 |
|
     |
|
|
|
More from Targoff, discussing Hamlet's relation to the differing views of worship in the Elizabethan period. Targoff complains that "what is strikingly, and mistakenly, absent from our accounts of the Elizabethan settlement is precisely what the play interrogates in staging Claudius's prayer: the belief that external practices might not only reflect but also potentially transform the internal self. . . Hamlet does not, as we might expect, consider the discrepancy he articulated at the beginning of the play between 'actions that a man might play' and 'that within which passes show.'" Instead, "Hamlet adheres to the possibility that external practice might serve as both a criterion of outward judgment and as a vehicle of inward change." Yet, "however ambivalent Hamlet [the play] may ultimately be about the transformative capacity of external behavior, the Church of England was firmly aligned behind it."
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Friday, April 06, 2007 at 05:41 PM
Permission is given to use material on this site, provided the source is cited, blog entries are republished in full, and the author is notified in advance.
1 & 2 Kings
Brazos Theological Commentary
The Promise Of His Appearing: An Exposition Of Second Peter
A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons
Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, And Hope In Western Literature
Miniatures & Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen
The Priesthood of the Plebs: A Theology of Baptism
A Son To Me: An Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel
From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution
Ascent to Love: A Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy
Blessed Are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper
A House For My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament
Heroes of the City of Man: A Christian Guide to Select Ancient Literature
Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide To Six Shakespeare Plays
Wise Words: Family Stories That Bring the Proverbs to Life
The Kingdom and the Power: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church
