Hear Shakespeare
Interpreting Catholic Writings
“The mystery of the kingdom of God
has been granted to you, but to those
outside everything comes in parables.”
– Jesus of Nazareth, King of Kings
Genres
“In Sacred Scripture (and Shakespeare), God speaks to man in a human way. To interpret Scripture (and Shakespeare) correctly, the reader must be attentive to what the human authors truly wanted to affirm and to what God wanted to reveal to us by their words.” (CCC Paragraph 109)
Shakespeare’s preface to Troilus & Cressida begins with the encouragement that when he is gone and “his comedies out of sale,” we should “scramble for them and set up a new English Inquisition.” Shakespeare wanted us to inquire about truth in England, to seek to understand what happened when the Crown tried to steal the Church.
For us to hear Shakespeare, we need to understand his life, intentions, and message, as they provide context to what he wrote. But as he often masked his message in allegory, we also need a method to unlock the deeper meanings in his stories. Luckily for us, the method we use to hear Shakespeare is the same method Catholics use to hear the sacred scriptures. Yes, when we take the Catholic approach to interpreting sacred scriptures and apply this approach to hearing Shakespeare, we have a much richer understanding of Christ and his church. Yes, Shakespeare was not only a great poet and playwright, but also a Catholic storyteller and historian.
Yes, just like all people can find value in the bible, the bible wasn’t written for all people. It was written to train God’s people in wisdom, truth, love, mercy and justice. Similarly, while Shakespeare is entertaining for all, he has a special message for God’s people. He proves himself to be a great firsthand historian of the revolutions of the 16th and early 17th century, and creatively writes about what befell the old religion in England during the Protestant innovations of that time period. It belongs to Catholics to explain how we interpret sacred writings (and Shakespeare) because our method is unique among all cultures with clear protocols and specific guidelines. This unique method is the way Shakespeare preserved the Catholic side of the story for later generations of Catholics.
Remember, government censorship didn’t allow Catholics to print their side of the story. So, to evade and avoid government censors, Catholics had to resort either to (1) illegal presses to publish writings, or (2) public playhouses to openly share their veiled story. Yes, almost unfathomable to Americans, who have guaranteed rights like the right to free speech and a free press, those rights did not exist for Catholic Englishmen of Shakespeare’s generation. To speak truth, Shakespeare’s generation had to come up with creative ways to get the truth past government censors. And when people search for that “elusive code for how to unlock Shakespeare,” many fail to realize that code and key is found within the Catholic church. The key to hear Shakespeare is found in how the church interprets sacred writings. That method is well summarized in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, especially paragraphs 101 through 141. These paragraphs explain the Catholic approach to interpreting holy writings. These paragraphs are a model for how to approach Shakespeare.
There are a few reasons why Catholics are uniquely practiced to hear Shakespeare. One, our uniqueness in how we interpret sacred writings is rooted in our history and origins in the Jewish religion. Our religion is the Jewish religion gone universal (‘catholic’ is the ancient Greek word for universal). The church is part of God’s plan to reach the nations. The Prophets and Psalms are filled with praise that acclaims our God as the Lord of not only Jerusalem but also all the earth. Christ’s flock was to include men and women of all nations, Jews and Gentiles. Jesus taught his Apostles (who were Jews) how to take the message of salvation entrusted to the Jews and give it to the Gentiles, sharing it unto the ends of the earth. Jesus taught that many of the Jewish cultural practices and traditions find their fulfillment in himself. For example, the temple is his body, the church his bride, and he is the Passover lamb. The role of the Apostles was to share that knowledge with the world – yes, both Jew and Gentile alike. He told the Apostles to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that he commanded them.”
While Jesus walked among us, he taught about the kingdom of heaven using parables and allegories. How could we mortals ever understand the glories of heaven? We needed someone to descend from heaven and teach us. Jesus came, but he had to really on words and images that we could understand. So, he resorted to telling us about the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven through earthly allegories, images, and parables. He used images and stories we could relate to in order to explain the unfathomable – God and his kingdom. And yet, we don’t understand these heavenly mysteries easily or quickly, it was the resurrection that changed everything.
Jesus rising from the dead after three days changed everything. Just like The Misfit said in Flannery O’Connor’s short story, A Good Man is Hard to Find, “Jesus was the only One that ever raised the dead. And he shouldn’t have done it. He thrown everything off balance. If He did what He said, then it’s nothing for you to do but throw away everything and follow Him, and if He didn’t, then it’s nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can – by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness.” The Misfit was right, Jesus did throw everything off balance. Jesus laying down his life and taking it up again for all eternity conquered our last enemy, death. The resurrection moment in 33 A.D. created a huge shift. And now we relate all that is temporary to the eternal man, we even root time in the birth of our savior, the king of Kings, the warrior who conquered sin and death forever.
Now, not all Jews saw Jesus as the fulfillment of their divinely instituted religion. They had other expectations for what their Messiah would look like. They couldn’t reconcile the two main themes of the Psalms and Prophets, the son of David who was (1) a conquering king as well as (2) a suffering servant. They didn’t realize that both prophecies could find their fulfilment in one man. That the Royal Son of the Psalms (“you are my son, today I have begotten you, ask it of me and I will give you the nations as your inheritance”) was also the Suffering Servant of Isaiah (“this is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, upon whom I have put my spirit, he shall bring forth justice to the nations”). And so, these seemingly contradictory ideas remained separated. But the early Jews who accepted Christ realized these two ideas find convergence in Christ. Once again, a divine paradox finds fulfillment only in Christ.
There were many who saw Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promises to them; they became the early Christians. For these Jews did “believe all that the prophets spoke! That it was necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things (meaning crucifixion and resurrection) and enter into his glory.” Jesus explained to the early Jews how the Old Testament stories found their fulfillment in him. “Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he was able to interpret to them what referred to him in all the scriptures.” And those whose hearts burned with joy at hearing how he fulfilled the Old Testament stories were the ones who began the church. Those were the Jews who were the foundation of the church. They were the ones who shared Jesus with the world. And they were not only Jews, but also the first Catholic Christians.
For Catholics, all found its fulfillment in Christ and a new order was ushered in. There was no longer any need to go to Jerusalem to worship at the temple because Christ raised a new temple in three days, and our bodies were now the living stones that housed the holy Spirit. “For God’s dwelling is with the human race.” Passover was no longer celebrated once a year but every Sunday. The New Exodus wasn’t the old one from slavery in Egypt but the new one from evil in this world. And yes, where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. The ability to see Jesus as Messiah is what separated early Jews from synagogue-goers to church-builders. The ability to see Jesus as fulfillment of these stories is what’s unique to how Catholics interpret sacred writings. In seeing Jesus in these ancient Jewish stories and scriptures, the church discovered a new way to interpret ancient stories and writings in the light of Christ and his kingdom. Shakespeare uses this same exact method as ways to create allegories to teach Catholics about how to persevere and preserve the faith under tyrannical rulers.
