Shakespeare In Love

with the Catholic Church

Here we offer brief summaries of Catholic themes underpinning Shakespeare’s plays, specifically focusing on his Comedies & Tragedies. As we continue to work on them, click here for our latest ones.

The Taming of the Shrew

a kind of history

Comedy, ~1590, 1st published in Folio

The First Folio’s publication in 1623, 8 years after Shakespeare’s death, brought us 18 plays from Shakespeare never published during his lifetime — about half of his canon. Among them is The Taming of the Shrew, probably Shakespeare’s first comedy. For a prolific writer, Shakespeare cared very little for the publishing of his plays, censorship laws made it difficult for any Catholic to publish, even a great playwright like Shakespeare would find difficultly in publishing. Instead, the prolific playwright dedicated himself to staging stories in the theater, like The Taming of the Shrew, where an actor tells the audience in the introductory scenes that these plays are “a kind of history.”

His first comedy uses his well-known play-within-a-play motif (famous in later productions like Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet). But this play is a curious kind of history, for it starts off with a set-up scene where a practical joke is played on Christopher Sly (‘cunning Christ-bearer’). He wakes from his drunken stupor to find himself declared a Lord who can’t remember the last 15 years. And part of the joke is that as he wakes he is forced to watch this play, which is, as mentioned, “a kind of history.”

Only, for the Catholic audience, this kind of history reveals reality. We’re quickly transported to Padua, a kind of England. In Padua, the father of a prominent house is Baptista, who has 2 daughters of marriageable age — the elder Catherine, who none wish to court, and the younger Bianca, who all wish to court.

To hear Shakespeare and interpret this Catholic allegory, a few things to note. Baptism is the only sacrament common to both Catholics and Anglicans, so this is a very astute name choice from Shakespeare to help disguise and yet unlock the allegory of the two main churches in England. Next, the elder daughter, is named after Catherine of Aragon, the Catholic Queen discarded by Henry VIII when he created his State church and wedded his new wife under Anglican rites. The name means “pure.” In the story, the older sister and noted shrew, Catherine, represents the Catholic church, the old faith that none in Padua desired to wed. Curst Cate would have been a common refrain lamenting the displaced Queen, and in this story is symbolic of the displaced Church.

None woo Catherine until Petruchio comes to town ready to “wive and thrive.” And once again, for a Catholic audience member, his name sounds a lot like Peter, the office of Peter being the vicar of Christ and head of the Catholic church on earth. This allegory is confirmed for Catholics when Petruchio officially introduces himself to the audience,

“Thus it stands with me: Antonio my father is deceased, and I have thrust myself into this maze, haply to wive and thrive, best as I may. Crowns in my purse I have, and goods at home, and so am come abroad to see the world.”

A couple key historical items to note. Antonio is the given name of Pope Saint Pius V, the saintly pope who excommunicates Queen Elizabeth in 1570. And Pope Gregory XIII is the pope who follows (his papacy was from 1572-1585), the one whom Petruchio specifically represents in the play, going to woo the curst bride of Christ.

There are two things, possibly above all others, that Pope Gregory XIII would be known for among the English people of Shakespeare’s time. One, the Jesuit mission to England which began in 1580. And two, the Gregorian calendar of 1582, which better aligned our solar calendar with the seasons.

Both these items are represented in the play.

The Jesuit mission is represented in all the disguises that the travelers to Padua, except Petruchio, must don to woo Bianca. As it was illegal and punishable unto death to be a Catholic priest in Elizabeth’s England, the Jesuit mission meant the English priests took on disguises to woo Anglicans back to the pure faith as well as bring the divine sacraments to Catholics who had kept the faith despite torment and torture.

The calendar is mentioned as a joke during an interchange with Petruchio and his new bride Catherine. The historical allusion is that when Pope Gregory announced the new calendar in 1582, Europe was then divided in telling time by religious lines. Many Catholic countries adopted the new calendar immediately, skipping ahead 11 days from October 4 to October 15 overnight. While the slowest Catholic countries adopted the new calendar within 2 years. Instead, the Protestant countries would take centuries to align. (The American colonies wouldn’t adopt the calendar till the mid-18th century). And so it’s a part of hilarious Catholic comedy that Petruchio dictates the time to his shrewish wife who while disbelieving learns to believe her husband and calls it as he sees it,

“Then God be blessed it is the blessed sun
But sun it is not, when you say it is not,
And the moon changes even as your mind.
What you will have it named, even that it is,
And so it shall be so for Katherine.”

It’s a bit of irony at the “shrewish” Catholics aligned with the Pope almost immediately, while the Protestants took centuries to heed his wisdom. Another moral to explore for another time.

There is so much more to comment on this play, an amazing Catholic comedy, but then this summary wouldn’t be considered brief. And so, for the sake of brevity, we once again urge one another to hear Shakespeare, and in doing so love the bride of Christ even more every day called ‘today.’

Blessed are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear! In truth I tell you, many prophets and upright people longed to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.

— Jesus of Nazareth, King of Kings

The Two Gentlemen of Verona

a sheep doth often stray if the shepherd be awhile away

Comedy, ~1590, 1st published in Folio

Another contender for his first play, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, is an early comedy which shows many themes Shakespeare will take on throughout his career. Friendship, secret lovers, betrayal, a father’s forbidding of love, banishment and exile, villainy, letters, and spies. Only, while this play includes many seeds that will mature and flower throughout his career, the play somehow doesn’t pack the weight of his later plays. And yet, it does have lyrical beauty and shows not only promise but moments of genius for the budding Catholic playwright.

