The Hamlet Podcast

J

Jade
(Episode 93) This is particularly impressive wordplay from Shakespeare. Jade is a word for a tired horse, but it also means to tire (as in, ‘jaded’) - and there’s a secondary meaning that he slips in - for sheer malice - of a fallen woman being a jade. So, there’s a variety of possibilities for Hamlet to score points with this curious little line.

Jephthah has been an inspiration in many artforms, most interestingly in music. There is a beautiful cantata by Carissimi (which I had the joy of staging in 2014), and also a longer oratorio by Handel, featuring some very famous arias. Both are very much worth a look!

Connie J. Beane’s Reconsidering the Jephthah Allusion in Hamlet is the article I mentioned in this episode. It’s a brilliant read, and you can find it here.

Jesus, the Owl and the Baker’s Daughter
While I’m not particularly convinced of how it’s relevant to Ophelia, here is the story of Jesus and the baker’s daughter, as described in Francis Douce in his “Illustrations of Shakespeare” in 1839. He himself records it as coming from the Gloucestershire peasantry: “Our Saviour went into a baker's shop where they were baking, and asked for some bread to eat; the mistress of the shop immediately put a piece of dough into the oven to bake for him; but was reprimanded by her daughter, who, insisting that the piece of dough was too large, reduced it to a very small size; the dough, however, immediately began to swell, and presently became a most enormous size, whereupon the baker's daughter cried out, 'Heugh, heugh, heugh!' which owl-like noise probably induced our Saviour to transform her into that bird for her wickedness." Another version of the same story, as formerly known in Herefordshire, substitutes a fairy in the place of our Saviour. Similar legends are found on the Continent.” (I do like that he acknowledges that between Gloucestershire and Herefordshire there’s a difference, and that in Herefordshire it’s a fairy who changes the young lady into a bird!)

Jig-Maker
This is another reference to Will Kemp, the great clown and dancer who had left Shakespeare’s company at the time of Hamlet’s composition. Since he was gone, there was nobody left to dance quite as well as Kemp, and so Hamlet (likely played by Burbage) would have had to cast himself as the jig-maker. It’s another cheeky reference from Shakespeare to his own real-life circumstances.

Jove
Although he is better known as Jupiter, Jove is a frequently-used version of the name of the ruler of the Roman Gods, the Sky-Father. Jove comes from a Latin version of his name, and is a convenient version because it is only one syllable and can fit neatly into a poetic line. He was the king of the gods, and so if Hamlet is going to liken his father’s brow to any of them, it makes sense for it to be Jupiter.

The Book of Judges is the seventh book of the Old Testament. It covers the time between the conquest detailed in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a Kingdom during the Book of Samuel. Generally the narratives within the Book of Judges follow a similar pattern - people are unfaithful to Yahweh and He therefore delivers them into the hands of their enemeies, and then when they beg for mercy He sends them a champion or ‘judge’. This judge delivers them from oppression, and the Israelites prosper again, before falling away from God again and re-starting the cycle.

Julius Caesar
Shakespeare's play about the conspirators who assassinate Julius Caesar can be reasonably assumed to have been first performed in 1599. The likelihood is that it appeared just before Hamlet, and so the references to ancient Rome discussed in this episode are hardly surprising since Rome was still on Shakespeare's mind. In Julius Caesar, Antony insists that Caesar’s body be shown to the public after the assassination, and he gives a highly strategic and effective eulogy. Shakespeare used Thomas North’s translation of Plutarch as a starting point:

When this was done, they came to talke of Caesars will and testament, and of his funeralls and tombe. Then Antonius (Marc Antony) thinking good his testament should be red openly, and also that his body should be honorably buried, and not in hugger mugger, least the people might thereby take occasion to be worse offended if they did otherwise.

K

Will Kempe
Kempe was a popular actor with various companies, known for his ability to improvise. (This was so integral to his performances that often the texts of plays in which we know he acted seem rather dull, because it was left to the man himself to perform in the moment!) He was also famous for his dancing, and the jig that was so integral to Elizabethan plays was famous because of him. When Shakespeare and his colleagues founded the Globe Theatre, Kempe was one of the company. We do not know why he left soon afterwards, but it is possible that the absence of Falstaff from Henry V is a direct result of his departure. We do not know for certain if Kempe had played the role in other plays, but it is certainly possible. It is certain that he played Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing and Peter in Romeo and Juliet. It’s at very least possible that he also incarnated the roles of Launcelot Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice, Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Costard in Love’ Labour’s Lost. After he left Shakespeare’s company - for whatever reason - his one other claim to fame is that he morris danced from London to Norwich (a journey that took nine full days) and wrote a book about it. It is believed that he died in 1603, but again, there is no concrete evidence.