Looking to the Catechism of the Catholic Church for guidance to truly hear Shakespeare, paragraphs 109 through 133 cover how the holy Spirit interprets scripture and the Catechism offers key principles for Catholics to abide by. They include taking into account the time and culture, as well as awareness of literary genres and modes of artistic expression within the written texts during the time of writing (paragraphs 109-114). We have to understand the time and culture as well as the literary genres. This is why, any deep understanding of Shakespeare’s life must begin with placing his life in the context of world and English history, as well as understanding key facts about the culture of his time and important personal details. Details like his cousin being a saint and his two daughters named after Catholic heroines (heroines that do not exist in either the Jewish or Protestant bibles). These facts isolated might not tell the story, but together and alongside other peculiar points, they do paint a picture and tell the tale. And when we take the many facts we know of Shakespeare, they shed insight into Shakespeare’s mission and purpose. Lacking direct quotes from him, we are forced to listen to his firsthand accounts through his poems, plays, and stories. In order to do this, we have to interpret Shakespeare’s writings to unlock and uncover his message and deeper intentions.
At this point, readers unfamiliar with the intricacies of Catholic culture might ask, why is this method of interpreting texts unique to Catholics? Good question. It has to do with our religion and what makes us different and distinct from all other worldviews and religions. It’s at the very root of our nature and our origins. We’ve already discussed key differences between Catholic and Jewish religion – the view on Jesus. But what Jews and Catholics have in common is how we align and unite through common sacred scriptures. For example, both religions understand the following passage to be true.
“Hear O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone!
Therefore, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your strength”
Both religions view these words as divinely inspired, worthy of meditation and belief. And for two different cultures, this same passage has different and nuanced interpretations. For the church, Jesus is the cornerstone; for Jews, he is the stumbling block. So, while both read and celebrate this same scripture, they do so in different ways. We interpret the same passage differently. The Catholic church sees Christ in that scripture, while the Jews continue to wait for their Messiah. But the church believes we are the transformation of a Jewish religion into a universal (‘catholic’) religion – hence the divine truths given to the Jews have their application to all mankind, not just one tribe.
A way to mark the difference in interpreting written texts is key in understanding how differently Catholics read the Old Testament scriptures compared to Jews. Catholics read the Old Testament in the light of Christ. Our church teaches us “the New Testament has to be read in the light of the Old.” Early Christian catechesis made constant use of the Old Testament to teach about Jesus. This was even before the New Testament was composed. For Catholics, the New Testament isn’t simply a document, it is more precisely a sacrament. When Christ taught us about the new covenant, he wasn’t speaking about a book but about the word made flesh, his own body and blood given for us. Yes, Catholics are not people of the book but of the body, Christ’s body. The source and summit of our life is not hearing a scripture but partaking in the Lord’s body. We venerate the word written while we worship the word made flesh, our Lord. We hear the scriptures to partake in the Lord’s supper as we celebrate the one whom the scriptures signify. And this is a different and unique approach to understanding holy writings.
Atheists and agnostics in contrast do not even have a coherent system by which to interpret a wide variety of texts in context. Lacking any formalized religion, they do not have the opportunities to practice the art of interpreting sacred texts. If they do not see the Creator in his creation, how could they see their Maker in any scripture? Whether sacred or secular? And so, of course, they can read and hear spiritual stories, but they won’t see the deeper and underlying messages. They hear without understanding and see without perceiving. But, how could they? Again, they lack faith in a structured or divinely revealed religion to teach them these principles. And thus, they are not well-practiced in understanding allegories. Again, if they cannot see the Creator through creation, how would they see the spiritual side of a story? They don’t even see the spiritual side of life. If they cannot see the reign of Christ in how we tell time, how could they ever understand his kingdom? So, instead, “they see and yet do not perceive. They hear and yet do not understand. Otherwise, they might convert and be forgiven.”
And even though Muslims may consider themselves “people of the book,” they lack the diversity of writings to practice the art of textual interpretation. Their holy book is written by only one author, in contrast to the scores of writers of the holy bible. Catholics may have one holy book, but this one book is a compilation of 73 sacred letters and books. So, this one holy book is a canon of writings which contain all sorts and forms of literary expression. Yes, the holy bible contains songs, biographies, histories, prophecy poetry, novellas, myths, legends, gospels, hymns, wise sayings, church letters, just to name a few of the many forms of literary expression.
Moreover, as a warning to Muslims and other heretical opinions, Saint Paul warned the faithful in a sacred letter to the church that there is only one gospel. And that even if an angel of light appeared to them and preached a different gospel, like one did to Muhammed, “let that one be accursed!” For there is only one gospel, and it comes through a revelation of Jesus Christ. So, in preaching a last Prophet after the true Prophet who rose from the grave, Muslims have fallen into a false gospel. They have yet to see the cursed state they remain in, subject to death and dying and damnation by refusing to hear the true Prophet Jesus – the one who conquered death and dying. Yes, he conquered our last enemy. They may claim to hear his words as Prophet, but in reality, they heed not Christ’s teaching and instead build on another foundation. Yes, instead of building upon the rock of Christ, they live by the lies of Muhammed.
And while Catholics may have many similarities with other Christians, how to interpret scriptures is a key point of separation between Catholics and Protestants. Protestants interpret on a personal and individual basis, whereas Catholics interpret as one body. The scriptures themselves warn against personal interpretations to divine religion. Saint Paul frequently affirmed that the church is to be one and holy. And Saint Peter wrote “know this first, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation, for no prophecy ever came through human will; but rather human beings moved by the holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God.” While we may read the bible personally, we are not to interpret it personally, but publicly. The bible was written for people about a person, and not for people to divide people. The sacred writings need a community to interpret, not simply one person.
Interpreting texts as a unified whole isn’t simply for religious people. Even Americans interpret the Constitution as a country, and not as individuals. The Constitution is interpreted by a group of leaders (the Supreme Court) who are gathered among some of the greatest legal minds of our country and interpret the laws of the nation as a body which represents the nation, and not only as individuals. The Federalist Papers record this need for an interpreting body, stating “Laws are a dead letter without courts to expound and define their true meaning and operation. The treaties of the United States, to have any force at all, must be considered as part of the law of the land. Their true import, as far as respects individuals, must, like all other laws, be ascertained by judicial determinations. To produce uniformity in these determinations, they ought to be submitted, in the last resort, to one supreme tribunal.”
A little later, Alexander Hamilton continued, “There are endless diversities in the opinions of men. We often see not only different courts, but the judges of the same court, differing from each other. To avoid the confusion which would unavoidably result from the contradictory decisions of a number of independent jurisdictions, all nations have found it necessary to establish one tribunal paramount to the rest, possessing a general superintendence, and authorized to settle and declare in the last resort a uniform rule of civil justice.” This is the same logic the church uses. Because there are endless diversities in the opinions of Christians, it is necessary for church leaders to help the church interpret as one body. And as our divine law is interpreted by the church through the magisterium (our leaders), likewise, our country’s earthly laws are interpreted by the country through courts. Yes, since the opinions of men are endless, we as churchmen or Americans look to leaders to clarify the standards.