The Catholic-ness of the play is found early. Two friends conversing, one of his upcoming journeys, one doting on his love, as he notes, “he after honor hunts, I after love.”  The lover promises, “for I will be thy beadsman, Valentine.” Seemingly innocuous lines until one realizes the rosary is illegal in England. For Catholic audiences — struggling to maintain the faith in Anglican England where the old, ancestral faith is outlawed — Shakespeare is clearly establishing Catholic characteristics illegal in Elizabeth’s Anglican England where the Catholic church is banished and the State church propped up in its place, governed by the royals of England.

Spoiler alert, but as the story progresses, both friends find themselves in the imperial court, a stand in for the royal courts of England. Sadly, Proteus betrays his friend after plotting to woo his friend’s object of affection. As part of the betrayal, the Duke banishes Valentine who is exiled into the forest. Again, the early seeds of important Catholic themes that resound throughout his canon in plays like King Lear, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo & Juliet, As You Like It, Othello, and Richard III are all present and seen in this short and powerful play. Catholic themes are all here — of banishment, of slander, of disguised heroes, of betrayal and spies, of oaths and forswearing of them, and, of course, of love. Only, this is a comedy.

And as a comedy it ends with forgiveness, wedded bliss, and hope. As this one is an early play, Shakespeare’s cousin has yet to be arrested, tortured, and martyred, and so the later even more intense suffering he is about to experience has yet to forge the gut-wrenching genius and artistry that is to come. That takes place between 1592 and 1595 when his cousin, Saint Robert Southwell, is imprisoned, tortured, tormented, martyred, and impaled. That’s the crucible that forges the greatness of Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and his later canon. Once his cousin gave all unto death, Shakespeare transformed into the poet for all ages and all times. His cousin’s martyrdom forged Shakespeare’s destiny. But that is yet to come.

And this play is a comedy. And as a comedy, ends on a note of hope, with these words, as the restored Proteus listens to his friend Valentine tell the Duke about the hope of a united England, no longer separated by sacraments, liturgies, or even churches, but once again whole, holy, and one, like the forgotten times of old.

Come, Proteus, ‘tis your penance but to hear
The story of your loves discovered
That done, our day of marriage shall be yours:
One feast, one house, one mutual happiness.

Titus Andronicus

violent, Vicious, villanous, and ferocious

Tragedy, ~1592, 1st published as Quarto

Shakespeare is deep. Deeply Catholic. And in Titus Andronicus, we see the early stirrings and patterns of the genius that is to come. Shakespeare is entering into one of the most artistically fruitful decades of any poet, playwright, storyteller, or writer to have walked this earth. And early on in his career, he is setting the stage for the whole of his canon, which happens to be the greatest canon of literature published since the New Testament was penned in the streets and jail cells of the Roman empire.

In this first published tragedy of his, we learn how profoundly Catholic his canon will be. His plays are not simply great stories, but chronicles of world history. Let us consider a few details from Titus Andronicus to uncover how patterns in his plays disguise religious allegories through a mask of entertaining stories.

One of the first things Shakespeare teaches us in this visceral and violent slasher play is the importance of characters and their names. In this case, he remakes Roman history as a violent and contemporary political thriller. Let’s start with the name of the play’s namesake, Titus Andronicus.

Titus Andronicus is an amalgam of two important historical people.

One is Titus, who was Roman emperor in A.D. 79, and succeeds his father who came to imperial power during the Year of Four Emperors in A.D. 69. Before Titus became emperor, he found renown as a military commander in charge of ending the Jewish rebellion. Specifically, in A.D. 70, he captured Jerusalem and destroyed the city and the temple. The temple in Jerusalem is the only place ancient Jews are allowed to offer holy sacrifices to God.

The other is Andronicus, who is mentioned in the book of Maccabees, a book canonical for Catholics but not for Anglicans. The story of 2nd Maccabees starts with the following honorific commentary about the holy high priest,

“While the holy city was inhabited in all peace and the laws were observed as perfectly as possible, owing to the piety of Onias, the high priest and his hatred of wickedness, it came about that the kings themselves honored the holy place and enhanced the glory of the Temple with the most splendid offerings.”

Well, at this point, it may come as no surprise to those who hear Shakespeare that the one who slays the holy Onias is Andronicus.

“Menelaus then had a quiet word with Andronicus, urging him to get rid of Onais. Andronicus sought out Onias and, resorting to the trick of offering him his right hand on oath, succeeded in persuading him, despite the latter’s lingering suspicions, to leave sanctuary; whereupon, in defiance of all justice, he immediately put him to death.”

Is it just a coincidence or is it possibly part of a masterful design that in Shakespeare’s play, Titus Andronicus literally loses his right hand, being deceived by Aaron, much like Onias was tricked by Andronicus in the Maccabean story. A type of divine retribution and an artistic nod to the play’s namesake.

So, the name of the story is a mix of two historical people, one who destroys the temple where Old Testament sacrifices were made and another who kills the holy high priest of God. Interesting choices by the great Catholic storyteller. In England, the same thing happened under Henry 8th and his daughter Elizabeth, who made the sacrifice of the mass illegal, destroyed many places of worship, and killed priests who offered the body of Christ to his people.

Let us also consider one more character — Lavinia, the daughter of Titus Andronicus in Shakespeare’s story. In history, Lavinia is the name of the bride of the founder of Rome and she is also the Queen Mother to the Latin people. Anyone familiar with the sacred scriptures see readily how Lavinia stands as a ready symbol for the Catholic Church, the bride of Christ and mother to all Catholics.

Then consider in Shakespeare’s story the impact of her savage rape and mutilation by the Queen’s sons, her tongue cut out and hands cut off. Symbolically, these details stand as multiple metaphors — the Royal pillaging of the Church, the Crown’s censoring of Catholics, the government killing of the Church’s priests and lay faithful. Very literally, King Henry and Queen Elizabeth had Catholic priests dismembered, cutting off the very hands that brought the body of Christ to his bride in England.

