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Shakespeare's Hybrid Faith: History, Religion and the Stage
Jean-Christophe Mayer
Palgrave Macmillan
£45
Dateline: 25th October, 2006
Much ink has been spilled over the vexed question of Shakespeare's
religious beliefs. Was the national poet of Protestant England secretly
a Catholic? Does the lack of concrete evidence that he wasn't a Catholic
imply that he may have been one? The fact that the English Reformation
didn't happen overnight, or even in a generation, leaves plenty of room
for both sides of the debate to argue their claims.
In Shakespeare's Hybrid Faith Jean-Christophe Mayer suggests
that "religion for Shakespeare was not so much a matter of systematic
allegiance as one of constant debating and questioning", a process
most clearly discernable in the history plays - particularly the Henry
VI trilogy, Richard II, King John and Henry VIII
- which contain more allusions to religion than the rest of the canon.
It may seem a little odd that religion looms so large in plays that,
with the obvious exception of Henry VIII, are set in England's
solidly Catholic past, but Mayer contends that Shakespeare's intertwining
of religion, superstition and the occult reflects the politicisation
of prophecies and visions by both Catholics and Protestants in Tudor
England. In Henry VI Part One the visionary Joan of Arc is portrayed
as a witch, implying that the Devil himself has sided with France; saintly
but inept King Henry misinterprets "divine" signs and is fooled
by the fake miracle at St Albans, a scene followed almost immediately
by what appears to be an authentic act of necromancy by the witch Marjorie
Jourdain and two Catholic priests. Ironically the prophecies uttered
by the spirit they raise are dismissed by the Duke of York as ambiguous
nonsense, yet as the trilogy unfolds they all come true.
Mayer goes on to examine Shakespeare's handling of religion in Richard
II, a monarch who, like Henry VI, was supplanted by a rebellious
subject with a claim to the throne. Images of militant crusade and peaceful
pilgrimage are scattered throughout the play, written at a time when
post-Reformation England no longer took part in the defence of the Crusader
kingdoms, and Bolingbroke's crusader-like return from exile is contrasted
with the deposed Richard's longing to become a pilgrim. The elderly
Queen Elizabeth was keenly aware of the parallels between Richard and
herself, and Mayer uncovers new evidence about the hiring of Shakespeare's
company for the notorious performance of Richard II on the eve
of Essex's abortive coup in 1601.
King John is now one of Shakespeare's least-performed plays,
probably because it does not fit in with the two tetralogies. For centuries
before Shakespeare's day John had enjoyed a mixed reputation as a proto-Protestant
who defied the Pope and resisted a French invasion, yet also usurped
and probably murdered his nephew Arthur. The divided loyalties of Salisbury
and other turncoat lords may have struck a chord with English Catholics
in Shakespeare's lifetime, but after the triumph of Protestantism in
the 18th century (when King John was enormously popular) the
King's altercation with scheming Cardinal Pandulph was regarded as one
of the highlights of the play.
Although Shakespeare's John is in some respects a rough draft for Richard
III, the monarch whose posthumous reputation most resembles his own
is Henry VIII. Mayer points out that the famous last scene of Shakespeare
and Fletcher's Henry VIII - future Protestant martyr Cranmer's
christening of future Protestant Queen Elizabeth - is by no means typical
of a play in which every major character claims to have a monopoly on
"truth" whilst contradictory rumours fly thick and fast. The
Catholic Queen Catherine, steadfastly loyal to England even in the depths
of her sorrow, is "rewarded" with a vision whose iconography
draws upon that of the Virgin Mary; her supplanter Anne Bullen, despite
being dismissed by Wolsey as "a spleeny Lutheran", is also
depicted as a kind of secular Virgin, the vessel divinely chosen to
bear Gloriana.
The controversy about Shakespeare's religious affiliation began shortly
after his death and shows no sign of abating. Mayer argues that "either/or"
theories are misleading and ultimately pointless; if any conclusion
can be drawn from Shakespeare's treatment of religious debate, it is
that in real life ordinary people find a way to accommodate religious
differences and even to hold contradictory beliefs. Then as now, the
most effective way for a state to maintain and justify its power was
to oppose itself against an evil "Other" - Catholics, Protestants,
Jews, witches - supposedly bent on its destruction. Shakespeare's
Hybrid Faith is a valuable contribution to the study of early modern
literature and will be of interest both to students and general readers.
J D Atkinson
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