And yes, any scripture – whether sacred, secular, or Shakespeare – is unintelligible unless there is an interpreter. Hence, the Ethiopian eunuch acts as a model for us all when he needs the apostle Phillip to provide instruction and interpret the scripture passage of Isaiah for himself. Phillip interprets the text by proclaiming Jesus and then the Eunuch is finally baptized. Likewise, the disciples on the Road to Emmaus needed Christ to interpret how throughout Moses and all the prophets the scriptures spoke of himself. And only in the “breaking of bread was Jesus made known to them” and “their eyes opened, and they recognized him with their hearts burning within as he opened the scriptures to them.” Ultimately, we know the holy Spirit is the interpreter of sacred scripture. And it is the same with Shakespeare. We look for the wisdom of the holy Spirit to enlighten our minds.
Any time we approach one of Shakespeare’s plays, as a first principle of proper interpretation, we need to ask ourselves, what type of play is this? What is the genre? The publishers of Shakespeare’s canon, The First Folio, rightly classified his plays into 3 categories – Histories, Tragedies, and Comedies. Histories are what happened. Tragedies are what will happen as they end in death. And Comedies are what we hope will happen as they end with a wedding. Is this any different than the story of all stories? For the sacred scriptures are a History as they chronicle mankind’s relationship with God, a Tragedy in that we crucified our Maker, and a Comedy in that it ends with a wedding. The last song to close the bible is a wedding song,
“Alleluia!
Lord has established his reign, God, the almighty.
Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory.
For the wedding day of the Lamb has come,
his bride has made herself ready.”
And so, it is up to Catholics to teach others how we interpret sacred writings and show how when we apply that same method to Shakespeare, we can uncover the underlying spiritual messages that are to be known and understood by others. Shakespeare had a model in how to disguise allegories that he learned from the church. And it is up to the church to help others hear Shakespeare.
Yes, all people can love Shakespeare and find entertainment in his plays, just like all people can enjoy the sacred stories; but Catholics are unique in how we interpret the sacred stories in the light of Christ, having a robust system and method to understand these stories in the fullness of truth. And when we apply this same method to Shakespeare’s writings, we hear deeper messages of truth that Shakespeare preserves for us today. His stories need to be interpreted in the light of Christ because this is how he composed them, using the church as his model. His mission was to help future generations understand the tyranny and difficulty that his generation suffered through. His writings and plays were to function like a true prophet and poet, written to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. And they became a model and warning for how people could protect themselves from government overreach and tyrannical rulers. And yes, understanding the literary genre is a first principle to setting the stage for a proper interpretation of any literary text, but especially Shakespeare and the sacred scriptures. It is how the holy Spirit prepares the way for truth to take root into our hearts. It is how we begin to hear Shakespeare.
“In order to discover the sacred authors’ intention (and Shakespeare’s), the reader must take into account the conditions of their time and culture, the literary genres in use at that time, and the modes of feeling, speaking, and narrating then current. ‘For the fact is that truth is differently presented and expressed in the various types of historical writing, in prophetical and poetical texts, and in other forms of literary expression.’” (CCC Paragraph 110)
Staged
“But since Sacred Scripture (and Shakespeare) is inspired, there is another and no less important principle of correct interpretation, without which Scripture would remain a dead letter. ‘Sacred Scripture (and Shakespeare) must be read and interpreted in the light of the same Spirit by whom it was written.’” (CCC Paragraph 111)
The first question to ask as we approach Shakespeare’s plays is, what genre of play are we about to witness or read? Whether it is a history, comedy or tragedy, each type of play helps set the stage for what to expect through its performance. We are either watching a history of England told in a way that brings contemporary issues to light (a history), or a story that ends in a wedding as people are reconciled and united (a comedy), or a tragic story that ends in death by which we hope to find some final reconciliation with truth and love (a tragedy), or a combination of all of the above.
To truly hear Shakespeare, the next question to ask is when was the play first staged? This helps us locate the socio-political context in which Shakespeare is writing. Shakespeare’s career spanned three decades and two monarchs, he’s not likely to foretell events pertinent to King James VI during Queen Elizabeth’s reign. But when the story of Macbeth is told shortly after Bad Bess’s reign and at the beginning of James’s rule, and he has the actors joyfully shout at the end of the play, “Hail King of Scotland,” there is much more meaning to the phrase than the conclusion of a story. It is the hope for a new beginning under the new king of England, who also happens to be the old King of Scotland. We hear a playwright yearning for better days under a new monarch that was hoped to be more sympathetic to the Catholic cause. The later despair of King Lear, Coriolanus and other tragedies showed the hope would be short lived as the Catholic persecutions continued.
Shakespeare is a universal writer. But he also belongs to a particular place and time. Just like the bible is a universal story, yet is rooted in a particular place and time, and is told for a particular people – the savior’s spouse. The bible is history as much as promise. And Shakespeare is history as much as hope. And understanding when Shakespeare’s plays are staged is key to understanding the time and conditions that helped shape his stories. It is the second question we ask ourselves as we prepare to hear Shakespeare.
In asking this question, we’re trying to locate which monarch was ruling. Shakespeare’s messages to Queen Elizabeth are different than his messages to King James. And while he might reference Evil Eliza in a later play, like Cymbeline or Antony & Cleopatra, he doesn’t reference King James in an early play written before it was known who would succeed the cruel Elizabeth. But when Macbeth is written early into the reign of King James with the taunt of “none of woman born” regarding Lady Macbeth – Catholics hear the taunt of a beloved bard openly mocking Bad Ole Bess (who had no children, there were literally, none of woman born). And those with eyes to see, see that Lady Macbeth is a picture of Bloody Bad Beth. And Shakespeare’s ode to the late queen is not flattering. Instead, we hear Shakespeare’s judgement, for Bloody Beth’s hands were filled with innocent blood that she couldn’t wash away after all her psychotic and bloodthirsty behaviors. Yes, civil blood made civil hands unclean. When her story comes to an end, there is no hope for the evil martyr maker and saint slayer. How could Shakespeare compose an ode to Evil Eliza like Spenser’s Fairy Queen? The evil English Queen martyred his family members and slayed his countrymen. No, Shakespeare memorialized the most evil tyrant to rule England with his story about Scottish usurpers who stole the crown and killed the true king. He used this story to both memorialize an evil tyrant and welcome the new Scottish king.
