Free Will in Hamlet?
I argue that the Shakespeare of Hamlet was influenced by the debate between Erasmus and Luther on the question of free will. I approach this debate as a record of the tensions within Christian humanism and as a conceptual source text for Hamlet. I detect the debate's resonances in the play�...
| Published in: | Christianity & literature |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Johns Hopkins University Press
[2018]
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| In: |
Christianity & literature
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| RelBib Classification: | CD Christianity and Culture KAG Church history 1500-1648; Reformation; humanism; Renaissance NBE Anthropology |
| Further subjects: | B
ERASMUS, Desiderius, d. 1536
B Shakespeare B Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 B Luther B Humanism B Luther, Martin, 1483-1546 B Erasmus B HAMLET (Play : Shakespeare) |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | I argue that the Shakespeare of Hamlet was influenced by the debate between Erasmus and Luther on the question of free will. I approach this debate as a record of the tensions within Christian humanism and as a conceptual source text for Hamlet. I detect the debate's resonances in the play's thematic investigation of the will, as well as in how the playwright yokes together the conflicting worlds of literature and theology, humanism and reform. I hold that while Shakespeare deploys Erasmian strategies of ambiguity and silence with respect to the highest mysteries, he also assimilates Luther's suspicion of the pretensions of consciousness. |
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| ISSN: | 2056-5666 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Christianity & literature
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0148333117723340 |