FAITH OF SHAKESPEARE - FROM SHAX MAG 13
Many modern readers can miss biblical allusions in Shakespeare's plays, and can treat the references to bible or religion as merely something like scenery in what they think are otherwise mostly secular plays.
But in a recent article in Shakespeare Magazine, an interview with author Graham Holderness gives an excellent introduction to some of the religious issues and questions related to Shakespeare.
Because church attendance was compulsory, and because of censorship, it may seem hard at first to tell what religious references are sincere explorations of religious and biblical themes, and what elements were used in the plays merely to construct an engaging plot.
Holderness concludes that Shakespeare was faithful to the English church, but others like Harvard's Stephen Greenblatt believe he may have secretly held more Catholic sympathies.
I tend to agree more with Greenblatt, yet the plays seem to indicate that he was no passive consumer of religion, but rather a person very critically engaged with the competing claims about faith and religion that were present in his culture and time, as well as a critic of superficial Catholicism.
The interview with Holderness (on page 56) is well worth the read.
https://issuu.com/shakespearemagazine/docs/shakespeare_magazine_13
#Shakespeare #Hamlet #Literature #Bible #Renaissance #EarlyModern #theatre #Drama #literarycriticism
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Links to a description of my book project:
On LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/eJGBtqV
On this blog: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/05/hamlets-bible-my-book-project-im.html
[Originally posted around the week of 3/19/18
on LinkedIn]
Many modern readers can miss biblical allusions in Shakespeare's plays, and can treat the references to bible or religion as merely something like scenery in what they think are otherwise mostly secular plays.
But in a recent article in Shakespeare Magazine, an interview with author Graham Holderness gives an excellent introduction to some of the religious issues and questions related to Shakespeare.
Because church attendance was compulsory, and because of censorship, it may seem hard at first to tell what religious references are sincere explorations of religious and biblical themes, and what elements were used in the plays merely to construct an engaging plot.
Holderness concludes that Shakespeare was faithful to the English church, but others like Harvard's Stephen Greenblatt believe he may have secretly held more Catholic sympathies.
I tend to agree more with Greenblatt, yet the plays seem to indicate that he was no passive consumer of religion, but rather a person very critically engaged with the competing claims about faith and religion that were present in his culture and time, as well as a critic of superficial Catholicism.
The interview with Holderness (on page 56) is well worth the read.
https://issuu.com/shakespearemagazine/docs/shakespeare_magazine_13
#Shakespeare #Hamlet #Literature #Bible #Renaissance #EarlyModern #theatre #Drama #literarycriticism
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Links to a description of my book project:
On LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/eJGBtqV
On this blog: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/05/hamlets-bible-my-book-project-im.html
[Originally posted around the week of 3/19/18
on LinkedIn]
Comments
Post a Comment