Shakespeare also created allegories to record the history of King Henry VIII. Horny Henry was the spouse to the beloved Spanish Queen Catherine, and he was father to the good Queen Mary as well as the evil tyrant Elizabeth. Plays like Julius Caesar, The Winter’s Tale, and Hamlet all disguise the story of King Henry VIII. Part of the genius of Hamlet is that Hamlet’s usurper and fratricidal King Claudius is a blend of both King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth, both of whom became monarchs only due to the death of their siblings. But King Claudius was not only a blend of historical characters, he was named after a true historical character, the emperor Claudius.
Claudius began the conquest of Britain in the first century of our Lord. Also, under him there occurred a worldwide famine, an event even recorded in the holy Scriptures. Of the worldwide famine, Saint Luke records it “happened under Claudius.” England likewise suffered a famine, as the mass was made illegal, so was the living bread banned from England. There was a spiritual famine, a lack of the eucharist. There was “a hunger for bread, not thirst for revenge,” as Coriolanus records it. In Hamlet, King Claudius was not only the tyrant who poisoned his brother, but he was a blend of England’s two tyrant royals who created the spiritual famine in England, named after the emperor under whom there was a material famine in holy Scripture.
Yes, Shakespeare was a master at creating multiple views and ways to interpret the story. But even though there are multiple perspectives, throughout his canon of writings there is a clear Catholic message throughout. Shakespeare clearly highlights the blood-soaked beginnings of the State church, one that forced false oaths, murdered saints and citizens, banned true religion, banished the savior and used the law to exile, impoverish, imprison, kill and impale Catholics.
Shakespeare chronicled for us the destruction of the church in England, the beginning of America, and the core issues important to Englishmen – the right to worship God in Spirit and Truth as well as the right to think, speak, write and publish, among other important rights for a free people. But for Shakespeare’s message to slide pass government censors, he had to disguise his messages with the cloak of entertaining stories and poetic verses. Otherwise, the evil rulers and powerful principalities in England would have shut down England’s beloved bard. Shakespeare had to follow the model of Christ our King who taught about the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven through parables and stories. Jesus told his followers, “the mystery of the kingdom of God has been granted to you. But to those outside everything comes in parables.” This was also the strategy that Father Southwell recommended Shakespeare take. In England, the way for Catholics to ensure that the truth would be preserved for future generations was to create allegories that would pass the government censors and bring truth to the masses denied the mass.
Alas, the persecution Catholics faced in Elizabethan England wasn’t new to the church. Jesus himself was the shepherd who laid his life down for the sheep, persecuted by both religious priests and the Roman Empire, as religion and government forged an alliance to crucify our Christ. Concerned that it was better for one man to die than the nation perish, priests handed the Passover lamb to be crucified by the State. Even while the State judged our king as innocent, they still went forward due to the pleas of the people shouting “crucify!” And yet, at our darkest moment, when we cried to crucify God, our Father was working the most wondrous moment of salvation known to mankind; he was working the salvation of the world. In three days, Jesus rose from the dead and our warrior conquered sin and death forever. Yes, our bridegroom fulfilled his vows to his spouse and wed us forever.
But like Jesus, his church continues to suffer persecution, or the threat of persecution. There is a war waged for every soul, and the devil will use any means necessary, especially the government, to attempt to separate the savior from his spouse. But nothing shall separate the bride of Christ from the savior’s love, not persecution, nor punishment, nor prison, nor the threat of death will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. And the church composed the new testament while under severe persecution to record these promises for future generations. And the church compiled the canon of writings during a brief respite from persecution that allowed church councils to certify for Christians the whole canon of holy scriptures.
Likewise, Shakespeare composed his canon of writings during one of the most severe persecutions of England’s history. These writings were compiled during a brief rest from censorship laws written to bar Catholics from publishing writings. This brief break in anti-Catholic publishing laws allowed the First Folio to be published. Yes, the greatest canon of writings written since the New Testament was composed and penned in the streets and jails of the Roman Empire were composed in a time of severe English persecution against Catholics. Once again, the crucible of persecution forged everlasting writings.
The story of the God’s people is a story of salvation, and salvation from the most dire of circumstances and consequences. And so, it is no surprise that the most beautiful writings would be composed when the people of God are most severely tested. Whether it’s the prophet Moses teaching slaves how to walk in freedom, the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah predicting the exile from the promised land and return to paradise, the apostles writing about the passion of our Lord, or Shakespeare writing about the afflictions of the savior’s spouse in England; the most beautiful writings come under the most dire circumstances. And when the land known as Our Lady’s Dowry suffered greatly, is it no wonder that God rose up the most beloved bard to chronicle the sufferings of the savior’s spouse? No, it is not a surprise, it is expected. It is expected of a God who could make all things work for those who love God and are called according to his purpose.
Yes, persecution has brought deliverance for God’s people and also great writings. And the purpose and intent of the writings being specific to the time period are all the more reason to understand the situation of their composition. Yes, we need to know not only what genre of writing it was, but also roughly when it was staged because this gives us insight into why it was composed and what were the underlying issues. What was Shakespeare proclaiming to the people? Yes, let us remain attentive to the unity of our great canons – both Sacred Scripture and William Shakespeare – and let us be attentive to the reasons for their composition. In this way, we prepare the way to truly hear Shakespeare. In this way, we learn to understand the spirit which compelled both their composition and their compilation. Yes, let those with ears to hear, hear Shakespeare.
“Be especially attentive to the content and unity of the whole Scripture (and Shakespeare) … Be attentive to the analogy of faith. By “analogy of faith” we mean the coherence of the truths of faith among themselves and within the whole plan of Revelation.” (CCC Paragraphs 112-114)
Published
“According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between two senses of Scripture (and Shakespeare): the literal and the spiritual, the latter being subdivided into the allegorical, moral, and anagogical senses. The profound concordance of the four senses guarantees all its richness to the living reading of Scripture (and Shakespeare) in the Church.” (CCC Paragraph 115)
The third question to ask ourselves as we hear Shakespeare is, when was the play published? After we identify the genre and when it was staged, we need to know when it was published. This is a vital clue in how Catholic the play is. The more overtly Catholic plays were published only after his death (and the death of his wife). The plays were too Catholic to be published during their lifetime.
Yes, it is odd that the greatest playwright of the English language cared very little about publishing his plays. But it is odd only if we are ignorant of the anti-Catholic laws that existed in England at the time. As Americans, it is easy to overlook and take for granted some of our fundamental rights proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence and protected in our Constitution. But the right to free speech and a free press, to name a few, though God-given, are earned rights. They were won through a bloody revolutionary war and protected by our Founding Fathers.
But in England of the 15th and 16th centuries, Catholics did not have the rights which all Americans now enjoy. Catholics of Shakespeare’s generation were barred from publishing Catholic literature. Shakespeare’s First Folio was only published because there was a brief reprieve in anti-Catholic censorship laws. If it were not from this brief break in anti-Catholic laws, we wouldn’t have many of Shakespeare’s masterpieces. Nor even good versions of the ones that had been published previously. Yes, we only have many of Shakespeare’s plays because of the First Folio published years after his death. Yes, again, this is important to repeat, but the greatest poet and playwright of the English language cared very little to publish the bulk of his works. This is partly because it was illegal to do so.
