Summer Reading: Will in the World, Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Great Fear

            The majority of Shakespeare’s plays take place in different countries, countries that did not undergo extreme religious upheaval multiple times over in the past half-century. In fact, save for the ancient and mythical plays, most of Shakespeare’s plays are set in very Catholic Italian cities (Verona, Padua, Venice, etc.) With such settings, it is no wonder that many plays include Priests, Friars, Nuns and a novice. And speculation about Shakespeare as a secret Catholic came about.

            Greenblatt uses this chapter to discuss the possibility of Shakespeare as a secret Catholic, or as someone who could have come into contact with members of the Catholic resistance. Two people, Thomas Cottam and Edmund Campion are mentioned at length as Greenblatt discusses their entry into England as secret Catholic missionaries – hearing confessions and saying masses in barns. It is very difficult for a Nation of people to change their beliefs and practices at the rate at which the English Crown was changing heads in the later half of the 16^th century. It is not surprising that there was a desire for the old religion at this time.

            Why does Greenblatt think that Shakespeare may have been a secret Catholic? Well aside from the fact that many of his plays take place in catholic cities with catholic characters? Shakespeare’s lost years, again. The man may have been a law clerk, but there also seems to be the possibility that Shakespeare was a school teacher for a time, and it just so happens that the school where he would have been teaching, had an odd habit of hiring professors with Catholic leanings.

            However, even though they were in some hushed high demand, Catholic priests were not permitted to say mass or even practice on English soil. The end of this chapter goes into detail about the executions of each man. Drawing and quartering, entrails being burned in front of their very eyes – Greenblatt goes into detail, so if you have a weak stomach, this may be something to skip.

I wasn’t a fan of this chapter, I understand the need for it – and Greenblatt ties it up nicely with reference to Shakespeare’s journey to Anne Hathaway’s farm for a little roll in the hey. Yes there are references to Catholicism in Shakespeare’s plays – but England was a country in religious transition, and it’s fairly certain the citizens of Stratford-Upon-Avon would have a hard time letting go of their old ways.