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Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries & Replies From Everyone Else 3.15.97: Top | Help
I belive that determining Shakespeare's religious background
is an impossible task. The best records we have of the man
Shakespeare are his writings: his plays and poems. However,
his special gift, as Keat's called it, is "negative
capability." We cannot determine from his writing how he
felt about any one issue. For every characteristic we try
to pin on Shakespeare based upon one of his characters, there
is another from the same play or from a different play that
gives us an entirely different perspective. For example,
in "Hamlet," Hamlet says "frailty thy name is woman" which
we could enterpret as Shakespeare hating women since Hamlet
never takes back or alters that belief. However, Shakespeare
gives us such strong female characters as Cordelia, Imogen,
and Cleopatra among others that it is hard to believe that
he hated women. Consequently, I do not think we will ever
determine any specific knowledge of Shakespeare such as
his religious affiliation. Also, if this is any help, I
believe that Sylvan Barnet in the 1960s of 70s wrote an
essay on the limits of a Christian or Catholic( I forget
which) interpretation of Shakespeare's works.Posted by Steven on April 02, 1997 at 15:04:03
In Reply to "Was Shakespeare A "Secret Catholic"?" posted by David Nava on April 01, 1997 at 13:31:05
Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries & Replies From Everyone Else 3.15.97: Top | Help