LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 15:6 June 2015
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Further Biblical Allusions to John the Baptist in Shakespeare’s
Hamlet

Song Cho, M.A.

In Antony and Cleopatra, Alexas says: “Good majesty, / Herod of Jewry dare not look upon you / But when you are well pleased.” To which Cleopatra responds: “That Herod’s head / I’ll have” (3.3.2-5). According to Naseeb Shaheen, the name “Herod” in this passage appears to make reference to Herod the Tetrarch (193), the ruler of Galilee responsible for the death of John the Baptist. The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 14, recounts the beheading of the itinerant preacher. Herod had John arrested after he criticized Herod’s marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife. Shaheen quotes Matt. 14.6,8: “The daughter of Herodias daunced before them, and pleased Herode. And she . . . said, Giue me here Iohn Baptists head in a platter” (647).

In a previous article titled Echoes of John the Baptist in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, I made mention of the marginal note of Matthew 14: 1 as recorded in the 1599 Geneva Bible. A closer look at the biblical text may suggest that Shakespeare may have been aware of another marginal note found in the 1560 Geneva Bible. The note of Matthew 14: 4 reads: “As well because nature abhors such horrible incest, as also that he had taken her by force from his brother” (spellings have been modernized, my emphasis). Before proceeding, it should be kept in mind that “Shakespeare’s references are often closer to the Geneva Bible than to any other version. It was the most popular version of the day, and it is only natural to assume that he owned a copy” (Shaheen 39).

In Hamlet, King Claudius marries his brother’s wife. The ghost of Hamlet’s father says to his son: “O horrible, O horrible, most horrible! / If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not. / Let not the royal bed of Denmark be / A couch for luxury and damnèd incest” (1.5.80-83, my emphasis). In Cymbeline, Caius Lucius finds a headless body and cries: “Soft, ho, what trunk is here / Without his top? The ruin speaks that sometime / It was a worthy building. How, a page? / Or dead or sleeping on him? But dead rather, / For nature doth abhor to make his bed / With the defunct, or sleep upon the dead. / Let’s see the boy’ face” (4.2.355-361, my emphasis). Hence, it appears that these passages may have borrowed biblical material from the aforementioned marginal note.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Song Cho, M.A.
Assistant Professor of Spanish
Oklahoma Baptist University
Shawnee, OK 74804
USA
song.cho@okbu.edu
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