With these few details in Titus Andronicus, we are only starting to scratch the surface of the deeply Catholic symbolism embedded within this entertaining masterpiece.

Unable to properly plumb the profound depths of this story in a short summary, the desire for brevity means we’ll conclude with this thought. The story is violent because it tells the story of the English church — which is a violent history. The way the State church treated Catholics is barbaric and cruel and violent. When the royals titled “Defenders of the Faith” became the chief martyr makers in English history, well, how else would a Catholic playwright chronicle the plight of his kinsmen and countrymen?

Queen Elizabeth, the evil slayer of his beloved cousin and other kinsmen, is represented in Titus Andronicus as the evil character Tamora, Queen of the Goths. If we think Tamora was evil, deceitful, and cruel, well, don’t look into the history of Elizabeth. English royals, especially her, were savage in their cruelty against Roman Catholics. Again, Shakespeare’s story is violent because it’s not simply a story for the stage, but also a history, disguised to avoid censorship, a story meant to chronicle the violent history of English royalty mutilating the Catholic church and her beloved children.

To hear Shakespeare is to learn Church history. And with this background, just consider how powerful these opening lines of the play must have been for English Catholic audiences suffering under tyranny, unable to legally be Catholic since the earlier generations of their fathers and forefathers.

Noble patricians, patrons of my right,
Defend the just of my cause with arms.
And countrymen, my loving followers,
Plead my successive title with your swords.
I am his first-born son that was the last
That wore the imperial diadem of Rome.
Then let my father's honors live in me,
Nor wrong mine age with this indignity.

The Comedy of Errors

therefore by law thou art condemned to die

Comedy, ~1594, 1st published in Folio

On the verge of greatness, The Comedy of Errors is another early play that highlights themes that will flourish later in Shakespeare’s canon. For a comedy, it starts off with a very severe set-up scene. The law in Ephesus is mentioned in the first lines,

Again, if any Syracusian born
Come to the bay of Ephesus — he dies,
His goods confiscate to the Duke’s dispose,
Unless a thousand marks be levied
To quite the penalty and to ransom him.
Thy substance, valued at the highest rate,
Cannot amount unto a hundred marks.
Therefore by law thou art condemned to die.

Harsh laws and severe penalties, this opening is clearly written by a Catholic playwright to highlight the current laws in England, where any Catholic priest, English or otherwise, who sets foot on English soil is legally doomed to die. Priests were hunted in Elizabeth’s England, and to catch a priest was to condemn him to death.

Now, this is a comedy. So, the accused tells a story of long lost twins he is seeking. And Shakespeare uses the theme of mistaken identity and long lost twins to create some hilarious and slapstick humor for his audience, while also conveying some important religious truths core to England’s identity as a nation — ancient Catholic and newly Protestant. Identity is foremost in this play as it symbolically represents the issue of the two main churches in England, the government-sanctioned Anglican church, and the illegal, persecuted Catholic church. These churches were similar in the early days of the State church, and so, long lost twins is an apt metaphor to the separated churches.

But this is early in Shakespeare’s career, and so the symbolism he is using and exploring in these early comedies will find more depth very shortly. For example, using money as a symbol of the sacraments is experimented here but perfected in Twelfth Night. The symbolism of the ring is explored here and in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, but clarified in Merchant of Venice. These early comedies are critical to his development as an artist, storyteller, and chronicler of church history. And, as such, they function as important testimonies to his development as an artist.

Lastly, Ephesus, obviously as stand in for England, is another astute biblical choice from the Catholic playwright. In England, Queen Elizabeth was frequently referred to in poetry as Diana, the Latin goddess (or Artemis in Greek). So, Shakespeare uses this common English symbol for Elizabeth and offers important coded insights to his Catholic audiences. From a biblical point of view, Ephesus is important community with particular issues which Saint Luke chronicles in his book, The Acts of the Apostles.

A major controversy occurs in the 19th chapter while Saint Paul visits Ephesus, a jealous silversmith Demetrius who created shrines to Artemis, organizes other workers to persecute Saint Paul, relating,

“Men, you know well that our prosperity derives from this work. As you can now see and hear, not only in Ephesus but throughout most of the province of Asia this Paul has persuaded and misled a great number of people by saying that gods made by hands are not gods at all. The danger grows, not only that our business will be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be of no account, and that she whom the whole province of Asia and all the world worship will be stripped of her magnificence.”

This was eerily similar to the preaching of the gospel and sharing of the sacraments by Catholic priests. Queen Elizabeth feared they stripped her magnificence and reduced her power, wealth, and glory of her State-run church. And the tyrant created laws to encourage false worship and ban the true church from England. Like Shakespeare’s other plays, The Comedy of Errors is another key testimony to the hopes of English Catholics in not being banished from their beloved nation nor hunted by their evil Queen.

Let those with ears to hear, hear Shakespeare and learn world history.

Queen and huntress, chaste and fair,
Now the sun is laid to sleep,
Seated in thy silver chair,
State in wonted manner keep:
   Hesperus entreats thy light,
   Goddess, excellently bright.

Earth, let not an envious shade
Dare itself to interpose;
Cynthia's shining orb was made
Heaven to clear when day did close:
   Bless us then with wishèd sight,
   Goddess, excellently bright.

Lay thy bow of pearl apart,
And thy crystal-shining quiver;
Give unto the flying hart
Space to breathe, how short soever;
   Thou that mak’st a day of night,
   Goddess, excellently bright.

