The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1879-07-26
SELECT LITERATU RE.
SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE.

| Shakespeare lived at Il time when the Bib
| began once more to be eagerly studied, an
he seems to have been fully alive to the he
j impulse This is shown not merely by Ii
direct quotations from Scripture. but f
more imprc$Sively by his indirect allu>ion
There are many passages into which Shal
Spcare (without quoting) has co pressc
the essence of portions of Scripture, whic
could only have been the result off, clrefl
| meditation of the sacred page. Besides TIL
there Is almost everywhere Il recognition {
the other world and invisible things. pro,
ing that his mind had been in familiar cor
munication with the chiefso of religion
| truth. 1t is not too lauch to say that i
Shakespeare religion is a vital and activ
principle, sustaining the good alarming tn
wicked, and influencing the heart and life
For example, in Measure for Measure lisa
bella's character is based upon religion a
containing the only principles equal to til
task of overcoming her temptation. On til
other hand, Angelo, who makes profession
of strict moral purity, is destitute of religion
principles, and therefore falls.
We could find in Shakespeare allusion
t" passages culled from almost every bool
of the Bible. The references to the carlies
historical characters of Scripture-.idan
and Eve, Cain and Able-are very numer
GUS and very varied. In Much lido obou
Nofhing we find Bcnedick saying of Bea
trice:
1" would not marry her, though she wer,
endowed with all that Adam had left hin
before he tranSgrcSsed.
This owes lis force to the effect il las on on
imagination. We recall an image of tb,
bliss and profUsion of good with which
Adam was surrounded before he fell In til,
forest of Arden the duke saws:
Are not these woods
More free from peril than the envious court:
Here feel we but the penalty of Adam
i'll reference, no doubt, to the curse. L" In tn,
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread"
In Henry ]. Shakespeare makes inc fig.
urative use of Adams expulsion from Para.
disc. The Archbishop of Canterbury is de,
scribing the change in Henry v from frolic.
some youth to Il wise king:
consideration like an angel came,
And Whipped the offending Adam out OF
him;
Leaving his body as Il paradise,
To envelop and contain celestial spirits"
But the idea here that paradise became the
abode of celestial spirits is extra Biblical
and derived from tradition.
In Richar" III. the queen thus upbraids
the gardener for bringing the news of the
kings deposition
"Thou old Adams likeness.
Set to dress this garden, how dlares
Thy harsh, rude tongue sound this unpleaS-
ing news!
hat Eve, what serpent, hath suggested
thee
To make second fall of cursed mani"
Here the three or four earliest pictorial
sketches of the Bible are combined in one
view, and that in very strong colors.
Falstatf makes very witty allusion to
-Ndain 5 fall in excuse of his own otftnses:
In the state of innocency Adam fell: and
wha' could poor Jack Falstatf do in the
days of rilainy?''
These are but Il few of SlakSpeare's refer
ences to the earliest historical records of the
Bible. The illusions 10 Cain and Abel are
not less numerous and striking. Constance
thus speaks of Prince Arthur:
g For since the birth of Cain, the first male
child
To him that did but yesterday suSpirr,
here was not such 4 gracious creature born. -
The Bishop of Winchester when threat
encd by the Duke of Gloster, thus speaks q
Henry ~, j, -:
Nay, stand thou back will not bulge a
foot:
This he Damascus, be thou cursed Cain,
To Stay thy brother Abel, if thou wilt"
Can irritating mode this of claiming rela-
and yet at the same time superior
ity.)
In hichoId II. Bolinghrokc charges Now
bray with the Murder of the Duke of Clos
ter, aud says:
. W liicll blood, like sacrificing .Abl,.'S cries
Even from the tongueleSS ruvernS of the
earth,
To me, 10: istice and rough chas.isemcnt"
The words of Northum bcrlaud, in the
Second Part Of Nonry H., reveal his agony
Of heart when he hears that his rebel army
is defeated, and that his son, Henry Percy,
is slain. Thoroughly aroused from his ap,-
thy by grief and desperation, he now re-
solves to hazard all, and ends his fierce in
vocation thus:
"Now let not Natures hand
Keep the wild flood confined, Let order die
And let this world no longer he Il stage
To feed contention in Il lingering act
But let one spirit of the first-borm Cain
Reign i'll all bosomS..'
We don't know whether people, in read
ing the account of Noah in the Book of Gen
eSis, think Of him rs sailor, he certainly
was; and in Tre!HH Night we have Sir Toby
saying,
Judgment and reason We're grand jury
men before Noah was Il sailor
In the Comedy Of Errors one of the ~ great
y is spoken of rs having Il {" fault
that Noah's flood could not mend"
Scripture, makes in his selfdefense IN allu-
sion to one of PhiraohS dreams:
" Ito be fat is to he heated, then Pharaoh 5
lean kline are to he loved
In another play there is Il rather UNIQUE
allusion to the plague OF darkness:
There is no darkness but ignorance in
which thou art more puzzled than the Egypt
ianS i'll their fog.
The Commandments are thus alluded to-
Luc.o, lin Ma IRE Tor Measure, saws toa gen
tleman who has used Il somewhat trickey
to suit his purpose:
LUcio. Thou concludeSt like the Sancti-
nonious pirate that went to SEA with he
re commandments, but scrapcd one out of
the tablet
" Gentleman. Thou shalt not steal?''
"L"rio. Ay, that he RACED"
Passing by the numerous illusions to be
met with to ,jephthah, Samson, Saul, David
and others, one example may he given of
Falstati's curious way of putting together
texts from different parts of the Bible:
g fear not Goliath with Il viewers beam
because know also lit, is IL shuttle
Shakespeare has made liberal use of the
Book of job. There is no need to recall
verbal references, such as the phrases cas-
SlanderouS as Satan, Gas poor rs job"
''as wicked rs Jobs wife" But in GttcIlo
we have half Il dozen lines which give us
the substance of the second chapter of job
Othello, hcwailing the supposed iniidclity
of DcSdemona, says:
g Had it pleased Heaven
To try me with Affections: had he rlind
All kinds of sores and ShamcS on my bare