This includes tragedies like Julius Caesar, Othello, Macbeth, Antony & Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Timon of Athens and Cymbeline. This includes comedies like The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, All’s Well that Ends Well, Measure for Measure, The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest. These aren’t simply his lesser plays, but include a bulk of his masterpieces and most beloved and most staged plays. They include the plays that start and end his canon. And they include not only overtly Christian masterpieces, but also Catholic Christian masterpieces like Julius Caesar, Coriolanus, and 12th Night.
So, the First Folio helped give us many more of Shakespeare’s plays, but it also helps us understand the ones that are easier to apply the Catholic method of interpreting Scripture to gain insight into the play. As mentioned, his plays are entertaining for all but educational for Catholics. This is because Catholic scripture functions on two levels, the literal level and the spiritual level. At the literal level we hear the actual details of the story. For example, in Twelfth Night, we have the details that there is a shipwreck and twins separated, one twin dons a disguise (a girl who pretends to be a boy, Viola who takes the name Cesario) while the other is lost for a time before reappearing, that the disguised twin woes a woman in the name of the duke but the woman falls for Cesario rather than the duke, and so forth. Those are the literal details of the story and it’s action. But for Catholics, there is a much deeper story and richer meaning, and the story communicates deep religious truths to meditate and ponder. Let’s consider just a few of the themes and details, and what we cover briefly here will be covered in detail in the next section, Shakespearean Themes.
The topic of lost twins is an allegory of the churches in England. They are twins in that they are alike. For under King Henry VIII, a man given the title “defender of the faith” by the church, the first Anglicans were all ex-Catholics. And so, the early Anglican church appeared like the Catholic church. It met in the same buildings, many of the priests and bishops were part of the old religion, and there was much confusion because the two churches looked alike. But the true church was lost, hence the shipwreck. But the State church may have appeared to be like the Catholic church but it was not. Hence, Cesario could still attempt to woo a bride for the Duke, proclaiming a message of love to Olivia, but when Olivia falls in love with Cesario, she doesn’t fall in love with the truth thing. Cesario is pretending to be one thing while in fact is another, Viola. Likewise, the Anglican church appeared to be Catholic church, but in reality, was a State institution. Anglicans who love the church love a State institution, not a Christ-founded church.
At this point, someone might say, but Cesario sounds like Caesar, and that’s Roman, so doesn’t Viola as Cesario represent the Catholic church? And the short answer is no. A more detailed answer would include a variety of insights. Some include, Violet is a color of royalty, and hence associated with English royalty, so Viola is associated with the Crown and not the Church. Also, as Cesario, she becomes a messenger for Duke, which is another royal title. And while Caesar may be associated with Rome, it is more accurately associated with the leader of the Roman Empire, a title of imperial character. That is a title for a governmental leader, not a church leader. Moreover, at the time of Shakespeare’s writing, it was the Catholic church which was lost to English civic life, not the Anglican church. The Anglican church was the one that existed, created by the State and offered the protection of the State. Detail after detail confirms the original interpretation rather than other options. But as Catholics have learned the hard way, we interpret the writings not as one individual but as one body.
And there are so many other details that highlight the Catholic nature of the story, including its title celebrating a Catholic holiday (that is, the 12 days of Christmas). For most Protestants Christmas is only a day while for all Catholics it’s a season of many days and nights. And there is also the symbolism behind the lost purse. But the point here is not to go into all the details of how we interpret, but simply to point out that Catholics interpret stories on multiple levels. Yes, Catholics interpret the story not simply on a literal level, but also a spiritual level. And when this method of interpretation is applied throughout Shakespeare’s canon, his testimony consistently provides insight and words of encouragement for Catholics to understand what happened to the old religion on the island nation. And to cling to the faith of their fathers, and not pursue new innovations in religion.
What Shakespeare accomplished was exactly what the early church did. He took old stories and baptized them in the light of Christ, just like Catholics took ancient Jewish stories and baptized them in the light of Christ. And as we progress through Shakespeare’s canon, we see the growth of an artist over time. As he’s earning his stripes on the English stage early in his career, we see the beginnings of someone proclaiming the Catholic side of the story in plays like The Taming of the Shrew and Titus Andronicus. As his career progresses, he finds his groove in masterpieces while his cousin is imprisoned and martyred, and continues down the path as the beloved English poet and great Catholic historian and storyteller that concludes his time on the English stage by reminding his countrymen to remember their history and even pray for him.
The First Folio was published nearly a decade after his death and a year after his wife’s. This was done to because the writings are too incendiary, too Catholic, and they could have never been published in a culture that still understood how to interpret Catholic writings. It is the texts that confirm Shakespeare’s Catholic beliefs. Play after play uses Catholic imagery and ways of preserving truth to confirm truths for the Catholic masses denied the mass. And the plays are a part of his entire canon. Each play is a different take on the English experiment with Protestant innovations and a reminder to hold true to the old religion, the faith of their fathers. Each play is insight, each play is a new perspective on the same issue – England was forgetting and straying from the faith that built their island nation. And each play preserved the Catholic story to comfort his countrymen and preserve the truth for future generations. One day, maybe our Lady’s Dowry will return to the ancient faith that helped turn a backwater island nation into a global empire and superpower upon whom “the sun never set.” Let not England lose sight of the Son whom England once loved and whose love will never set.
“The Church, as early as apostolic times, and then constantly in her Tradition, has illuminated the unity of the divine plan in the two Testaments through typology, which discerns in God’s works of the Old Covenant prefiguration of what he accomplished in the fullness of time in the person of his incarnate Son.” (CCC Paragraph 128)
Names
“But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin after the pattern of the trespass of Adam, who is the type of the one who was to come.” (Saint Paul in his Letter to the Romans)
The next clue, and maybe the most important, to unlock the spiritual meaning of Shakespeare’s stories is to look at the character’s names. These are vital clues into layers of depth and meaning in order to hear Shakespeare. This applies mainly to the tragedies and comedies, as the histories are based on history and there’s less freedom to invent characters and invent names. Shakespeare’s skill matches well with the skill of new testament writers, who taught the world to unlock ancient Jewish stories for added depth and new meaning in Christ. Let’s consider three different ways Shakespeare uses names to embed deeper insights to his stories.
The first is awareness of translation (not transliteration) of the character names. When someone translates a name from one language to another, like Hebrew to English, or even Latin to English, they often transliterate the names rather than translate. Translation is translating the meaning of the names. Transliteration is translating the sounds from language to language. For some reason, it is popular when it comes to names to translate the sounds rather than the meaning.