— Queen & Huntress by Ben Johnson (1601)

Love’s Labor’s Lost

what fool would be so wise to lose an oath and gain a paradise?

Comedy, ~1594, 1st published as Quarto

Love’s Labor’s Lost , the first comedy published in Shakespeare’s lifetime, comes out clearly against the political machine. Shakespeare cements his place in print as the rebel writer preaching Catholic truths to a regime attempting to root out all traces of the old faith and true religion. As always with Shakespeare, the set up scene sets the stage for the story, and functions as a commentary for his Catholic audience.

In the set-up scene, two key items describe life in England for Catholics.

The first, the King and his close friends take a vow to forsake love and devote themselves to study. Let’s quickly unpack the allegorical meaning. The vow is a stand-in for the Oath of Supremacy, required by all who take public office, or as hinted in the play, also required by all who study in an English university. When modern critics are astounded and confounded that there is no record that so great a mind like Shakespeare’s went to university, it’s easy for Catholics to understand why. Catholics were barred by the government from attending English universities. To take the Oath of Supremacy is to forsake Christ and his bride.

Yes, once the Crown created a State church, they made it illegal for Catholics to hold public office or attend university in order to force obedience to the regime’s new religion, the church for Anglicans. For Catholics, the only universities available were on the continent. So, of course, there’s no record of Shakespeare attending the university, it would have meant apostasy to our Savior and the Church he loved.

Or, as Berowne in the play notes, the other option is “necessity will make us all forsworn.”

The second key theme to our set up scene, there is a proclamation that it is “a year’s imprisonment to be taken with a wench.” Costard tells the King he heard the proclamation, but not its observance. “I do confess much of the hearing it, but little of the marking of it.”

In allegorical terms, Shakespeare is alluding to Queen Elizabeth’s Thirty Nine Articles of Religion, finalized in 1571, which describe the beliefs of the State church. In the play, the clown confesses that many people heard these proclamations, but few are observing them, insinuating that England remains firmly Catholic. Once again, Berowne foretells, “I’ll lay my head to any good man’s hat, these oaths and laws will prove an idle scorn.”

Shakespeare’s comedies are filled with gravities, and this is a comedy with much hilarity in the form of political satire. Very soon after taking their vows to study and forsake love, a Princess from France shows up with her attending ladies. Immediately, the King and his Lords find themselves foresworn of their oaths to study and avoid love. The Princess tells the King, “‘Tis deadly sin to keep that oath, my lord.”

Since this is a comedy, all the lords find love with the ladies and the hilarity ensues in how they try to justify the foolishness of their earlier vows as they profess their divine love to the ladies.

My vow was earthly, thou a heavenly love;
Thy grace, being gained, cures all disgrace in me.
Vows are but breath, and breath a vapor is:
Then thou, fair sun, which on my earth dost shine,
Exhal’st this vapor vow; in thee it is.
If broken then, it is no fault of mine;
If by me broke, what fool is not so wise
To lose an oath to win a paradise?

A little later, Berowne once again tells the fellows,

Let us once lose our oaths to find ourselves,
Or else we lose ourselves to keep our oaths.
It is religion to be thus forsworn,
For charity itself fulfills the law
And who can sever love from charity?

The message to this short play is clear, lose our Oath of Supremacy to find ourselves devoted to Christ and in communion with his holy Church. When one reads the Oath for itself, you realize that it is not simply Catholics that can’t take the Oath of Supremacy, but any Christian. The diabolic logic of the Oath of Supremacy is that it not only denies the Catholic church, but also Christ our King.

Oath of Supremacy: "I, A.B., do utterly testify and declare in my conscience that the queen's highness is the only supreme governor of this realm and of all other her highness's dominions and countries, as well in all spiritual or ecclesiastical things or causes as temporal, and that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm; and therefore I do utterly renounce and forsake all foreign jurisdictions, powers, superiorities, and authorities, and do promise that from henceforth I shall bear faith and true allegiance to the queen's highness, her heirs, and lawful successors, and to my power shall assist and defend all jurisdictions, pre-eminences, privileges, and authorities granted or belonging to the queen's highness, her heirs, and successors, or united or annexed to the imperial crown of this realm: so help me God and by the contents of this Book."

As better said by Shakespeare, “what fool is not so wise to lose an oath to win a paradise?”

If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?

— Jesus of Nazareth, King of KIngs

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

a tale of religious liberty

Comedy, ~1595, 1st published as Quarto

Another gorgeous and genius comedy that addresses the theme of religious liberty. In fact, in the first scene Shakespeare highlights what’s at stake for Catholics in England.

Athenian law states the father tells his daughter who to marry. English law states the Queen tells Catholics who they marry. English law states Catholics must become Anglican and wed themselves to the Anglican church. Yes, the Queen demands all Catholics forsake the faith of their fathers, apostatize, and become part of the State church. According to English royalty, that was the duty of every Englishman, to take the Oath of Supremacy and forsake vows to the King of the Jews and Lord of the Universe. But beware, to take the Oath of Supremacy is to break our word to Christ, our eternal king and beautiful bridegroom.

But though this play starts with a severe set-up scene, have no fear, this is a comedy by Shakespeare. So, hilarity strikes through various storylines. One interesting plot point, almost self-deprecating and autobiographical, is the Fairy Queen falls in love with an actor dressed as a jackass. A key point of historical context, Queen Elizabeth was previously called the Fairy Queen by England’s other famous poets. Shakespeare is definitely poking fun at the powerful and treading dangerous lines with his storylines.

But the main storyline is the one that kicks off the story, a bridegroom (Lysander) and bride (Hermia) denied their right to marry by Athenian law, symbolic of Catholics denied their right to worship according to English law. The couple run off and escape to the forest like so many Catholics who had to escape to the continent. With too many important plot twists to note for a brief summary, let us end with this.

