Folger interview with David Scott Kastan

Here's a good Folger Shakespeare Library interview with David Scott Kastan (author of "A Will to Believe: Shakespeare and Religion") from 2016. It covers a lot of territory, and there's a transcript below it at the link if you'd rather read than listen.

One small point of disagreement: Kastan notes the line in Merchant of Venice, with Lorenzo gazing at the stars, which are to him, “patens of bright gold.” He says that this converts everything to commerce.

But in fact, a paten of gold was the gold plate that an altar boy held under chins of communicants to catch the Eucharist in case the host fell from the lips. [Note the following quote from Alexander Leggatt, also on the Folger website: "The stars are 'patens of bright gold' (5.1.67)—that is, plates used in the Eucharist which are also rich material objects. The play’s materialism touches even the spiritual realm..." See Alexander Leggatt, "A Modern Perspective: The Merchant of Venice," https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/the-merchant-of-venice/the-merchant-of-venice-a-modern-perspective/ ]

So that's not exactly commerce of this world, but a metaphor of Eucharist for the stars in the heavens. // A small point. You don't have to agree with it all, of course.

https://www.folger.edu/shakespeare-unlimited/religion


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