Hamlet's "Too, Too Solid Flesh"
From a Lutheran perspective, the sexuality Hamlet complains about in Ophelia and Gertrude more appropriately describes the "concupiscence and self-will" of Hamlet's own self-absorption. In expounding his theology of grace, Luther repeatedly calls this spiritual illness the prudence or...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers, Inc.
1994
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| In: |
The sixteenth century journal
Year: 1994, Volume: 25, Issue: 3, Pages: 609-622 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | From a Lutheran perspective, the sexuality Hamlet complains about in Ophelia and Gertrude more appropriately describes the "concupiscence and self-will" of Hamlet's own self-absorption. In expounding his theology of grace, Luther repeatedly calls this spiritual illness the prudence or wisdom of the flesh. In this context the primary symptom of Hamlet's "too, too solid flesh" is his frustrating, paralyzing desire for perfect knowing and perfect doing, a desire John Donne once calls the "carnality of the understanding." Hamlet's fear of death and his dread of judgment, his uneasiness with all "frailty" in men and women, and his stubborn bondage to external, physical, intellectual, and spiritual "goods" are among the other symptoms that Luther associates with this concupiscence. Only at the end, and only then imperfectly, does Hamlet's glutting with death and imperfection, the inevitable rashness and indiscretion of human knowing and doing, begin to reconcile him to accept his own mortality and attest to "a divinity that shapes our ends / Rough-hew them how we will." |
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| ISSN: | 2326-0726 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The sixteenth century journal
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/2542637 |