Download ALazarus Annotated Bib-

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Angie Lazarus
Dr. Ev Corum
Renaissance, HUM 530
12 April 2015
Annotated Bibliography
Asquith, Clare. “The Catholic Bard.” Commonweal 132.12 (2005): 10-14. PDF. This short article
provides a brief version of Shadowplay.
---. Shadowplay: The Hidden Belief and Coded Politics of William Shakespeare. New York:
Public Affairs, 2003. Print. Asquith’s book is a complex and impassioned argument for
the idea of a Catholic Shakespeare; its first section recounts the history of the oppression
of Catholics during Shakespeare’s lifetime and possible connections. The bulk of the
book focuses on her claim that the plays contain an explicitly Catholic and therefore
political subplot that audiences would have recognized. One problem this brings up is
why only Catholics would have recognized these subtexts; logically, since the culture
was hyperaware of religious practice and theology, both censors and careful audience
members would have “heard” the code as well. This is a problem Asquith acknowledges
but does not satisfactorily solve.
Beauregard, David N. “New Light on Shakespeare’s Catholicism: Prospero’s Epilogue in The
Tempest.” Renascence 49.3 (1997): 159-74. PDF. Beauregard’s careful study of the last
lines of The Tempest interprets it as a carefully couched plea for his soul in Purgatory and
therefore evidence of a Catholic imagination if not theology. The most interesting claim
is that “crimes” and “pardon” in the penultimate line employ Anglican language, while
“faults” and “indulgence” are Catholic (171). He further claims that Shakespeare’s play
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matches the Catholic idea that the soul “working out [its] salvation” is actually made
inherently whole rather than merely forensically pardoned (167, 171). While this
argument is fascinating, it overstates the discontinuity between the sides; for instance,
Catholic doctrine holds that the redeemed soul receives both forensic and inherent
perfection. Nevertheless, Beauregard marshals theological sources I cannot help but find
useful: Luther, the Tridentine documents, the Book of Common Prayer, King James’
Basilicon Doron, Anglican sermons, and other similar documents. (Note: DB claims that
while living in Southwark, Shakespeare did not receive communion in the local Anglican
parish (159)—a very suggestive detail.)
---. “Shakespeare and Catholicism.” Religion & the Arts 5.3 (2001): 245-7. Academic Search
Premier. Web. 16 May 2015. This short essay introduces a special issue dedicated to the
question and is comprised mostly of a review of the debate, including a brief but cogent
account of the early work about Shakespeare’s relationship to questions of faith.
Benson, Sean. “The Resurrection of the Dead in The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest.”
Renascence 61.1 (2008): 3-24. PDF. Benson’s argument relies on a claim by the
theologian von Balthasar that in Shakespeare “‘the Christian resurrection from the dead
becomes the reappearance of those believed dead’” (3), which he explicitly links to
Aristotle’s anagnorisis. Discussion about The Tempest centers around ideas of sin and
repentance and the clash of Christian and pagan worlds between which Prospero chooses
(13).
Bridgen, Susan. New Worlds, Lost Worlds: The Rule of the Tudors, 1485-1603. New York:
Penguin, 2000. Print. This book provides valuable background about the English
Reformation from a less biased perspective than most sources, describing a “compromise
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church, moored between Rome and Geneva, which was the ideal of the Elizabethan
establishment” (330). Bridgen describes the Queen as caught, even forced, by the
passions of the partisans to act against her own preference for tolerance—a portrait
typical of the older Anglican history (self-image) Asquith remembers as ubiquitous in her
own childhood. Its mentions of Shakespeare are incidental.
Coonradt, Nicole M. “Shakespeare’s Grand Deception: The Merchant of Venice—Anti-Semitism
as “Uncanny Causality” and the Catholic-Protestant Problem.” Religion & the Arts 11.1
(2007): 74-97. Academic Search Premier. Web. 11 May 2015.
Crocker, H. W. Triumph: The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church. Roseville: PrimaForum, 1991. Print. As the title suggests, this book is a popular history of the Catholic
Church. Its discussion of the English Renaissance Church is brief. However, Crocker
uses lines from Henry V to demonstrate the sharp distinction between a Lutheran faithalone theology with the Catholic balance between faith and faithfulness (238-9).
Duffy, Eamon. “The Bishop of Rome and the Catholics of England.” History Today 32.6 (1982):
5-12. PDF. In this essay on the way Catholics’ allegiance to Roman authority has
evolved, Duffy makes the claim that at the time of the Reformation, “To many, no doubt,
Catholicism was first and foremost ‘the Old Religion’, a matter of traditional observance
and ingrained habit which had little to do with ideology” (6). My thought is that if
Catholics held to their old ways because as Greeley says our faith is experiential, this
applies to Shakespeare too--whatever his actual beliefs.
