The Catholicism of Shakespeare's Plays - Softcover

Milward SJ, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1987454219 ISBN 13: 9781987454215

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2017

Synopsis

The subject of Shakespeare's own religion has been little discussed until recently. The prevailing impression has been that almost nothing is known of the poet's life, and consequently that no light can be shed on the plays by consideration of his beliefs. However, it is now increasingly accepted, on the basis of sound historical research, that Shakespeare had a strongly Catholic religious background and may well himself have been a recusant. In The Catholicism of Shakespeare's Plays, Fr. Peter Milward examines the traces of Shakespeare's Catholic influences within the plays themselves, and argues convincingly that they are best understood as the works of a playwright whose outlook was formed by the Catholic faith to which he remained attached, and who was seriously concerned by the contemporary persecution of the Catholic Church in England. He draws attention to many Catholic allusions in the plays not the subject of previous comment. The book concludes with a presentation of the historical evidence for Shakespeare's own Catholicism and recusancy, including an account of the 1999 "Lancastrian Shakespeare" Conference, at which new material was presented linking the poet with Catholic households in Lancashire, and possibly even with the Jesuit martyr St. Edmund Campion.

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1987454219
• ISBN 13: 9781987454215
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128