the firmament.

Last week I visited the library and grabbed several books on Shakespeare and various theories. A lot of the books I chose deal with the interest of science and in astronomy during the time of Shakespeare.

Last night I got into a book titled Shakespeare and Science . Although it is an older book, it gets right to the point without extra fluff and theory. Most of what I found to be interesting was how frequently, and even subtly, the heavens and the planets are mentioned in Hamlet. One of the chapters of the book dealt only with the sunrise and what it represents in Shakespeare's writings. "[the] dawn was the symbol of hope, freshness, youth, renewed strength, action, opportunity. It was the moment when man braced himself to meet his fate, be that good or bad." As I read this quote, I thought immediately of when the "cock crew" after the ghost of Hamlet's father disappeared again. After Hamlet spoke with the Ghost, he accepted to avenge his murdered father, thereby accepting his fate, which turned out to be pretty bad.

Another reference to the sun in Hamlet is when the prince is comparing his deceased father and his murderous uncle to his mother. Hamlet relates his father's image to that of Hyperion, the titan god of the sun.

Perhaps in Hamlet relating his father as the sun god, Shakespeare was able to manipulate King Hamlet as the center of all the events that occurred in the play. Bu then again, did Shakespeare believe in the Ptolemaic theory of the universe (earth as the center), or in Copernicus's model of the universe (sun as the center)? Either way, Hyperion was known and respected in the time of Shakespeare as  a pretty powerful god, deserving of praise and worship.