HAMLET

Biblical Allusions

Sparrows

Tagged With: - HAMLET

In Act V, Scene ii, Horatio thinks it’s best to postpone the duel with Laertes. Hamlet replies, “Not a whit. We defy augury. There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow.”

Cain, the First Murderer

Tagged With: - HAMLET

Hamlet had to have been familiar with GENESIS 4 to respond the way he did, in the first scene of Act V, to the gravedigger’s handling of a skull: “That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once: / how the knave jowls it to the ground, as if it were / Cain’s […]

Dust to Dust

Tagged With: , , - HAMLET

When Rosencrantz and Gildenstern ask Hamlet what he had done with Polonius’ body, Hamlet replies, “Compounded it with dust, whereto ’tis kin” (IV, ii). GENESIS 2 : 7; 3 : 19; JOB 10 : 9; 33 : 6 and ISAIAH 64 : 8 all testify that not only Adam, but all men are composed of dust and clay.

Adam

Tagged With: - HAMLET

GENESIS 1-4 introduces the reader of the Bible to Adam, the first human being created, and the creation account tells us that Adam’s primary occupation was to subdue the earth (GENESIS 1 : 28) and to tend and keep the Garden of Eden (GENESIS 2 : 15). The gravediggers in the opening scene of Act V, refer to “Adam’s profession.”

Purity

Tagged With: - HAMLET

In one of the most recognizable passages of the Old Testament, Isaiah pleads with the sin-full people of Judah, “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool” (ISAIAH 1:18). […]