A key twist is when a mischievous fairy, Robin Goodfellow, mistakes his king’s commands and mistakenly puts “love juice” in the eyes of the wrong man. He puts the love potion on Lysander who wakes to see Helena, not his beloved Hermia. Because the love juice provokes love towards the first lady he sees, his true love was turned into a false love. And he begins pursing Helena, who rightly notes something is wrong, and warns Lysander,

“You do advance your cunning more and more. When truth kills truth, O devilish holy fray! These vows are Hermia’s. Will you give her o’er? Weigh oath with oath, and you will nothing weigh. Your vows to her and me, put in two scales, will even weigh and both as light as tales.”

Weigh oath with oath, Lysander’s true love turned false is symbolic of the Catholics who broke their oath to Christ in order to take the Oath of Supremacy imposed by English royalty. True love for the true Church was turned into a false love towards the State church. Thankfully, this is a comedy and all’s well that ends well. You’ll have to see the play to see how all is unraveled and true love restored, a story that represents the hope of Catholics in England, who simply wish to worship our Lord in Spirit and Truth.

If we learn to hear Shakespeare, we’ll heed his warnings to love his bride and take our oath to the true Church seriously, and not make false oaths to false churches, even if it is to satisfy evil English royalty. For to defend the Church is to defend the body of Christ, and to defend the Church is to defend his bride.

Let us hear Shakespeare and love Christ’s bride.

And first, as to the cause that you defend — which is no less than the only true and Catholic religion. You defend that Church, which is avouched by all antiquity; confirmed by the blood of infinite martyrs; gainsaid by the heretics of all ages, and most undoubtedly approved by all concurring testimonies. You defend that Church of Rome, to which, as St. Cyprian says, ‘misbelief can have no access, and which can receive no forgery;’ and of which also St. Gregory Nazianzen observes, ‘that old Rome has held the true faith, even from the times of our forefathers, and always retains it, as is fitting for a city that rules the whole world.’ You defend not a church separated from others, neither the dismembered Church of Arius, of Luther, nor of Calvin, which, as they derive their several names from their several founders, so are they known only thereby. You defend the Catholic Church, whose name, as St. Augustin witnesses, no heretic dare for shame lay claim to as proper to his own sect, having by all ages and persons been accounted the known style of men of our profession. You defend a Church founded by Christ, enlarged by his Apostles, impugned by none but infidels and enemies to the truth; whose doctrine can be derived from no late author, convicted of no novelty, affected with no variableness, change or contrariety in essential points of belief. You defend that Church…

— Saint Robert Southwell,
Jesuit priest and martyr,
and cousin to Shakespeare

Romeo & Juliet

Juliet is the Son

tragedy, ~1595, 1st published as Quarto

Among the most recognized love stories ever told is the story of a priest's love for Catholics in tyrannical England. To this day, the word Romeo is an almost-synonym for “lover.” And this is due to Shakespeare's story of two star-crossed lovers.

But, in Shakespeare’s day, Romeo meant “pilgrim of Rome.” In other words — a Catholic. Yes, Shakespeare’s famous love story is about a Catholic priest pursuing his beloved in a time when to love the Church was illegal.

“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”

And yes, another often utilized literary trope in English literature is to identify the Christ-figure by the initials J.C.. Shakespeare’s genius was to disguise the Christ-figure in the form of a love-struck teenage girl. But this disguise is plain as day, for Romeo sees Juliet and proclaims, “But soft. What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the Sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon.” 

Or, as Catholic audiences hear — Juliet is the Son.

In the beginning of Protestant England, these star-crossed lovers are doomed from the start because their families represent the two great houses in England at war with each other, the Royal house (the Capulets) and the Papal house (the Montagues).

The hope of the love story was that, in the death of these lovers, reconciliation would be achieved. In other words, in the martyrdom of Catholic priests and people, the warring houses would reconcile and find peace.

But if the State doesn't reconcile with the Church, the moral of this Catholic tale is that without a Romeo to bring the sacraments to God's people, the body of Christ is no longer present. Once Romeo perishes, his beloved no longer lives. With this allegorical understanding of Shakespeare’s great love story, there is so much more meaning to Catholic audiences in the many love-struck lines uttered throughout the play.

Romeo & Juliet is not simply a love story, but in the hands of the masterful Shakespeare, the story is history, prophecy, and a warning against the evils of tyranny. Yes, the greatest romance story told in England during times of tyranny is a story honoring martyred Catholic priests. O Romeo, O Romeo.

Two households, both like in dignity, in fair verona, where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. from forth the fatal loins of these two foes a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life, whose misadventured piteous overthrows doth with their death bury their parents strife. the fearful passage of their death-marked love, and the continuance of their parents’ rage, which, but their children’s end, naught could remove, is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage, the which if you with patient ears attend, what here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

The Merchant of Venice

In the course of Justice none of us should see salvation. We do pray for mercy.

Comedy, ~1596, 1st published as Quarto

A Eucharistic tale that uses the topic of usury to deepen the Church's teaching on the body and blood of our Savior. In 1570, Pope Saint Pius V excommunicates Queen Elizabeth. Within one year, she changes laws of usury as well as clarifies the Anglican position on the Eucharist, taking severely anti-Catholic positions on both.

And so, Shakespeare uses the insights on usury to help the audience identify the characters — Shylock represents Queen Elizabeth's Anglican position and Antonio represents the Catholic position. By the way, names matter in Shakespeare’s plays, and Antonio is the birth name of Pope Saint Pius V, the same pope who excommunicates Elizabeth.

