Amleth
I'm a student (adult) of Shakespeare, with a serious interest in Hamlet. It appears to me that, in Hamlet at least, Shakespeare made allusion to certain tarot card pictures, particularly those of the Visconti Sforza deck. I'll offer specific examples of what I mean.
There's a point where Hamlet is talking to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, in the so-called "little eyases" or "aerie of children" passage:
Rosencrantz first says to Hamlet: "... there is an aerie of children, little
eyases..." (An "eyas" is a nestling hawk, a young bird, being used there in figurative reference to boy actors.)
Then, just a bit later, the following exchange occurs:
Hamlet: Do the boys carry it away?
Ros: Aye, that they do, my Lord; Hercules and his load, too.
Hercules's "load" was the world, when he substituted for Atlas. Rosencrantz means the boys carried the world of acting away, so to speak. One more point is that Elsinore Castle is the "world" of Hamlet, and it's a castle by the sea. Now, look at the World card in the Visconti Sforza deck.
It shows two "boys" (cherubs) with wings. They can be viewed as "little eyases." The "world" they're carrying, like Hercules, is a castle by the sea, like Elsinore Castle. I find the correspondence between the card picture and the Hamlet dialogue extremely intriguing. There's more.
Laertes, at one point, says to Ophelia:
"The chariest maid is prodigal enough
If she unmask her beauty to the moon." (In modern meaning "chary" means "careful," but in older usage it meant "sorrowful.") The Moon card in the VS deck does depict a "chary" maiden, with her beautiful face unmasked, showing her sad face to the moon.
Elsewhere in the play, Hamlet characterizes his father as Hercules. Then, when he wants to follow the Ghost, Hamlet speaks of the Nemean lion. The VS Strength or Fortitude card does depict Hercules battling the lion.
Elsewhere, Hamlet speaks of R & G being "about the waist" of Fortune. The VS Wheel card (and the same card in other decks) does show two characters who are "about the waist" level of Fortune, on the sides of the Wheel.
I could mention several more examples, perhaps as many as a dozen altogether, where the Hamlet dialogue is suggestive of some tarot card picture, especially VS pics. There's the Star, the Sun, the Magician (sometimes called Mountebank, so I've read,) and the Old Man (suggestive of Polonius.) My theory is that Shakespeare was a tarot player, and he made use of some tarot card pictures in his writings. It's certainly possible he played tarot, since some of the decks go back easily to Elizabethan times, and tarot seems to have been popular in that era. Also, the tarot pictures would have provided ready-made illustrations for the play when it was printed. Those who had tarot decks could have looked at certain cards, at certain points in reading the play, and gotten an emblematic representation, at least, for the passage. (Emblem books were quite popular in that era.)
But I know far more about Hamlet than I do about tarot. So, I'm hoping for input from tarot historians. Particularly, is there any reason to think Shakespeare could not have had a VS deck in England at that time? That would immediately shoot down my theory, if there's some specific reason in tarot history why he couldn't have had a VS deck. Then, what other decks of that era should I look at, as well, that Shakespeare might have had, and made reference to? Any decks in particular? And I'd be interested in other comments about Shakespeare possibly having been a tarot player.
Perhaps I should make it clear that I don't mean to suggest Shakespeare writing Hamlet by dealing a deck of tarot, or anything like that. (I can't absolutely rule that out, but I doubt it.) I'm focused especially on certain passages in the play, in relation to certain tarot pics which could possibly have provided illustrations for the passages. If this theory could be advanced, it seems to me it would be significant both for tarot history, and Shakespeare studies.
There's a point where Hamlet is talking to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, in the so-called "little eyases" or "aerie of children" passage:
Rosencrantz first says to Hamlet: "... there is an aerie of children, little
eyases..." (An "eyas" is a nestling hawk, a young bird, being used there in figurative reference to boy actors.)
Then, just a bit later, the following exchange occurs:
Hamlet: Do the boys carry it away?
Ros: Aye, that they do, my Lord; Hercules and his load, too.
Hercules's "load" was the world, when he substituted for Atlas. Rosencrantz means the boys carried the world of acting away, so to speak. One more point is that Elsinore Castle is the "world" of Hamlet, and it's a castle by the sea. Now, look at the World card in the Visconti Sforza deck.
It shows two "boys" (cherubs) with wings. They can be viewed as "little eyases." The "world" they're carrying, like Hercules, is a castle by the sea, like Elsinore Castle. I find the correspondence between the card picture and the Hamlet dialogue extremely intriguing. There's more.
Laertes, at one point, says to Ophelia:
"The chariest maid is prodigal enough
If she unmask her beauty to the moon." (In modern meaning "chary" means "careful," but in older usage it meant "sorrowful.") The Moon card in the VS deck does depict a "chary" maiden, with her beautiful face unmasked, showing her sad face to the moon.
Elsewhere in the play, Hamlet characterizes his father as Hercules. Then, when he wants to follow the Ghost, Hamlet speaks of the Nemean lion. The VS Strength or Fortitude card does depict Hercules battling the lion.
Elsewhere, Hamlet speaks of R & G being "about the waist" of Fortune. The VS Wheel card (and the same card in other decks) does show two characters who are "about the waist" level of Fortune, on the sides of the Wheel.
I could mention several more examples, perhaps as many as a dozen altogether, where the Hamlet dialogue is suggestive of some tarot card picture, especially VS pics. There's the Star, the Sun, the Magician (sometimes called Mountebank, so I've read,) and the Old Man (suggestive of Polonius.) My theory is that Shakespeare was a tarot player, and he made use of some tarot card pictures in his writings. It's certainly possible he played tarot, since some of the decks go back easily to Elizabethan times, and tarot seems to have been popular in that era. Also, the tarot pictures would have provided ready-made illustrations for the play when it was printed. Those who had tarot decks could have looked at certain cards, at certain points in reading the play, and gotten an emblematic representation, at least, for the passage. (Emblem books were quite popular in that era.)
But I know far more about Hamlet than I do about tarot. So, I'm hoping for input from tarot historians. Particularly, is there any reason to think Shakespeare could not have had a VS deck in England at that time? That would immediately shoot down my theory, if there's some specific reason in tarot history why he couldn't have had a VS deck. Then, what other decks of that era should I look at, as well, that Shakespeare might have had, and made reference to? Any decks in particular? And I'd be interested in other comments about Shakespeare possibly having been a tarot player.
Perhaps I should make it clear that I don't mean to suggest Shakespeare writing Hamlet by dealing a deck of tarot, or anything like that. (I can't absolutely rule that out, but I doubt it.) I'm focused especially on certain passages in the play, in relation to certain tarot pics which could possibly have provided illustrations for the passages. If this theory could be advanced, it seems to me it would be significant both for tarot history, and Shakespeare studies.