Fenty, Kathleen Doherty. “The Bard of Rome?: Shakespeare and the Catholic Question.”
America 14 Sep. 2009. PDF. This review of recent literature on the question includes two
insights similar to my own ideas. First, Fenty argues that looking for points of theology in
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Shakespeare is misguided because “theater seeks to entertain, preparing the heart and
mind for reflection, while the purpose of sermons is to preach and instruct. Drama is
never a sermon. And this would apply to the portrayal of Shakespeare as a proselytizing
Protestant, papist renegade or atheist subversive” (24). Second, she claims that “The most
promising avenue for appreciating Shakespeare’s Catholicity lies not in biography but
rather in the recognition of his Catholic imagination, readily discoverable in his plays”
(24).
Fielitz, Sonja. “Shakespeare and Catholicism: The Jesuits as Cultural Mediators in Early Modern
Europe.” Critical Survey 21.3 (2009): 72-86. Academic Search Premier. Web. 11 May
2015. This article lays out the (circumstantial) evidence that Shakespeare may have been
a Catholic. While this territory is covered in much more depth by Milward and Asquith,
the article does open with a helpful review of the literature on the subject up to 2009.
Greeley, Andrew. The Catholic Imagination. Berkeley, U of California P, 2000. Print. Greeley’s
book claims that a person whose imagination is steeped in the rich sensory experiences of
the Catholic Mass is always inspired by that imagery. This does not suggest that a person
consciously uses Catholic things in his work; my favorite example is Bruce Springsteen.
Paired with Parker’s idea of the Mass as theatre, this gives me insight into the way
Shakespeare may have refracted religious symbols in his plays. (Note that, logically, an
Anglican would have the same experience, or anyone whose religious formation contains
strong artistic or literary experiences; I am reminded of Whitman echoing the Authorized
Version of the Bible.)
Greenblatt, Stephen. Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare. New York:
Norton, 2004. Print. This biography is to my mind the resource for Shakespeare’s life. As
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a literary critic, Greenblatt takes into account material in the poet’s work that may be
autobiographical or shed light on its author; for instance, he interprets Hamlet (in which
the author played the Ghost) through the lens of Hamnet’s death in 1596. He also brings
into this discussion the loss of Catholic means of coping with death (particularly the way
the Anglican liturgy moves from addressing the deceased as “thou” to discussing the
deceased as “him”) (312). There is an interesting discussion of Prospero’s epilogue as
well.
Richard Hooker. The Works of that Learned and Judicious Divine Mr. Richard Hooker with an
Account of His Life and Death by Isaac Walton. Vol. 1. 7th ed. Ed. R. W. Church and F.
Paget. Oxford: Clarendon, 1888. Online Library of Liberty. Liberty Fund. Nd. Web. 13
May 2015. I have included Hooker’s work for its straightforward teaching about the
Eucharist, and particularly of the Real Presence of Christ. Though he is three hundred
years after Shakespeare, Hooker captures the historic Anglican via media in theology and
practice. While Hooker, like most Protestants, recognizes only two sacraments (Eucharist
and baptism), his language about the Eucharist is so close to Catholic teaching that I
learned it first in RCIA. Since I am hoping to discern Eucharistic imagery in the play(s),
it is valuable to remember that this doctrine really separates Catholic from Calvinist, not
Catholic from Anglican.
Hudson, John. “Heretic’s Foundation XV: Is ‘Merchant of Venice’ a Cannibal Satire?” Heretic’s
Foundation. The Clyde Fitch Report. 30 Oct. 2009. Web. 12 Apr. 2015. Hudson is an
industrial consultant and was at the time of writing dramaturge to the Dark Lady Players.
His article lists parallels between the Eucharistic liturgy and Shylock (human flesh, three
trials, patens, Te Deum) and concludes, “…Shylock is a fairly blatant allegorical parody
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of the Last Supper as a cannibal feast. This is not anti-Semitic, quite the opposite. It is an
anti-Christian satire.”
Klause, John. “Catholic and Protestant, Jesuit and Jew: Historical Religion in The Merchant of
Venice.” Religion & the Arts 7:1-2 (2003): 65-102. Academic Search Premier. Web. 9
May 2015. Klause’s study focuses on the complex relationships between characters as
representatives of their faiths, and ten pages of the text comprise a detailed tracing of the
ideas and language of Southwell in Merchant. He makes much of Portia’s devotion and
piety, pointing out that she is also a balanced and even flawed character—a person
representing a “worldly” but genuine Catholicism. It strikes me that (especially in
comparison to Puritanism) the Catholic faith teaches that creation is good and should be
enjoyed, and that people of good will ought to enjoy their lives; martyrdom or even
asceticism is for unavoidable situations or special callings. In any case, Klause finds this
kind of balance inherent in the comic ending, and he argues that it “wins” over the radical
self-sacrifice of Antonio (whom he connects with Southwell); he fails to note, I think,
that Antonio does not pursue sacrifice but is ready to give it when necessary.