For example. although Adam sounds like the Hebrew original name, what Adam means in Hebrew is ‘earth’ or ‘mankind.’ And so, the stories have added depth when we see Adam as a type of mankind. Saint Paul shows us this in his letter to the Romans quoted above. The story of the fall takes on new meaning as we see Adam as a type of all mankind, so that we also see ourselves in Adam. Mankind has an awareness of what’s good and evil, we know the good way, and yet all too often chose evil and the consequence is death. This is not only the story of the first man, but of every man. But when we translate names, we often transliterate looking for similar sounds rather than retaining the original meaning. If you hear the story of Adam, it sounds like the story of a particular person. But when you hear the story of mankind, that sounds like a universal story. How we translate names affects our understanding of the story and how we interpret it. Shakespeare uses this trait to hide much deeper insights into his stories. Because when we understand the meaning of the names of different Shakespearean characters, we have a whole different interpretation of the story. We have the spiritual sense of the story. Let’s consider one more biblical example before we look into Shakespearean examples.
The story of Melchizedek is a perplexing story within Jewish history. Abraham, the father of the nations, a name which is both his description and his mission, wins a war and tithes his winnings to an obscure priest and king, Melchizedek. The story in the book of Genesis is not more than a couple of paragraphs, and then Melchizedek isn’t mentioned for another thousand years until King David has an obscure line in one of his Psalms. King David saw the Messiah and he said he was “a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” After the resurrection of Christ, again about a thousand years later, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews takes this obscure and mysterious figure from ancient Jewish history and spends more time unlocking the meaning of Melchizedek than the length of the original story in Genesis. Let’s look at what the Hebrews writer does, because it’s an example of how to unlock Shakespearean characters.
“This Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High, met Abraham as he returned from his defeat of the kings and blessed him. And Abraham apportioned to him a tenth of everything. His name first means righteous king, and he was also “king of Salem,” that is, king of peace. Without father, mother, or ancestry, without beginning of days or end of life, thus made to resemble the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.”
Notice, the Hebrews writer offers the translation (not just transliterations) of the names for both the man and the city. And these names offer insight that ties him as a type of Christ. We can do this throughout Shakespeare’s stories and plays to unlock deeper meanings and hear Shakespeare. Let’s take the famous Romeo as an example. Romeo means ‘pilgrim of Rome.’ And so, when Juliet Capulet (initials J.C. are a hint of the Christ figure) sighs and says, “Oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefor art thou Romeo” there is a deeper meaning to that sigh and heart’s cry. This is also the cry of Jesus. For in England at the time of Christ, he looks out and wonders, where are my pilgrims of Rome? The Anglicans, the State-owned church, were obviously not the pilgrims of Rome. It is the Catholics who are the pilgrims of Rome. The whole story of Romeo & Juliet has a much richer meaning when we understand not only the literal story, but also the spiritual meaning that is unlocked by understanding the main characters as types. This is the same approach Catholics use in unlocking the ancient Jewish stories. We take these principles to unlock Shakespeare’s plays. Shakespeare crafted his stories with these methods in mind.
A second way to unlock the name through meanings is via the symbolic types. In these cases, we’re not focused on the translational meaning, but simply looking at what the character represents through the symbolic types. In these cases, we may have clues in their name, like the J.C. example noted earlier, but this isn’t the only way to uncover the symbolic types. Saint Paul uses this method as well. In the second letter to Galatians, he unlocks the allegorical meanings of the story of Abraham’s sons. We won’t go into detail of Saint Paul’s examples, readers are invited to review them on their own, instead, let’s consider how Shakespeare uses J.C. in Julius Caesar.
The genius of Shakespeare is to embed different perspectives in one character. And so, Julius Caesar is not only a picture of Jesus Christ but also a picture of the church. The hints are when he’s referred to by his first or full name (Julius Caesar) versus simply Caesar (church). And so, lines like “O Julius Caesar thou art mighty yet” and “did not great Julius bleed for justice sake” carry the echo of Jesus in the ears of a Catholic listener. In contrast, lines like “Here was a Caesar (church). When comes such another?” or “Caesar (church), thou canst not die by traitors’ hands” carry the refrains of the sufferings of the Catholic church in England. Antony’s speech of Caesar in Act 3 is a masterful defense of the church, and readers armed with these basic insights are invited to hear Shakespeare’s defense of the church through the lips of Marc Antony.
Again, the genius of Shakespeare was to hide these truths in plain sight. So, Juliet Capulet is a Christ-figure in the outward form and appearance of a love-struck teenage girl, while in Julius Caesar, Caesar is the story of not only the betrayal of Julius, but more so, the fall of the true church in England. And listeners who’ve tuned their ears to hear Shakespeare learn to hear when the phrases represent Jesus and when the phrases represent the church. Shakespeare is a master, and he learned from the first century saints how to use characters and even their names to highlight allegorical meanings.
A third way to hear Shakespeare through names is to know the historical persons and what they represent. Whether we’re talking about Claudius, Isabella or Paris, various names help unlock the meaning of the play through knowing who the people are in history. We’ve already discussed the famine of Claudius and how Isabella is the name of the famous Catholic Queen of Spain, so a desire for brevity will limit our focus now to only one example of this type, the example of Paris. We learn through ancient Greek history and the poet Homer that Paris is a bride stealer. Shakespeare contains multiple Paris’s in his canon, the story of Troilus & Cressida as well as Romeo & Juliet.
In Romeo & Juliet, Paris lives up to his name and takes a bride that’s not his. This continue to fortify the deeper spiritual meaning and interpretations of the play. The story of Jesus is one of God coming for his bride, the church. And when the King of England nationalizes the church, he’s stealing the bride of Christ. He’s taking a bride that’s not his. Likewise, in Romeo & Juliet, Juliet’s father gives her to a man that’s not her spouse, he doesn’t give her to her true spouse, Romeo, but to the historical bride stealer, Paris.
Again, in Romeo & Juliet, the head of the house (Capulet) believes he has the authority to specify who JC marries, but he doesn’t. And when he takes an action beyond his natural limits, he sets in motion the death of not only the church (Romeo) but also Jesus (Juliet). Of course, without pilgrims of Rome, without priests, Jesus is no longer bodily present in England. Jesus’ spirit is there, for when two or three are gathered in his name, he’s present. But he is not present in body. For it takes a priest of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church to make Jesus present bodily. Yes, God is with us, and God is with us bodily at the hands of his priests, the pilgrims of Rome. For Shakespeare, there was no other possible ending for the story. Once Romeo died, Juliet could no longer live bodily but only in memory. There truly is no story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo, the story of the church in England, the attempted removal of Jesus Christ from the land of Mary’s dowry.
And so, of course, once we understand the genre, the year staged, the year published, and the character’s names, we have a lot of context to hear Shakespeare. Each of these four questions are key questions to help us unlock the spiritual meaning of Shakespeare’s plays, and each of these questions can give us clues for what to tune into before we even start one of his plays. The last, and possibly most important item, is to then to tune into Shakespeare as a storyteller, and the choices he makes as a craftsman in the telling of his tales. And to that, we now turn our eyes and tune our ears.
