a word from our sponsors
See the new shakespeare.com. This feature, while it still provides useful information, is no longer maintained.
Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries From Genuinely Interested Students 3.15.97: Top | Help
Alan Rudrum, my Milton prof, gave a really interesting lecture at the begin-
ning of this semester on Milton's elligy (sp?) "Lycidas". If I had been pay-
ing attention I would have written down the titles of the books he'd cited,
but I wasn't: so I didn't.
However, he made a point about a change in burial practises and rites of mourn-
ing which were going on from the late 1500s through the 1600s. A shift is taking
place from the medieval point of view (exemplified by the gravediggers and Ger-
trude) to a modern view like that which most of us hold today (as exemplified
by Hamlet).
The medieval point of view was that death was a common experience...From I.ii, about line 70:
Gertrude- Do not forever with thy vailed lids
Seek for thy noble father in the dust.
Thou know'st 'tis common, all that lives must die,
Passing through nature to eternity.The modern view, of course, looks at death as the loss of a particular individual.
I.ii, continuing:
Hamlet- Ay, madam, it is common.
Gertrude- If it be,
Why seems it so particular with thee?
Hamlet- Seems, madam? Nay, it is. I know not "seems".
'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good Mother,
Nor customary suits of solemn black,
Nor windy suspiration of forced breath,
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected havior of the visage,
Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief,
That can denote me truly. These indeed seem,
For they are actions that a man might play.
But I have that within that passes show;
These but the trappings and the suits of woe.But I guess that's more about mourning than burial, per se... As for the changing
practices of burials going on at this time, we see that concern for the individual
is coming into the fore here as well.
The medieval practice saw a dead person turned over to the church who would then
commit the body to the earth. Unless they were a particularly noteworthy person
the grave would go unmarked as to what individuals were placed therein. These were
big-ass group graves, like the one we see the gravediggers turning over in Act V.
It was the seventeenth century that saw a rise in marked graves, but even then you
had to have a few bucks in order to afford such a luxury.
Again, I'm sorry I didn't pay closer attention to the lecture! If I had, I would
have had all of Rudrum's bibliographical information... As it is, I can't recall
the title of a single book which he cited.Still, I hope I helped some...
Posted by LunarCaustic on March 30, 1997 at 02:05:44
In Reply to "Burial rites and Hamlet" posted by Tami on March 29, 1997 at 19:16:59
Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries From Genuinely Interested Students 3.15.97: Top | Help