As the play builds to the marvelous court scene we hear Shylock (like Elizabeth) crave the law to extract the pound of Antonio's fair flesh. Audiences knew this was an obvious allusion to the Catholic priesthood and the treason laws which made killing Catholic priests legal in Elizabethan England.

At the time, and an important historical footnote critical to the play, Anglicans also defined and created a novel teaching on the Eucharist, departing from ancient Catholic teaching. Anglicans believe that the change of the substance of Bread and Wine into the body and blood of our Lord “repugnant to the plain words of scripture” (Article 28. Of the Lord’s Supper). For them, the bread and wine are symbols, not a divine reality.

But, as Flannery O'Connor puts it, “if it’s just a symbol, to hell with it.”

As symbols, well, symbols can be separated and segmented and segregated. Theoretically, the symbol of Christ's body could be the bread and a symbol of his blood the wine, theoretically. In reality, as a divine reality and manna from heaven, as an eternal gift from our Lord, as the true bread of life and cup of salvation, well, the body and blood can't be separated. And that’s the crux of the famous court scene, Shylock is granted flesh but cannot extract it lest he spill one ounce of Christian blood and pay the penalty under the law for spilling Christian blood. Yes, Shakespeare is genius! In one stroke he reminds audiences that earthly laws need to be subject to divine revelation.

Shakespeare's genius shines thru once again by putting a deep theological and Catholic teaching into story. Shakespeare teaches us about the Eucharist in a time and country where the body and blood of our Savior was being denied to his bride. Shakespeare maintains Catholic teaching on the Eucharist — the body and the blood cannot be separated. The fullness of Christ's body, blood, soul, and divinity is present in the consecrated host; the fullness of Jesus's body, blood, soul, and divinity is present in the consecrated cup. The central message of this story proclaims Catholic teaching about the Eucharist.

Let us repeat, Shakespeare chose to center the plot of The Merchant of Venice on Catholic teaching of the Eucharist. To hear Shakespeare is to love Jesus.

The devil can cite scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul producing holy witness
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart.
O what a goodly outside falsehood hath.

Much Ado About Nothing

For Man is a Giddy THing.

Comedy, ~1598, 1st published as Quarto

Much Ado About Nothing. Nothing or noting, does the play’s title truly mean much ado about nothing? Or, does it mean much ado about noting? That is the question the audience must answer, whether the play is about nothing or noting.

And since through the course of the play an innocent bride is slandered and maligned, a plan devised by a noted villain, well, Shakespeare is teaching audiences to learn how to take note, to properly perceive what’s happening around us. The play is about being rightly attuned to the truth in a time of slander, propaganda, and villainy. And of course, in the hands of our gifted playwright, the Catholic audience knows that an innocent and perfect bride is a symbol and stand in for the bride of Christ, the Church.

In England at the time, with the government slandering the Church, the bride of Christ, and in her stead propping up a State church and forcing obedience to this State church, it is no surprise that a frequent theme of our beloved Catholic playwright are innocent brides wrongly slandered. Spanning the whole of his cannon, from beginning to end, from Titus Andronicus to Much Ado About Nothing to The Winter’s Tale, the theme of an innocent bride wrongly slandered is used to teach and remind his kinsmen and countrymen to note what is happening to the Bride of Christ in England. She is innocent yet slandered, she is spotless yet maligned, she is pure yet wrongly accused. And Shakespeare asks us to note what is truly going on.

And so, in the key wedding scene, when Claudio is to wed Hero, instead of wedded bliss with his beloved, he being deceived by the play’s villain, publicly accuses her of being “an approved wanton” for she talked “with a ruffian at her chamber window” and proceeded with “vile encounters they have had a thousand times in secret.” Today’s slanderers call her the whore of Babylon, similar to an approved wanton.

Of course, Hero was innocent. She was framed by the play’s villain. And yet, Claudio and Don Pedro did not note what truly happened, only believed the insinuations and lies of Don John. Noting that deception was afoot, the Friar Francis offers his wisdom.

Hear me a little,
For I have only been silent so long,
And given way unto this course of fortune,
By noting of the lady. I have marked
A thousand blushing apparitions
To start into her face, a thousand innocent shames
In angel whiteness beat away those blushes,
And in her eye there hath appeared a fire
To burn the errors that these Princes hold
Against her maiden truth. Call me a fool,
Trust not my reading nor my observations,
Which with experimental seal doth warrant
The tenor of my book; trust not my age,
My reverence, calling, nor divinity,
If this sweet lady lie not guiltless here
Under some biting error.

Moments later, the Friar offers the plan.

Pause awhile
And let my counsel sway you in this case.
Your daughter here the Princes left for dead.
Let her awhile be secretly kept in
And publish it that she is dead indeed.
Maintain a mourning ostentation,
And on your family’s old monument
Hang mournful epitaphs and do all rites
That appertain unto a burial.

The purpose of publishing her death was to change slander to remorse.

Marry, this well carried, shall on her behalf
Change slander to remorse. That is some good.
But not for that dream I on this strange course,
But on the travail look for greater birth.
She, dying, as it must be so maintained,
Upon the instant that she was accused,
Shall be lamented, pitied, and excused
Of every hearer. For it so falls out
That what we have we prize not to the worth
Whiles we enjoy it, but being lacked and lost,
Why then we rack the value, then we find
The virtue that possession would not show us
Whiles it was ours. So will it fare with Claudio.
When he shall hear she died upon his words,
Th’ idea of her life shall sweetly creep
Into his study of imagination,
And every lovely organ of her life
Shall come appareled in more precious habit,
More moving, delicate, and full of life,
Into the eye and prospect of his soul
Than when she lived indeed. Then shall he mourn,
If ever love had interest in his liver,
And wish he had not so accused her,
No, though he thought his accusation true.
Let this be so, and doubt not but success
Will fashion the event in better shape
Than I can lay it down in likelihood.
But if all aim but this be leveled false,
The supposition of the lady’s death
Will quench the wonder of her infamy.
And if it sort not well, you may conceal her,
As best befits her wounded reputation,
In some reclusive and religious life,
Out of all eyes, tongues, minds, and injuries.

