User:Knitwitted/sandbox/Biblical allusions in Shakespeare

According to Dr. Naseeb Shaheen, Shakespeare, in writing his plays, “seldom borrows biblical references from his sources, even when those sources contain many references.” Roy Battenhouse notes that the Shakespearean tragedy “frequently echoes Bible language or paradigm, even when the play’s setting is pagan.” Similarly, Peter Milward notes that despite their secular appearance, Shakespeare’s plays “conceal an undercurrent of religious meaning which belongs to their deepest essence.” Further, Milward maintains that although Shakespeare “may have felt obliged by the circumstances of the Elizabethan stage to avoid Biblical or other religious subjects for his plays,” such obligation “did not prevent him from making full use of the Bible in dramatizing his secular sources and thus infusing into them a Biblical meaning.” Milward continues that, in writing his plays (in particular, the tragedies), Shakespeare “shows the universal relevance of the Bible both to the reality of human life ‘in this harsh world’ and to its ideal in the heart of God.”

Sources for the Bible in Shakespeare

 * Abend, Murray “Some Biblical Influences in Shakespeare’s Plays” Notes and Queries CXCV (23 Dec 1950): 554-8.


 * Ackermann, Carl The Bible in Shakespeare Columbus, Ohio: The Lutheran Book Concern, n.d.


 * Anders, Henry R. D. “Chapter 6: The Bible and the Prayer Book” Shakespeare’s Books: A Dissertation on Shakespeare’s Reading and the Immediate Sources of His Works Berlin: Georg Reimer, 1904.


 * Batson, Beatrice ed. Shakespeare’s Christianity: The Protestant and Catholic Poetics of Julius Caesar, Macbeth and Hamlet Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2006.


 * Batson, Beatrice ed. Word and Rite: The Bible and Ceremony in Selected Shakespearean Works Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010.


 * Battenhouse, Roy ed. Shakespeare’s Christian Dimension: An Anthology of Commentary Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994.


 * Bullock, Charles Shakespeare’s Debt to the Bible London: Hand and Heart Publishing Offices, 1879.


 * Burgess, William The Bible in Shakespeare: A Study of the Relation of the Works of William Shakespeare to the Bible New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1903.


 * Burnet, R. A. L. “A Further Echo of Gilby’s ‘Commentary on Micah’ in Macbeth” Notes and Queries 29(2) (Apr 1982): 123-4.


 * Burnet, R. A. L. “Macbeth’s ‘I Have Lived Long Enough’: A Gilby Echo?” Notes and Queries 27(2) (Apr 1980): 181.


 * Burnet, R. A. L. “Shakespeare and the First Seven Chapters of the Genevan Job” Notes and Queries 29(2) (Apr 1982): 127-8.


 * Burnet, R. A. L. “Shakespeare and the Marginalia of the Geneva Bible” Notes and Queries 26(2) (Apr 1979): 113-4.


 * Burnet, R. A. L. “Some Echoes of the Genevan Bible in Shakespeare and Milton” Notes and Queries 27(2) (Apr 1980): 179-81.


 * Burnet, R. A. L. “Two Further Echoes of the Genevan Margin in Shakespeare and Milton” Notes and Queries 28(2) (Apr 1981): 129.


 * Carter, Thomas Shakespeare and Holy Scripture: With the Version He Used London: Hodder and Stroughton, 1905.


 * Coleman, Hamilton Shakespeare and the Bible New York: Vantage Press Inc., 1955.


 * Colton, Garden Quincy; ed. and enhanced by Giovanni A. Orlando Shakespeare and the Bible Future Technologies, Inc., 2011-2012.


 * DeCook, Travis and Alan Galey ed. Shakespeare, the Bible, and the Form of the Book: Contested Scriptures New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2012.


 * Eaton, T[homas] R[ay] Shakespeare and the Bible London: James Blackwood, 1858.


 * Ellis, Charles Shakespeare and the Bible: Sonnets with their Scriptural Harmonies n.p., 1896.