Milward, Peter. Shakespeare’s Religious Background. Chicago: Loyola UP, 1975. Print. This
volume is often credited as having started the current controversy about Shakespeare’s
Catholic references. Milward focuses much attention on the plays rather than the sparse
biographical details; for instance, the chapter entitled “The Catholic Clergy” locates lines
in The Taming of the Shrew and Love’s Labour’s Lost that refer to places where Catholic
priests were executed (68-9). This is precisely the sort of approach I plan to take to
locating the Sacraments in the plays. Interestingly, his chapter on “Anglican Liturgy”
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locates numerous echoes of the Book of Common Prayer, including the Te Deum (105)—
but all of them would also be found in the Catholic liturgy.
Marshall, Peter. The Catholic Priesthood and the English Reformation. Oxford: Clarendon,
1994. Print. Marshall’s detailed explanation of Catholic practice and the Protestant
response provides insight that might help clarify when Shakespeare’s references are
specifically Catholic. In particular, the chapter on “The Priest as Celebrant” discusses
contemporary practices at Masses in England, including liturgical language.
Murphy, Debra. “Cracking Shakespeare's Catholic Code: An interview with Clare Asquith.”
Godspy. Transmodern Media. 22 Sep. 2005. Web. 10 Apr. 2015. This interview was
published on Godspy along with the book’s preface, presumably as publicity. In it, she
explains not only her own motives in writing the book, but also gives a reasonable
explanation of why English scholars have missed the alleged Catholicism inherent or
hidden in the texts: English children grow up learning the “Great Myth” of Elizabethan
England and have failed to question it.
Parker, John. “What a Piece of Work Is Man: Shakespearean Drama as Marxian Fetish, the
Fetish as Sacramental Sublime.” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 34.3
(2004): 643-72. Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 May 2015. This complex and deeply
philosophical article uses Marx’s idea of fetishism—and in particular his religious and
sacramental language—as a lens for reading Shakespeare. The basic insight is that before
the Reformation, English theatre was openly and intentionally religious, and English
religion was openly and unapologetically theatrical (an important point about the Mass;
every Catholic knows that it is a spectacle—a representation of perhaps the most
dramatic moment in history). After the Reformation, theatre remained religious in the
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Marxian sense. I think Parker means to suggest that theatre fulfilled a need that the
Protestant liturgy could not meet, though the Anglican liturgy contains many of the
theatrical elements he mentions (the elevation of the Host in particular).
Picard, Liza. Elizabeth’s London: Everyday Life in Elizabethan London. New York: St. Marten’s
Griffin, 2003. Print. This popular history contains much entertaining information about
life in Shakespeare’s London, including a chapter on “Amusements.” However, the short
chapter about religion and witchcraft contains a description of outdoor sermons at the
cross in the yard of St. Paul’s, an occasion for anti-Catholic bombast (330-33). This detail
conveys a clear sense of the isolation and constant criticism a faithful Catholic would
experience.
Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice. 1611. The Complete Works of William
Shakespeare. London: Amaranth-Masters, 1985. 11-32. Print.
Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. 1611. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.
London: Amaranth-Masters, 1985. 11-32. Print.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. 1611. The Complete Works
of William Shakespeare. London: Amaranth-Masters, 1985. 11-32. Print.
Smallwood, Robert. “The End of The Merchant of Venice: Four Versions.” The Merchant of
Venice. Ed. Kenneth Myrick. New York: Signet, 1998. Print. This short essay is one of
five essays appended to Signet’s version of the play. In it, Smallwood briefly describes
four ways different directors have staged the final exit, each one bringing to crescendo
the production’s interpretation. I have come back to Smallwood several times because it
reminds me that every intelligent reader of Shakespeare finds multiple concerns in all the
plays—that is, every reader finds in the plays something that speaks to his or her own
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concerns. Thus a gay man, a rabbi, a feminist, an economist, and a Jesuit are all likely to
find in Merchant a story that speaks poignantly to them. None of the interpretations
Smallwood describes deviate from the original text, and none allow their concerns to
distort it. For one thing, this liberates me: if it is reasonable to find a homosexual subtext
in Antonio’s love, it is reasonable to find a Christian and even Eucharistic one as well.
Wilson, Ian. Shakespeare: The Evidence: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Man and His Work.
New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1999. Print. This book deals with many of the
mysteries—and rumors—surrounding the historical figure of Shakespeare, including the
Marlovian thesis and the claims that he was gay. It is engaging and full of the kinds of
details that make popular scholarship sell, and I learned some interesting tidbits I can use
in class. But I do not expect to use it in my essay.