Was Shakespeare Catholic?

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I read an article recently which suggested that William Shakespeare was Roman Catholic, although secretly due to the supression of Catholicism by Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, and that he hid Catholic symbolism and messages in his plays (the “Shakespeare Code” ;)) :hmmm:

Has anyone else heard of this? Do you believe it?
 
There is a book on this published by Ignatius Press: Shakespeare the Papist.

I have not read it yet but it is on my list – i was a lit major and loved Shakespeare in college so it’s a must read for me.
 
One notes that Shakespeare, and all the writers of the Elizabethan period, had a Catholic upbringing; so Catholicism permeates their works.
 
Joe_Kelley said:
One notes that Shakespeare, and all the writers of the Elizabethan period, had a Catholic upbringing; so Catholicism permeates their works.
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The article that I read suggested that Shakespeare, born five years after the Church of England broke from Rome, wove Catholic themes and symbolism into his plays with the purpose of making religious statements- as any outright show of Catholic faith was banned.
 
Caesar said:
The article that I read suggested that Shakespeare, born five years after the Church of England broke from Rome, wove Catholic themes and symbolism into his plays with the purpose of making religious statements- as any outright show of Catholic faith was banned.
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I don’t know much about Shakespeare’s personal history, though I know a little. From the history standpoint, I could not prove the issue one way or the other. I will say, however, that having read Shakespeare’s plays and having closely studied some, it is very difficult to believe he was not Catholic in his heart. To some degree, it’s half hidden. Sometimes, it is not hidden at all. To me, one of the most striking examples is the discourses on penitence in MacBeth, particularly the final verbal exchange between MacBeth and MacDuff. If you study the play closely, as a discourse on sin and penitence, it is not difficult to be persuaded that Shakespeare was not Protestant, but Catholic. There are certainly other examples.

If he was Catholic and expressed it in his works, how did he get away with it? It is possible that Elizabeth I tolerated expression of Catholic concepts, so long as one did not call them Catholic, or be overtly Catholic. It is possible that the Protestantism of Elizabeth’s time knew it had not extirpated “Catholic thinking” from English culture and minds, and demanded only lip service from many. Totalitarianism of the 20th century variety might not have been achievable, or even really conceived of then. Had Elizabeth been as adept at repression as Stalin, Shakespeare would never have survived. To a degree, Protestantism never really did completely “Protestantize” England in thought and culture, and a kind of “thought debate” in England; largely peaceful, but sometimes not, never really ended.
 
From what little I’ve read, I believe when they were doing some restoration at Shakespeare’s homes, they found a written confession to the Catholic faith signed by Shakespeare’s father. (Obviously it was hidden there for safety reasons.) It’s a fascinating subject: I recommend “Will in the World” and there was a BBC series about Shakespeare and his World. I found a companion book to it and it was very interesting. I don’t think we’ll ever know in this world if the playwright was Catholic or not, there’s evidence either way.

Not too long after I read them, I attended the Michigan Renaissance Festival. The queen there this year went by the name Elizabeth Gloriana. I had a hard time rooting for England during the jousts for that reason (that’s the area where we were sitting) – I was secretly cheering on Spain and one of the other Catholic countries – sorry, can’t remember which one it was.
 
He definitely expressed some Catholic truths, like Purgatory:

Ghost
I am thy father’s spirit,
Doom’d for a certain term to walk the night,
And for the day confined to fast in fires,
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purged away.

-Hamlet
 
This is an interesting thread. I was just reading an article in Smithsonian magazine about Shakespeare. It seems that scholars don’t know much at all about the guy, including if he really existed or was a pseudonym for someone or group of someones.

Peace

Tim
 
There is another book coming out this year called The Quest for Shakespeare – sorry don’t remeber the author’s name. He documents Shakespeare’s catholicism as well as the theories about who wrote the plays.
 
Yes, I have heard this about Shakespeare.

Not to change the topic but Nathaniel Hawthorne’s youngest of his three daughters Rose became a Dominican nun(Mother Alphonsa). She founded the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne to care for victims of incurable cancer.

The Scarlet Letter has to be taught from a Catholic perspective to be correctly understood yet it just makes me feel better when there is a catholic connection.

ibiblio.org/eldritch/nh/rose.html
 
I have read about this…
I am inclined to believe that it is true…There has always been this controversy about how Shakespeare (a somewhat minor actor) could have known so much about Italy…The suggestion that I have read, and that I believe, is that he may have been someone who was active in smuggling priests in & out of England at a time when it was illegal to be Catholic there, and that he got his information from them…
He really does seem to have an awful lot of understanding about the wide world for someone who was “just a strolling player”, albeit one with a 😉 ready pen.
 
Is true that Shakespeare children were named after the deuterocanonicals books?
 
Ridgerunner said:
If he was Catholic and expressed it in his works, how did he get away with it? It is possible that Elizabeth I tolerated expression of Catholic concepts, so long as one did not call them Catholic, or be overtly Catholic. It is possible that the Protestantism of Elizabeth’s time knew it had not extirpated “Catholic thinking” from English culture and minds, and demanded only lip service from many.
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I was always under the impression that Anglican “protestantism” at this time was essentially “catholic,” just opposed to the papacy. My Advanced Senior English Lit class just finished a unit on the English Rennaisance, and the writers, even the Anglican ones, expressed many Catholic ideas. John Donne is the best example I can think of. Isn’t Queen Elizabeth even credited with the quatrain:

Christ was the Word that spake it
He took the bread and brake it
And what that Word did make it
I do believe and take it

?
 
There was a period of about 150 years, during which priests could be hanged, drawn, and quartered, merely because they were priests. There were quite a few English Catholic martyrs during that period.
 
William Shakespeare was Catholic. Though there is not specific document that absolutely says he was (would have been rare since it was illegal at the time) the evidence is fairly apparent.

Shakespeare’s mother was a very religious Catholic. And there is historical documentation of his father’s signed statement promising to raise his children Catholic. Shakespeare’s own children also refused Anglican communion.

Plus, as others have noted, the Catholic belief of purgatory and other common Catholic themes are found throughout Shakespeare’s plays.
 
PseudoHermit_22 said:
He definitely expressed some Catholic truths, like Purgatory:

Ghost
I am thy father’s spirit,
Doom’d for a certain term to walk the night,
And for the day confined to fast in fires,
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purged away.

-Hamlet
Click to expand...
Yes, especially since the Danes were Lutherans…
 
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