The King’s Rouse
I didn't cover it in the body of the text, but there's a hint at the end of Claudius' speech that he might be something of a drinker. Contrasted with the fastidiousness of Hamlet's father (introduced to us already in the martial formality of an experienced soldier), Claudius is presented as a relaxed, even rowdy boozer. He is excited at just how much 'jocund' drinking there will be tonight, and Hamlet will likewise make reference to this in upcoming lines and scenes. 

The Knight’s Tale
The Knight’s Tale is the first of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. A stirring tale of romance, it inspired numerous other stories, not least Shakespeare’s own play, The Two Noble Kinsmen.

L

Lard
Shakespeare uses the word “lard” to mean “decorate” in four different instances. The meaning is derived from cookery - lard is pig fat, specifically (as opposed to suet, which comes from beef). Lard was added to dishes to enrich the texture and enhance the flavour. In the late 20th century it fell out of favour, since it is not suitable for vegetarians, vegans, or anyone who avoids pork products. It has had something of a renaissance of late among foodies who like to enhance and enrich dishes with it.

Last Rites
The Ghost laments that he was sent from this life with "all his imperfections" on his head. Although not one of the official seven sacraments, the group of ceremonial comforts known as the last rites included the opportunity to confess one's sins (and thereby enter a state of grace), the opportunity to receive Holy Communion, and the opportunity to receive extreme unction, also known as the anointing of the sick. This last is one of the seven sacraments, usually only made available to someone in severe medical need. The Ghost makes reference to all of these in his speech. 'Unhouseled' means 'without having received the host' - also known by the archiac word 'housel'. Comparably, 'unaneled' (which appears in various spellings across different editors' texts) means 'without having been anointed'. So, the Ghost was in no way spiritually comforted or prepared for death.

Lethe
Lethe was one of several rivers in the Greek underworld. Although Shakespeare is perhaps giving a nod to the Ferryman Charon (he who brought the newly-departed souls across from Life to Death), his wharf and his Ferry were not across the Lethe, but across the Styx. This was the main river of the Underworld, and encircled it seven times. In other accounts, Charon ferries the dead across the river Acheron, which was the river of Pain. Souls were judged in the Underworld by Rhadamanthus and his brothers, and it was their job to decide whether the soul would go to the Isles of the Blessed, the Fields of Asphodel or to the hellish Tartarus. Those headed for the latter would travel there via the river Phelgethon, the river of Fire. The other river of the Underworld was the River Cocytus, which was the river of wailing, or tears. Shakespeare mentions Lethe more than any of the other rivers, but he does make reference to the Styx, to Cocytus and to Acheron. (No surprises that all three are mentioned in Titus Andronicus, which has so much to say about the dead...) . Phlegethon is not mentioned by him anywhere - perhaps he imagined the word might be hard to say at speed...! 

Lobby
From the Latin word lobium (plural lobia), meaning a covered walkway or portico. A Roman home was often built around a garden with a pool for rainwater - this kind of entrance to a home or building grew over time (via cloisters in religious convents and monasteries) and the place filled with lobia came to be known as the lobby. Hamlet is the only play that refers to such an architectural feature. The word lobby in its other meaning appears only in Henry VI.2 and in Timon of Athens. 

Thomas Lodge
Lodge was a trained physician who also had a passion for literature. His father had been Lord Mayor of London. He turned to writing rather later in life, having established himself first as a doctor. He wrote in a variety of formats - novels, pamphlets, and even plays - and indeed his treatise in Defence of Poetry, Music and Stage Plays somehow contained enough opinion to find itself banned. Lodge travelled extensively, even as far as Brazil in the early 1590s. In 1596 he wrote the work that earns him a mention here, Wit's Miserie and the World's Madnesse, a kind of memoir in which he mentions having scene the Ur-Hamlet play performed at Burbage's Shoreditch Playhouse.   

The Lost Hamlet
The Ur-Hamlet (the German prefix Ur- means "primordial", or original) is a play by an unknown author, though it is maintained that it could have been written by Thomas Kyd (who wrote The Spanish Tragedy) or perhaps by Shakespeare himself. Scholarship dates it to sometime during 1587.  No printed copy of the text survives, but it is mentioned in various places. All we really know about the play is that it featured a character called Hamlet and a ghost character that exhorted him to revenge. It’s possible there might have been a proto-Horatio figure too, but this is little more than conjecture.

Lovesickness
Shakespeare gives many descriptions of how it feels to fall prey to lovesickness. At the beginning of Romeo and Juliet, Benvolio (himself feeling out of sorts) spots Romeo out moping in the early hours of the morning. Indeed it is his distracted lovesickness that makes Romeo miss the brawl that starts the play. As mentioned in the episode, Rosalind also has a fun description of the symptoms Orlando would display if he really were in love. The comedies Much Ado About Nothing and Love's Labour's Lost also poke fun at the grisly process of falling in love and the ill-effects it can have on human health - all of which might have prepared an audience for Hamlet's behaviour. But is he really in love or only acting?