“For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead came also through a human being. For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life…the last enemy to be destroyed is death.” (St. Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians)
Storyteller
“Christians therefore read the Old Testament (and Shakespeare) in the light of Christ crucified and risen. Such typological reading discloses the inexhaustible content of the Old Testament; but it must not make us forget that the Old Testament retains its own intrinsic value as Revelation reaffirmed by our Lord himself. Besides, the New Testament has to be read in the light of the Old. Early Christian catechesis made constant use of the Old Testament. As an old saying put it, the New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New.” (CCC Paragraph 129)
The last item for us to consider is to tune into Shakespeare as a storyteller. A key assumption we make is he’s a master at his craft. What that means is each of the details in his story are carefully crafted to suit a purpose. The purpose may be entertainment, but the purpose may also be education. And obscure and quirky passages and plot twists may be because Shakespeare is communicating something deeper, something for Catholics to pay attention to and understand. And if we haven’t tuned our ears to hear Shakespeare, we’ll miss it. With this in mind, let’s consider a few things to note as the play unfolds, and let’s consider what’s important to note in Shakespeare’s careful craftsmanship as a storyteller.
The first thing is – how does he set up the story in the early scenes? Imagine being a Catholic of Shakespeare’s time, recognizing how he frequently embeds Catholic practices, symbolism, and traditions in his plays, reminding his audiences to not forget the outlawed religion. So, even small details in the story of Romeo & Juliet exist to share how Catholics approach confession, marriage, and a litany of other traditions and cultural practices woven into his plays. When Shakespeare says “Juliet is the sun,” a Catholic just as easily hears “Juliet is the Son,” and recognizes Shakespeare has given us a hint further confirmed in her initials J.C. Shakespeare has marked Juliet Capulet as a Christ figure, not unlike later authors would do with Joe Christmas or John Coffey. Imagine, noticing these strong Catholic tendencies in his early plays and then seeing that Julius Caesar would be playing at the Globe Theater the next play season. Imagine wondering, would he do it again? Would dare he create another Catholic allegory? Imagine wondering, as a Catholic, is Julius Caesar more than a Roman play and story, could it possibly be an allegory for the story of Jesus Christ? And imagine settling into the playhouse and watching the play unfold. From the first scene the playwright addresses your questions with an unequivocal and loud “Yes!” Yes, it is a story about Jesus. We know this from the very first scene, let’s take a closer look.
The first scene takes place in a totalitarian police State. Two commoners are questioned by Roman tribunes, Flavius and Marullus. One commoner is a carpenter and the other is a cobbler. When asked further what trade they are, the cobbler answers, “a mender of bad soles.” Remember, the audience here’s “souls” as much as “soles,” and “mender of bad souls” is obviously a hint to a Catholic audience that these are disguised priests, answering the question of their trade indirectly and yet truthfully. Those with ears to hear Shakespeare hear a different message. And our ears are tuned by this very first scene to hear themes we will need to pay attention too throughout the play. Right away, we know there’s a deeper message to Julius Caesar than the literal telling of an old Roman tale, for there is a spiritual side to the story that Shakespeare records for Catholics.
And the purpose in this section isn’t too unlock the deeper meaning of Julius Caesar, but simply to point out the method to hear Shakespeare and how he uses set-up scenes to tune our ears. Yes, the first key point to notice as we watch the play is to tune into the set-up scenes, Shakespeare uses them to frame the play in a particular context. This would be like an orchestra tuning strings as they are about to start, Shakespeare is tuning the ears of Catholic playgoers from the very beginning. Yes, Shakespeare is tuning the play, so Catholics know what to pay attention to.
The next thing to notice is the echoes of the bible and church teachings. Let’s consider Hamlet, for Shakespeare tunes his audience early on to notice a few things as the play unfolds. In the first Act alone, we hear a lot of important clues. One, Hamlet is returning from Wittenberg, the place that Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses and launched the Protestant rebellion a generation before Shakespeare’s birth. To confuse the audience even more, but tune in Catholic ears, the ghost of his father is awaiting the fires of purgatory (a Catholic belief that was outlawed in Protestant England). Before leaving for his purification, the ghost of his father has a message he shares with Hamlet. He’s been poisoned in the ear and the murderer is his own brother who has usurped the throne. The ghost of his father tells Hamlet to set right what has gone rotten in the state of Denmark. The rest of the story is Hamlet learning to walk in his mission and purpose, one in which he recognizes “there is a divinity that shapes our ends” and quotes Christ “there is special providence in the fall of a sparrow.” In the end, Hamlet is willing to lay down his life to make things right and bring evil to light.
For Catholics, the story of Hamlet takes strong echoes from our own bible stories. For, it was by the poison in our ears that mankind fell in the garden of Eden, hearing the devil and doubting the divine decree. Death was ushered in with sin and its dominion has been felt ever since. But the beloved Son was sent by the ghost of his Father to restore the kingdom, a mission that he willingly accepts unto death. Hamlet’s dying words to Horatio may as well have been Christ’s words to his apostles, “if thou didst ever hold me in thy heart, absent thee from felicity awhile and in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain to tell my story.”
Obviously, Hamlet is not a bible story. But it is told in a way that not only echoes bible stories, but often directly alludes to scriptural stories and symbols and uses quotes from the savior. Throughout his canon, Shakespeare reaffirms key Christian truths while retaining strong Christian symbolism. Shakespeare relied on the bible as a source for how to craft the story of Hamlet, and does so in ways so that those with ears to hear, hear a message that Shakespeare shares with the churches. Noticing biblical echoes in Shakespeare’s stories help us tune our ears to hear Shakespeare with even more clarity.
The next way to further tune our ears is not simply by noticing the biblical echoes, but more specifically, seeing the gospel in glimpses. Macbeth is a great example of this. Not published until after his death, we recognize this as a hint of an overtly Catholic play. These hints are enhanced throughout the play. For Shakespeare tunes the story by weaving in various interesting harmonies that climax wonderfully as the story unfolds. Macbeth is a study on man. From the beginning, Macbeth tells his wife “I dare do all to become a man” as he prepares to kill the king and take the crown. Later, one of the apparitions appears to Macbeth and the witches and prophecies, “Be bloody, bold, and resolute. Laugh to scorn the power of man for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth.” Macbeth takes confidence in the prophecy and inverts the divine decree “thou shalt not kill,” proclaiming to his enemy, “thou shalt not live.”
In Macbeth, Shakespeare creates counterpoints to the gospel story and gives us the gospel in glimpses. Those with ears to hear are tuned into these frequencies and see these glimpses as vibrant rays reiterating and enlightening the truths of sacred scripture, doing so in a marvelously Shakespearean way that hides the truth in plain sight. Everyone can enjoy the play on a literal level, Catholics also receive a catechism (i.e. religious teaching) on a spiritual level. And what unfolds? So many treasures. Let’s unpack one in detail.