 * Fisch, Harold The Biblical Presence in Shakespeare, Milton and Blake: A Comparative Study Oxford University Press, 1999.


 * Frye, Roland Mushat Shakespeare and Christian Doctrine Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1963.


 * Groves, Beatrice “Shakespeare’s Sonnets and the Genevan Marginalia” Essays in Criticism 57(2) (Apr 2007): 114-28.


 * Groves, Beatrice Texts and Traditions: Religion in Shakespeare 1592-1604 Oxford University Press, 2007.


 * Groves, Beatrice “‘The Wittiest Partition’: Bottom, Paul, and Comedic Resurrection” Notes and Queries 54(3) (Sep 2007): 277-82.


 * Hall, Grace R. W. The Tempest as Mystery Play: Uncovering Religious Sources of Shakespeare’s Most Spiritual Work Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1999.


 * Hamlin, Hannibal The Bible in Shakespeare Oxford University Press, 2013.


 * Hankins, John Erskine Shakespeare’s Derived Imagery University of Kansas Press, 1953; reprinted 1967; 2nd Octagon printing New York: Octagon Books, 1977.


 * Hassel, Chris R. Jr. Shakespeare’s Religious Language: A Dictionary New York: Continuum, 2005.


 * Henley, William Ernest English Lyrics: Chaucer to Poe, 1340-1809 n.p., 1897; 2nd ed. London, 1905. [Shakespeare is given 11 pages for 22 lyrics]


 * Huntington, Frederic D. Religious and Moral Sentences culled from the Works of Shakespeare, compared with Sacred Passages drawn from Holy Writ n.p., 1859.


 * Jaeger, Ronald W. “A Biblical Allusion in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 154” Notes and Queries 19(4) (Apr 1972): 125.


 * Malcolm, W. H. Shakspere and Holy Writ London: Marcus Ward & Co., Limited, n.d.


 * Marx, Steven Shakespeare and the Bible Oxford University Press, 2000.


 * Milward, Peter Biblical Influences in Shakespeare’s Great Tragedies Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1987.


 * Milward, Peter Biblical Themes in Shakespeare: Centring on King Lear Tokyo, Japan: The Renaissance Institute, 1975.


 * Milward, Peter Shakespeare’s Religious Background Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1973.


 * Moore, Peter R. “A Biblical Echo in Romeo and Juliet” Notes and Queries 51(3) (Sep 2004): 278-9.


 * Nicholson, B[rinsley] “Shakespeare and the Bible” Notes and Queries s3-IX(212) (20 Jan 1866): 55-6.


 * Nicholson, Brinsley “Shakespeare and the Bible” Notes and Queries s4-I(16) (18 Apr 1868): 368-70.


 * Noble, Richmond Shakespeare’s Biblical Knowledge and Use of the Book of Common Prayer as Exemplified in the Plays of the First Folio Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1935; reprinted Octagon Books, 1970.


 * Pearce, Joseph Through Shakespeare’s Eyes: Seeing the Catholic Presence in the Plays San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010.


 * Rees, James Shakespeare and the Bible Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger, 1876.


 * Rendall, Gerald H. Shakespeare Sonnets and Edward de Vere London: John Murray, 1930.


 * Seiss, J. A. “The influence of the Bible on literature” The Evangelical Review 27, Jul 1853, 1-17. [parallels in Portia’s speech on ‘the quality of mercy’]


 * Selkirk, James Brown Bible Truths with Shakspearean Parallels: Being Selections from Scripture, Moral, Doctrinal, and Preceptial, with Passages Illustrative of the Text, from the Writings of Shakspeare London: Whittaker and Co., 1862.


 * Shaheen, Naseeb Biblical References in Shakespeare’s Plays Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1999, 2011.


 * Shaheen, Naseeb “A Note on Troilus and Cressida, II.iii.1-37” Notes and Queries 44(4) (Dec 1997): 503-5.


 * Shaheen, Naseeb “Ruth 3:15 -- The ‘He’ and ‘She’ Bibles” Notes and Queries 56(4) (Dec 2009): 621-4.