Moments later he says,

Come lady; die to live. This wedding day
Perhaps is but prolonged. Have patience and endure.

There is so much more to this great comedy, and I would recommend you watch, read, or hear it. But what is written today should be enough to note the important theme often seen not only in Shakespeare but in the world, that the bride of Christ is at once spotless yet slandered, true yet lied about, pure yet maligned. Shakespeare wrote many comedies for his country so that they would learn to note the truth and may come to belief in Christ. Or, as Shakespeare writes, “Serve God, love me, and mend.”

THird Reason: The nature of the Church.

At hearing the name of the church the enemy has turned pale. still he has devised some explanation which i wish you to notice, that you may observe the ruinous and poverty-stricken estate of falsehood. he was well aware that in the scriptures, as well of prophets as of apostles, everywhere there is made honourable mention of the church: that she is called the holy city, the fruitful vine, the high mountain, the straight way, the only dove, the kingodm of heaven, the spouse and body of christ, the ground of truth, the multitude to whom the spirit has been promised and into whom he breathes all truths that make for salvation; her on whom, taken as a whole, the devil’s jaws are never to inflict a deadly bit; her against whom whoever rebels, however much he preach christ with his mouth, has no more hold on christ than the publican or the heathen. Such a loud pronouncement he dared not gainsay; he would not seem rebellious against a church of which the scriptures make such frequent mention: so he cunningly kept the name, while by his definition he utterly aboslished the thing, he has depectied the church with such properties as altogether hide her away, and leave her open to the secret gaze of a very few men, as though she were removed from the senses, like a platonic idea.

— Saint Edmund Campion, 10 Reasons (1581)

As You Like It

Never Writer to Ever Reader: News.

Comedy, ~1599, 1st published as Folio

In the preface to Troilus & Cressida, Shakespeare guides his “ever readers” into some deeper truths. He tells them, “And were but the vain name of comedies changed for the titles of commodities, or of plays for pleas, you should see all those grand censors, that now style them such vanities, flock to them for the main grace of their gravities, especially this author’s comedies, that are so framed to the life that they serve for the most common commentaries of all the actions of our lives.” And that’s exactly the way to describe what the comedy As You Like It is for Shakespeare and his audiences, “the most common commentaries of all the actions of our lives.”

And what are the main themes of the story? A usurper displaces his brother from the throne (like Hamlet), and the true ruler banished into the forest of Arden. This causes great instability in the kingdom. Family relationships suffer, such as the example of the main protagonist Orlando who is neglected by his brother against his long gone Father’s will. Likewise, the usurper’s niece, the newly beloved of Orlando, is soon banished from court despite her close and dear relationship with his daughter, who sneaks away to “liberty not banishment” with her cousin. And in Shakespearean comedic fashion, they sneak away in disguise.

Catholic themes abound. A tyrant banishes noble characters, exactly what happened in Elizabethan England when the tyrant Queen made the Catholic religion illegal and banished priests. Banished characters took on disguises, exactly happened when Catholic priests like the Jesuits had to adopt disguises to ensure the Catholic faithful received the sacraments. It’s Shakespearean perfection that Rosalind, the heroine of the play, adopts the disguise of Ganymede, a handsome young man who helps others fall in love. In disguise, she is named Ganymede, who was a Trojan prince abducted by the gods to serve as Zeus’ cupbearer. Remember, Catholic priests in disguise where the cupbearers of Christ in England sent to bring God’s love and sacraments to his people.

And in a personal twist for Shakespeare, the forest that all these noble characters are forced to flee to due to the whims of a tyrant, the usurping ruler, is the Forest of Arden. Arden is not only the forest near Shakespeare’s boyhood home, but is also the same name as his maternal last name.

In Arden forest, it seems a truly beautiful society emerges of outcasts and disguised lovers. Let’s briefly look at two points of symbolism in this play to unlock Catholic themes Shakespeare desired us to see.

One, love letters are written and carved into trees. Only natural for a Catholic playwright who is used to seeing the crucifix at every illegal mass. For the ultimate forever love letter was carved into a tree by God for all to see. His beloved son crucified on a dead tree under the banner “INRI.”

Two, an odd scene happens between two fighting brothers. Randomly, Orlando risks his live to save his brother Oliver from a hungry lioness. Even though Orlando is mistreated and hated by his brother, he still risks his life and saves him from the lioness. They are reconciled partly thru this great act of bravery. Let’s not overlook the Catholic symbolism here either.

Lion is an obvious symbol for royalty. Not only the Davidic and Judean dynasty which Christ hails from, but also the English symbol of royalty, which in As You Like It represents the evil tyrant and English ruler during the composition of the play, Queen Elizabeth. The hope of English Catholics was that reconciliation would happen with their Protestant brothers. At the end of her long and torturous reign, Shakespeare realized this might only happen once the Lioness dies. The glimmer of hope in the play is that the usurping Duke who also represents the Queen repents of his evil due to meeting an old religious man on the road to the Forest of Arden. He ends his days praying in the forest after “his crown bequeathing to his banished brother, and all their lands restored to them again that were with him exiled.”

The usurping ruler converts and all is restored, a beautiful dream of all English Catholics, from Shakespeare’s generation to this day. And so, Shakespeare’s message to the Queen is clear. Repent and convert. And if not, the hope was that reconciliation of England would happen after her death.

