Shakespeare\u2019s Religious Language<\/a> are usually divided into three parts \u2013 a definition, a compilation of Shakespeare\u2019s uses of the term, and references to contemporary or near-contemporary writers (Donne and Lancelot Andrewes come up a good deal) who use the same term. Shakespeare\u2019s biblical allusions have been covered before, so Hassel focuses on theological and ecclesial terminology, or on words that in some cases take on religious connotations.<\/p>\nIn a scholarly world that has awakened to Shakespeare\u2019s theological interests, it\u2019s a valuable reference work, especially for its defintions of terms that are no longer current (\u201ccompt\u201d or \u201csacring\u201d or \u201cshrift\u201d) and terms whose religious connotations might not be obvious (\u201cenemy\u201d as a reference to Satan, for instance, or the pelican as an icon of Christ).<\/p>\n
Much of the book, though, seems an extensive exercise in defining the obvious. What readers of Shakespeare couldn\u2019t recognize an allusion to Sinai when the plays talk about \u201cCommandments\u201d? Who needs a dictionary to tell us that \u201cprodigal\u201d refers to one of Jesus\u2019 parables? Or to be told who Solomon was? Does anyone really need a dictionary to tell them the various religious senses of the word \u201ccross\u201d? For whom are these entries revealing?<\/p>\n
For scholars who didn\u2019t grow up in Sunday School or catechism class, that\u2019s who. And, come to think of it, that probably describes the majority of today\u2019s Shakespeare scholars. Useful as it is, Hassel\u2019s dictionary is as much a monument to scholarly ignorance as a scholarly tool. I can hardly peruse it without regretful astonishment at our cultural amnesia.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
R. Chris Hassel has compiled a dictionary of every religion-related work he could find in Shakespeare\u2019s plays and poems. The entries in\u00a0Shakespeare\u2019s Religious Language are usually divided into three parts \u2013 a definition, a compilation of Shakespeare\u2019s uses of the term, and references to contemporary or near-contemporary writers (Donne and Lancelot Andrewes come up a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[578],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shakespeare"],"yoast_head":"\n
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