Here is what I read that sparked my question at dinner over the use of the albatross as a symbol of Christ.
"If I enumerate in a work of art those pure forms which carry primary meanings, I subject that work that work of art to pre-iconographical description. Thus, in describing King Lear, one might list he configurations or forms he finds in that particular play: pelicans, vipers, blind men, mad men.
"To go beyond such elementary listing, and treat those configurations as carriers of secondary meanings, to treat, that is to say, notsimply the thing itself but what that thing stands for beyond the primary level of mere denotation, is to enter on iconography. A pelican is a kind of bird. But conventionally it has been used as an emblem of Christ. who feeds or repasts his flock - the phrase belongs to Laertes, In Hamlet - with his own life's blood. A winged man, a lion, an ox, an eagle, these, in conjunction, in Christian literature and art, figure by convention the Four Evangelists. The image of a fish betokens jesus Christ. In vaticinal poetry, men and women are symbolized in a character of animals and birds. The magpie may stand for an odious priest, and the dragon for any Welsh prince; or, if the time is propitious, for Own Glendower; or later, robert Aske, the Licolnshire rebel; or, it may be, for Anti-Christ, the Dragon of Babylon.
"The form, then, is charged with secondary meaning . It has become an image. Kig Lear, of course, is compounded of images. It is the business of the iconographer to describe them. . . . "
Taken from the beginning of _'King Lear' In The Renaissance_ by Russel A. Fraser, from the collection of essays "Shakepeare's Poetics - in relation to King Lear".
I looked up Albatross at dictionary.com and in my hard copy dictionary. This is what it had-
Albatross [[ altered , prob infl by Latin albus, white < Sp alcatraz, lit. pelican < Port. pelican, orig., bucket < Ar ak qadus, water-wheel basket, scoop < Gr Kados, cask, jar, prob. < Heb kad, water jug]] 1. A web-footed bird, of the genus Diomedea, of which there are several species. They are the largest of sea birds, capable of long-continued flight, and are often seen at great distances from the land.They are found chiefly in the southern hemisphere. 2. [[from the bird used as a symbol of guilt in a poem by Coleridge]] a burden or source of distress, esp., one that impairs effective action; often int he phrase 'an albatross around one's neck'.
Pelican [[ME < OE pellicane < LL (Ec) pelicanus < Gr pelekan (used in LXX to transl. Heb ka'ath, bird of prey), akin to pelekas, woodpecker, prob, < pelekys, an ax (from the shape of the bill) akin to Skr. para[,c]u.]] [Written also pelecan.] Any large webfooted bird of the genus Pelecanus, of which about a dozen species are known. They have an enormous bill, to the lower edge of which is attached a pouch in which captured fishes are temporarily stored. Note: The American white pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) and the brown species (P. fuscus) are abundant on the Florida coast in winter, but breed about the lakes in the Rocky Mountains and British America.
I also found this when I looked up Pelican online at dictionary.com -
Pelican in her piety (in heraldry and symbolical art), a representation of a pelican in the act of wounding her breast in order to nourish her young with her blood; -- a practice fabulously attributed to the bird, on account of which it was adopted as a symbol of the Redeemer, and of charity.
The reference in
King Lear to pelicans is in Act III, scene iv (line 69) :
KING LEAR :
Death, traitor! Nothing could have subdued nature
To such a lowness but his unkind daughters.
Is it the fashion that discarded fathers
Should have thus little mercy on their flesh?
Judicious punishment! 'twas this flesh begot
Those pelican daughters.
PS. Totally unrelated, I found this fascinating web site while loking up 'Christ and pelican' on the Internet-
http://www.cannabisculture.com/backissues/cc11/christ.html
UPDATE 02.22.01 -
http://www.kwantlen.bc.ca/~donna/sca/pelican/
