Fifth Day of Christmas, Paul and Agrippa, Dec 29 (Series, Part 5.c.)

Paul and Agrippa, not Becket?
Fifth Day of Christmas, December 29:

Bible readings for morning and evening prayer in Shakespeare’s England followed their own schedule, unrelated to feasts such as St. Thomas Becket (removed by Henry VIII and the English Reformation) [1].

Morning:
Psalm 29 - Geneva Introduction: “The Prophet exhorteth the princes and rulers of the world (which for the most part think there is no God.)” [2].

Lesson 1: Isaiah 61 speaks of God’s anointed (which Christians interpreted to be Jesus) setting prisoners free.
- At least six Shakespeare plays involve prisoners, real or figurative, some set free only in death [3].
- The point here is not that each of these plays alludes to Jesus as liberator of prisoners, but that the Bible readings in English churches (where Shakespeare’s attendance was required by law) shaped and influenced the development of religious and literary motifs related to prisoners and their liberation.

Lesson 2:
Acts 26 - Prisoner St. Paul encounters King Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great, and nephew of Herod Antipas. Agrippa passes Paul along to Rome.
- It is ironic that after Paul fails to convert Agrippa, the ruler loses anyway, struck down by heaven and eaten from within by worms. In his later contest with Thomas Becket, Henry VIII thinks he should win. The fate of Agrippa resembles that of the incestuous Antiochus and his daughter, struck down and killed by heavenly fire in Shakespeare’s Pericles:

HELICANUS:
Antiochus from incest lived not free,
For which the most high gods not minding longer
To withhold the vengeance that they had in store
Due to this heinous capital offense,
Even in the height and pride of all his glory,
When he was seated in a chariot of
An inestimable value, and his daughter with him,
A fire from heaven came and shriveled up
Those bodies even to loathing, for they so stunk
That all those eyes adored them, ere their fall,
Scorn now their hand should give them burial. (2.4.1-12)

Hannibal Hamlin refers to the play as “The Acts of Pericles” for all of its resemblances to Paul’s journeys [4].

Evening:
Lesson 1: Isaiah 62 speaks (among other things) of God as like a bridegroom who rejoices over his bride. (Are love and marriage themes in a few Shakespeare plays?)

Lesson 2: 2 John 1 addresses a lady recipient of his letter and notes, “many deceivers are entered into this world.” (In what Shakespeare play is deception not a theme?)

Church attendance in Shakespeare's time was compulsory, even if there were ways of avoiding it. Every Sunday and Feast Day of his life, it's highly likely that he attended and heard most of the scripture readings repeatedly, and sermons based on scripture readings. Believer or not, his plays contain more allusions to scripture than any other playwright of his time. It would be a gross oversight to claim that the (compulsory) church readings had no influence on his writing.


INDEX for posts in this series on the TWELVE DAYS of CHRISTMAS in Shakespeare’s time (and possible influences on the plays):
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/12/twelve-days-of-christmas-in-churches-of.html

NOTES: All references to Shakespeare plays are to the Folger Shakespeare Library online versions: https://shakespeare.folger.edu

[1] See previous post on the English erasure (removal) Feast of the Martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/12/the-5th-day-of-christmas-rewriting.html

[2] The regular use of the Book of Psalms at morning and evening prayer in England was a constant reminder of the reign of that problematic King David, from whom Joseph, father of Jesus, was descended. See previous post for the First Sunday after Christmas: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/12/first-sunday-after-christmas-jesus-of.html
Henry VIII had a prayer book with illustrated psalms in which David was portrayed to look like Henry himself. "Goliath is modelled on Pope Paul III, who excommunicated the ‘heretic’ King in 1538. David’s victory over Goliath is thus directly analagous to Henry’s ‘liberation’ of England from servitude to Rome." http://idlespeculations-terryprest.blogspot.com/2011/08/inside-mind-of-tyrant.html Illustration from same source:

Like Hamlet’s father, David was famous for certain military victories (single combat against Goliath, in the case of King David, instead of against Old Fortinbras of Norway, for King Hamlet). Like King David, the throne of Denmark was tainted by sexual scandal with the alleged affair of Gertrude and Claudius (unproven in the Shakespeare text) and the murder of a sexual rival by Claudius (as in the David story).

[3] Some Shakespeare plays in which characters are imprisoned:
Two Noble Kinsmen;
Measure for Measure;
Hamlet (the prince calls Denmark a prison);
Richard II;
Richard III (Clarence and the two young princes are imprisoned);
Henry VI (Edmund Mortimer, and Henry VI).
- These imprisonments are not direct allusions to scripture, but as stated in previous posts of this series, part of the cultural-religious fabric of references (to prisons and prisoners in this case) that informs Shakespeare’s use of the motif.

[4] Hannibal Hamlin, “The Acts of Pericles: Shakespeare’s Biblical Romance,” from
The Bible on the Shakespearean Stage: Cultures of Interpretation in Reformation England
Cambridge University Press:  17 April 2018. Eds Thomas Fulton and Kristen Poole,
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/bible-on-the-shakespearean-stage/acts-of-pericles-shakespeares-biblical-romance/1ED42DDFE9770047AFBC08671D002F94

See also
[4.b.] Hunt, Maurice. “Shakespeare’s ‘Pericles’ and the Acts of the Apostles.” Christianity and Literature 49, no. 3 (2000): 295–309. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44312773 .

[4.c.] Walsh, Brian. “‘A PRIESTLY FAREWELL’: GOWER’S TOMB AND RELIGIOUS CHANGE IN PERICLES.” Religion & Literature 45, no. 3 (2013): 81–113. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24397716

[4.d.] Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Apollonius of Tyre." Encyclopedia Britannica, December 2, 2014. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Apollonius-of-Tyre

[4.e.] Dean, Paul. "Pericles' Pilgrimage." Essays in Criticism 50.2 (Apr 2000): 125-44.
Cited in John Gower Bibliography Online: https://gower.lib.utsa.edu/items/show/9409

[4.f.] “Appendix: The “Pericles” Story in Gower and Twine,” Folger Shakespeare Library, https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/pericles/appendix-the-pericles-story-in-gower-and-twine/

[4.g.] Beckwith, Sarah, 'The Recovery of Voice in Shakespeare’s 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘴', Shakespeare and the Grammar of Forgiveness (Ithaca, NY, 2011; online edn, Cornell Scholarship Online, 18 Aug. 2016), https://doi.org/10.7591/cornell/9780801449789.003.0004


IMAGES:
Left: Frank Bernard Dicksee  (1853–1928)  
Romeo and Juliet (balcony scene), 1884.
Southampton City Art Gallery.
Public domain via https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/DickseeRomeoandJuliet.jpg  

Center:  Hendrick Bloemaert  (1601/1602–1672)  
Paul before Festus, King Agrippa and Queen Bernice (1635)
Centraal Museum. Public domain via https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Paul_and_King_Agrippa_by_Hendrick_Bloemaert_Centraal_Museum_2570.jpg

Right: Felix Hayes as Antiochus and Chyna-Rose Frederick Antiochus’ Daughter in Pericles.
Royal Shakespeare Company, 2024.
Photo by Johan Persson ©, fair use via https://cdn2.rsc.org.uk/sitefinity/images/productions/2024-shows/pericles/pericles-production-photos/pericles-production-photos_-july-2024_2024_photo-by-johan-persson_378645.tmb-img-1824.jpg?sfvrsn=8b829f21_1


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Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages or mention religion in many of my blog posts, I do not intend to promote any religion over another, nor am I attempting to promote religious belief in general; only to explore how the Bible and religion influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
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