Herod in Shakespeare
The word “Herod” [1] occurs NINE times in Shakespeare, in four plays: Once in in ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ ๐๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ; twice in ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต (“out-herod’s Herod,” 3.2.14-15, and given the name of the player queen, “Baptista,” also a nod to Herod Antipas [2], who had John the Baptist beheaded for condemning his incestuous marriage); and once in ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ณ๐บ ๐ as a reference to Herod the Great’s slaughter of innocents: “Your naked infants spitted upon pikes Whiles the mad mothers with their howls confused Do break the clouds, as did the wives of Jewry At Herod’s bloody-hunting slaughtermen (3.3.38-41). “Herod” occurs five times in ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ณ๐ข (Cleopatra lived at the same time as Herod the Great.) In the second scene, a servant says, “Let me be married to ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐ in a forenoon, and widow them all: let me have a child at fifty, to whom ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฑ of Jewry may do homage.” (1.2.27-30) We hear not only “Herod” bu...