If Shakespeare’s comedies are titled as plays for pleas, then take the title as you please. But one clear way is as a message to the tyrant Queen. There is so much hope and wonder in this play, but this short write-up is enough to see Shakespeare’s comedy as he intended, as a “play for plea” that is “so framed to life that it serves as a common commentary of all the actions of our lives.” And as a message to the evil tyrant, “as you like it.”

Truly, there is much gravity in Shakespeare’s comedies. And this is part of why he’s the poet of poets and playwright of playwrights, storyteller par excellence. Let all who love Christ study scripture. And let all Americans who love Jesus study Shakespeare.

True is it that we have seen better days
And have with holy bell been knolled to church,
And sat at good men's feasts and wiped our eyes
Of drops that sacred pity hath engendered.
And therefore sit you down in gentleness,
And take upon command what help we have
That to your wanting may be ministered.

Hamlet

To be or not to be, Catholic, that is the question.

Tragedy, ~1600, 1st published as Quarto

Poison through the ear in a garden brings death to a kingdom. A king murdered by his brother, his bride taken by the usurper, and the true heir cast aside from the throne. Denmark’s heir and the story’s hero, Hamlet, is asked by the ghost of his father to avenge his death and restore the kingdom. As the son of the true king, he willingly lays down his life to ensure peace and righteousness is restored to his homeland.

The play resounds with Catholic themes and symbolism, whether purgatory, the invocation of saints, genuine repentance and salvation, poisoned chalices, and the mention of Wittenberg and the Diet of Worms, Shakespeare surely knows how to craft the details of the story with unmistakable themes from the Protestant deformation of the Catholic religion. There is no mistaking our hero is not simply a Christ-figure, but also a priest-figure, as Shakespeare often weaves themes from his cousin’s masterpiece, An Epistle of Comfort, into the story of Hamlet. Penned by the Jesuit priest and martyr, Saint Report Southwell, An Epistle of Comfort is a mediation on how to die well, and Hamlet’s lips spill Southwell’s insights in masterful soliloquies and dialogue throughout the play.

To be or not to be Catholic, truly, that is the question Shakespeare asks his audience to consider in tyrannical England, through the guise of an old fable about usurped Denmark, that in the particular represents England, and in the universal resonates with any who suffer under tyranny.

Now is the Time in which many of our forefathers desired to live — a time when they might not only profit the church by the example of their life, and the virtue of their preaching, but also — and how much did they desire it! — by the effusion of their blood. when england was catholic, she had many glorious confessors; it is for the honor and benefit of our country that it should be well stored with a number of martyrs; and we have now, god be thanked! such martyr-makers in authority, as mean, if they have their will, to make saints enough to funish all our churches with treasure, when it shall please god to restore them to their true honors; and doubt not but either they, or their posterity, shall see the very prisons of execution become palaces of reverence and devotion; and the scattered bones of these that in this cause have suffered, though now thought unworthy of christian burial, then shrined in gold, and held in the highest respect.

— Saint Robert Southwell, An epistle of comfort (1587)

KING LEAR

WHICH OF YOU SHALL WE SAY DOTH LOVE GOVERNMENT MOST?

tragedy, ~1606, 1st published as Quarto

In King Lear, we see a story of how Britain’s Oath of Supremacy leads to America’s 1st Amendment (and America’s adoption of the Catholic principle of Religious Liberty). When a king demands a profession of love from his daughters and subjects — the liars, sycophants, and flatterers are given land and titles and a kingdom while, in contrast, Cordelia’s honest confession bars her from land and titles, and leads to her banishment and exile into France. During Shakespeare’s time, France was the locus point and training ground for Catholic priests who would lay down their lives to support the Catholic mission to England and bring the sacraments to the Catholic masses denied the mass and other divine graces.

Shakespeare’s masterful set up scene clues his Catholic audience into the underlying Catholic themes woven throughout King Lear. Ultimately, the play begs us to consider, who are the true lovers? Those who make a profession of faith and no more? Or those whose love can be seen in their words and works? Cordelia, innocent and maligned, symbolizes the bride of Christ in Jacobean England, castaway for her desire to love in truth, and not by false oaths or flattering words. The intertwined stories of Kent and Edgar likewise symbolize the varied experiences of Catholics, Kent banished for speaking truth to the king and Edgar framed by letters and conspiracies. Both heroes take on disguise to lovingly serve the people who persecuted them, and in doing so, both Kent and Edgar are representative of the experiences of Catholic priests and lay folks who had to hide their religion to remain in England and serve king and country.

By hearing Shakespeare, we’ll begin to understand America’s 1st Amendment in its proper context. Literally, Englishmen in Shakespeare’s England wouldn’t freely be Catholic until they declared themselves American. When our Founding Fathers declared independence, it wasn’t simply from an empire but also from a State church.

Yes, Englishman needed to become American to once again be Catholic. Yes, sustainable American values are actually Catholic values that were lost in England when Henry VIII created a State church that nationalized the universal Church, stole its lands, and martyred many saints. Yes, forced obedience thru the Oath of Supremacy was the justification of English tyrants to trample on the rights of England’s Catholic citizens.

So, Shakespeare’s King Lear asks us to consider the separation of Church and State in its proper context and origin. The separation of Church and State is originally a Catholic (and now also American) value that in its origin exists not to remove religion from politics or the public sphere, but to help preserve a State that will only be sustained and purified from corruption when the State finds itself in obedience to a higher power — God. In America, we used to say and must once again learn to proclaim what the psalmist sings and our currency bears stamped on our cash and coins, “In God we trust.”

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

— america’s 1st amendment