Second Day of Christmas in Shakespeare's time - Feast of Stephen, Martyr (Series, Part 2)

The second day of Christmas, the 26th of December, in Shakespeare’s time as now, was the Feast of St. Stephen [1], the first Christian martyr, reminding Christendom that this infant allegedly born in Bethlehem was born to die for the salvation of all humankind, and that others would be persecuted and killed in his name.

Bible readings for the feast include Acts 7 (first lesson), telling the tale of Stephen’s martyrdom, and Matthew 23, a prophesy and history of the killing of prophets.

Of course there were other tales of martyrdom or self-sacrifice available to people in Shakespeare’s time, not found in the Bible [2], including the Greek tale of Alcestis, willing to die in place of her husband. English law did not require people to read or hear Greek, non-biblical tales. It did, however, require church attendance, so the tale of the martyrdom of Stephen was required, a non-optional element of the broad fabric of religious and literary stories and literature that would have informed Shakespeare’s plays, in which characters are perhaps martyrs for love more than for faith. (Elizabethan laws and censors restricted certain religious topics in plays.)

We can see something like martyrdom or self-sacrifice in Cordelia’s choice to return to England to help her father, King Lear (4.3), and to die in the process (5.3). Lear holding Cordelia’s body is often described as a “reverse-gender Pieta” - with a father holding his daughter’s corpse instead of the Virgin Mary holding the corpse of Jesus.

In As You Like It (4.3), Orlando risks his life to save his brother Oliver from a “she-snake” and a hungry lioness, in spite of sibling rivalry.

In Othello, Desdemona’s death (5.2) after Iago’s deceptions has been described as a kind of martyrdom.

If we allow Gertrude to be intelligent enough, and experienced enough in her character arc to suspect poison in the last scene of the play (5.2), and perhaps to drink from the chalice to test it for poison for her son, Prince Hamlet, then we might view Gertrude as a kind of martyr, willing to die for love of her son.

[TO BE CONTINUED]

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 Hamlet (and other Shakespeare plays) are to the Folger Shakespeare Library online versions: https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/hamlet/entire-play/

[1] "The Feast of Stephen" is mentioned in the Christmas carol, "Good King Wenceslas," which has a 13th century tune originally for a song about spring, and lyrics written in 1853 by John Mason Neale. Wenceslas was also a martyr, killed by his brother (as was Prince Hamlet’s father): 
https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/real-story-good-king-wenceslas-carol/

[2] Stories of Christian martyrs not found in the Bible included the medieval hagiographies in "The Golden Legend," and tales of Protestant martyrs found in Foxe's Book of Martyrs, or Actes and Monuments by John Foxe, first published in 1563.

IMAGES:
Left: The Martyrdom of Saint Stephen, 1660
Pietro da Cortona
Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Public domain / fair use via https://uploads6.wikiart.org/images/pietro-da-cortona/the-martyrdom-of-saint-stephen-1660.jpg!Large.jpg

Center: Philotheos Skoufos  (1620–1685)  
    The Stoning of Stephen (circa 1645 - 1685)
Egg tempera on wood
Baron Tositsa Museum of Metsovo
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Via
https://metsovomuseum.gr/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/GE_826.jpg

Top right: Window depicting St. Stephen being stoned to death (stained glass)
French School, (13th century)
Saint-Etienne Cathedral, Bourges, France
Public Domain (75 years or more) / Fair use via meisterdrucke.ie
https://www.meisterdrucke.ie/kunstwerke/1260px/French_School_-_Window_depicting_St_Stephen_being_stoned_to_death_-_%28MeisterDrucke-439503%29.jpg

Bottom right: Charles Le Brun  (1619–1690)  
Le Martyre de saint Étienne (The Martyrdom of St. Stephen)
La Lapidation de saint Etienne (The Stoning of St. Stephen)
cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-Paris 1651
Department of Paintings of the Louvre  
Notre-Dame de Paris   
Public domain via https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Le_Brun_Saint_Etienne_may.jpg

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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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