By the time we enter the Act 4, we are ready for the showdown between Macbeth and his enemies. We hear in the dialogue strong echoes of Christ our lamb and the Christian story, “to offer up a weak poor innocent lamb t’appease an angry god” and the claim of the hero Malcolm that he shall “tread upon the tyrant’s head,” again, clear echoes of Genesis 3, Psalm 91, and even Luke 10. Macbeth’s enemies recognize him as the devil he is and have vowed to do right in the kingdom of Scotland, even treading upon the serpent.
Even the prophecy of the witches has strong echoes of the gospel of John, especially the third chapter when Jesus teaches none of woman born shall inherit the kingdom, for “unless you are born from water and spirit you cannot enter the kingdom of God. What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit.” In another place, Jesus says in reference to Saint John the Baptist, “among those born of woman there is none greater, yet even the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” So, while Macbeth is assured that none of woman born shall harm him, the Catholic audience is on the edge of our seats as we wonder how Shakespeare will resolve the tension of these many gospel glimpses. For none of woman born was a refrain from Christ’s own lips.
Finally, Macbeth and Macduff face off in the Act 5 and as they do, Macduff reveals that he “was from his mother’s womb untimely ripped” and promises that he’ll tie Macbeth to a stake and have it “painted on a pole, and underwrit, ‘Here may you see the tyrant.’” Again, strong echoes of not only the crucifix that hangs over our altar, but also Christ’s words to Nicodemus in the third chapter of John gospel. “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the word that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” Sin, in the form of Macbeth, will be tied to a tree, and life will come back into the kingdom of Scotland. This is a blend of not only the exodus story of Moses and the bronze serpent and the passion of our Christ, but it is told in a way that harkens a Catholic back specifically to John’s gospel, the third chapter.
Again, the story of Macbeth not only has strong echoes of our bible stories, by gives us glimpses of our gospel in which our savior is crucified to restore the kingdom of God on earth. Shakespeare hints at this gospel story throughout his canon, including Macbeth, and firmly crafts his stories using sacred scriptures as the solid foundation for his plays. The scriptures are masterfully woven into his stories, not simply as bible echoes but also gospel truths.
A fourth thing to notice is quirky plot twists. Consider As You Like It for a moment. The play begins with good people being banished from their homes by evil tyrants and taking on disguises while in exile. In As You Like It, the heroes take residence in the forest of Arden, named after Shakespeare’s maternal family, a family known for its strong Catholic faith and adherence to the old religion. Randomly, almost out of nowhere, Shakespeare works in a scene of Oliver coming upon his brother, Orlando, sleeping and being watched by a lioness. Orlando is the reason for Oliver’s exile, and he was going to leave his brother to be the lioness’s prey, but “kindness nobler ever than revenge made him give battle to the lioness, who quickly fell before him.” A quirky plot twist to a non-Catholic becomes an important parable in the ears of a Catholic playgoer. For the lioness is a symbol of the queen of England, the lady Macbeth, the evil Elizabeth. Shakespeare is telling the Catholics that their war against injustice, even when waged for their countrymen who took advantages of the unjust monarchy to exile their brethren, that “kindness is nobler than revenge” and they must “tread upon the serpent” in order to find reconciliation and union as countrymen. The end of exile can only come with love and forgiveness, not hatred and revenge. And we are to save our countrymen, even if they’ve taken advantage of us in the past. Kindness is nobler than revenge.
The last item we’ll note in hearing Shakespeare is to tune into the symbols he weaves into the plays. For example, let’s consider 12th Night once more. There is a curious passage about a lost purse. Antonio has entrusted Sebastian with a purse, but not knowing Sebastian has a twin, he asks Viola to return his purse, thinking Viola to be Sebastian. Another case of mistaken identity in Shakespeare. And of course, this is a common case of Shakespearean comedy.
From the beginning of the play we’re tuned to see these twins as types of the church. Sebastian is a picture of the Catholic church, the one entrusted with the pursue – a symbol of the sacraments in this play. And Viola, as Cesario, is a picture of the State church, who is entrusted with the good news of the duke’s love but does not possess Antonio’s purse (note: Antonio means highly praiseworthy, a picture of Jesus). How were we tuned? For one, the very name of the play comes from a Catholic festival, the 12 days of Christmas. For Protestants, Christmas is a day, if that. Early protestant reformers argued whether it should even be celebrated. Now, businesses have found a way to market it from Thanksgiving until New Years with various sales. But for Catholics, Christmas is a season, a season that last twelve days, from Christmas eve to the celebration of Three Kings Day. So, the very name of the play is a Catholic holiday. Another hint, of course, are in the names. Between Viola’s name and her disguised identity as Cesario, she not only takes the color of royalty but also the name of Cesar, a Roman Emperor, and a representative of the State.
Returning to the moment when Antonio asks for his purse to be returned, Viola rightly answers Antonio “my having is not much.” She was entrusted with a message of love, but not the sacraments. Her having is not much. And that’s partly what separates the Catholic church from the Anglican church. They are alike in many ways, almost like twins you could say, but only one church was entrusted with the sacraments. The other is simply a State institution modeled after the universal church. Their having is not much – the king of England could never give what the king of Jews does. And so, Shakespeare lays his case before all Englishman for them to choose wisely, knowing the facts. Or, what you will, as the alternate title recommends.
What we have discussed in Shakespeare as a storyteller is by no means an exhaustive list, this is simply a small number of things to pay attention to so that we tune our ears to hear Shakespeare. But different examples have been drawn across the whole of Shakespeare’s canon to show how thoroughly these apply not only from his early days but also his later years. There is unity in his Catholic messages across his canon. These examples are written so that you may come to see in Shakespeare the spiritual layer to his stories, and in doing so, come to know that there is a religious depth and meaning behind Shakespeare that points to his fervent Catholic faith that few have uncovered.
To hear Shakespeare is to hear not only the literal tales he told, but the spiritual stories he hid in plain sight. Shakespeare did with old stories what early saints did with ancient Jewish tales, he baptized them in the light of Christ and brought glorious treasures out of old storehouses. And by the frequent reading of William Shakespeare, we gain insight not only into one of the world’s most universal writers, and great Catholic playwrights and historians, but we also gain insight into how the old religion survived totalitarian kings and queens and made it into the present day despite severe government persecution. Ignorance of Shakespeare is ignorance of history. And ignorance of Shakespeare is ignorance of the great freedoms our American forefathers gained for us. Let us recover an appreciation of those great freedoms by beginning to truly hear Shakespeare. And may we one day cry with him, “Liberty, freedom! Tyranny is dead!” And may that cry be true.
The Church “forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful…to learn ‘the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures (and Shakespeare). ‘Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.’” (CCC Paragraph 133)
“What your wisdoms could not discover,
these shallow fools have brought to light.”
– Much Ado About Nothing (Act 5, Scene 1)