truth in two ...
Page 128
... audience with such a powerful performance . In fact , his sarcasm in response to Polonius's promise to use the players " according to their desert " shows how deeply moving Hamlet has found the speech . No one deserves anything but ...
... audience with such a powerful performance . In fact , his sarcasm in response to Polonius's promise to use the players " according to their desert " shows how deeply moving Hamlet has found the speech . No one deserves anything but ...
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 |
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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