 * Shaheen, Naseeb “Shakespeare and the Authorized Version” Notes and Queries 45(3) (Sep 1998): 343-5.


 * Shaheen, Naseeb “Shakespeare and the Bishops’ Bible” Notes and Queries 47(1) (Mar 2000): 94-7.


 * Shaheen, Naseeb “Shakespeare and the Tomson New Testament” Notes and Queries 42(3) (Sep 1995): 290-1.


 * Shaheen, Naseeb “‘Trifles Light as Air’: A Note on Othello, III.iii.313” Notes and Queries 27(2) (Apr 1980): 169-70.


 * Sherbo, Arthur “More on the Bible in Shakespeare” Notes and Queries 56(2) (Jun 2009): 270-4.


 * Slater, Ann Pasternak “Variations Within a Source: from Isaiah xxix to ‘The Tempest’” Shakespeare Survey: An Annual Survey of Shakespearian Study and Production 25, Cambridge University Press, 1972, 125-35.


 * Stritmatter, Roger “The Heavenly Treasure of Sonnets 48 and 52” Notes and Queries 46(2) (Jun 1999): 226-8.


 * Stritmatter, Roger “The Influence of a Genevan Note from Romans 7:19 on Shakespeare’s Sonnet 151” Notes and Queries 44(4) (Dec 1997): 514-6.


 * Stritmatter, Roger A. The Marginalia of Edward de Vere’s Geneva Bible: Providential Discovery, Literary Reasoning, and Historical Consequence Feb 2001.


 * Stritmatter, Roger “A New Biblical Source for Shakespeare’s Concept of ‘All Seeing Heaven’” Notes and Queries 46(2) (Jun 1999): 207-9.


 * Stritmatter, Roger “By Providence Divine: Shakespeare’s Awareness of Some Geneva Marginal Notes of I Samuel” Notes and Queries 47(1) (Mar 2000): 97-100.


 * Stritmatter, Roger “Shakespeare’s Ecclesiasticus 28.2-5: A Biblical Source for Ariel’s Doctrine of Mercy” Notes and Queries 56(1) (Mar 2009): 67-70.


 * Swinburne, Charles Alfred Sacred & Shakesperian Affinities: Being Analogies Between the Writings of the Psalmists and of Shakespeare 1890, reprinted New York: Haskell House Publishers Ltd., 1971.


 * Timmins, J. F. The Poet-Priest: Shakespearian Sermons Compiled for the Use of Students and Public Readers 1884.


 * Waugaman, Richard M. “Maniculed Psalms in the de Vere Bible: A New Literary Source for Shakespeare” Brief Chronicles II (2010): 107-17.


 * Waugaman, Richard M. “Psalm Echoes in Shakespeare’s 1 Henry VI, Richard II, and Edward III” Notes and Queries 57(3) (Jun 2010): 359-64.


 * Waugaman, Richard M. “Sonnet 6 and the First Marked Passage in de Vere’s Bible” Shakespeare Matters 9 (Fall 2010): 15-18.


 * Waugaman, Richard M. “The Sternhold and Hopkins Whole Book of Psalms is a Major Source for the Works of Shakespeare” Notes and Queries 56(4) (Dec 2009): 595-604.


 * Waugaman, Richard M. “The Sternhold and Hopkins Whole Booke of Psalms: Crucial Evidence for Edward de Vere’s Authorship of the Works of Shakespeare” Brief Chronicles III (2010): 209-30.


 * Waugaman, Richard M. “Titus Andronicus, the Psalms, and Edward de Vere’s Bible” The Oxfordian XIII (2011): 1-17.


 * Waugaman, Richard M. “What’s in a Manicule? The de Vere Psalms as a New Shakespearean Source” Brief Chronicles II (2010): 109-20.


 * Wordsworth, Charles Shakespeare’s Knowledge and Use of the Bible London 1864, 4th ed. revised London: Eden, Remington & Co. Publishers, 1892.