{"id":80279,"date":"2020-09-22T18:57:34","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T15:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=80279"},"modified":"2020-09-22T18:57:34","modified_gmt":"2020-09-22T15:57:34","slug":"what-a-piece-of-work-is-a-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/what-a-piece-of-work-is-a-man\/","title":{"rendered":"What A Piece Of Work Is A Man!"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"80279","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":72765,"related_cahpter":"575","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"From King David to Will Shakespeare to Broadway...\r\n\r\n","content":"

It\u2019s a straight line from our psalm to Hamlet\u2019s famous monologue (Act 2, Scene II):<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world. The paragon of animals.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike David, who similarly sees man as but \u201ca little lower than the heavenly beings\u201d, Hamlet is driven to despair by his contemplation of man\u2019s condition:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me. No, nor woman neither\u2026\u201d (<\/span>so stop your smirking, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern!<\/span><\/em>)<\/span><\/p>\n

Thus, Hamlet answers David\u2019s rhetorical question of God \u201cWhat is man that you are mindful of him?\u201d by saying, in essence, \u201cYou are right!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hamlet sees the same sky as David (\u201cWhen I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have established\u2026\u201d) but Hamlet\u2019s sky is full of foreboding:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air\u2014look you, this brave o’erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire\u2014why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

David instead is moved to exclaim, at the beginning and end of our psalm:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cO Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What is the difference? David reposes his hopes, not only in God, but\u2014despite his own travails with his children\u2014in a coming generation arising in purity:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOut of the mouths of babes and sucklings You have founded strength!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hamlet shows us David as he might have been, without God and without hope. Or, depending on one\u2019s viewpoint, he shows us a David without illusions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/fstxNFdQWZQ","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"What A Piece Of Work Is A Man!","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"From King David to Will Shakespeare to Broadway...","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":false,"preview_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/fstxNFdQWZQ","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80279"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80279"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80280,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80279\/revisions\/80280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}