The extent to which Shakespeare derived the inspiration for his plays and Sonnets from the Bible has sparked debate for centuries. Although much research has been done on Shakespeare's plays, a comprehensive analysis of his Sonnets has been absent, until now. This book gives a detailed examination of Shakespeare's Sonnets, identifying their underlying spiritual themes at the religious and scriptural levels of interpretation.

The Bible in Shakespeare is a critical study of the links between the two great pillars of English culture, the Bible and the works of Shakespeare.

101 lines or passages from William Shakespeare's works paired with Scripture passages that appear in the bard's classics. To be published just in time for the Shakespeare 400th celebrations. Shakespeare was heavily influenced by Holy Writ. Bible lines, characters and narratives are "verbal characters" in the his plays, poems and sonnets, sometimes subtly and sometimes blatantly. But they are there, revealing the deep scriptural well that was the culture from which Shakespeare drew and also reminding us of scenes and stories in the Bible. Shakespeare knew the Bible--as did everyone during that time. He used Scripture freely in what he wrote because through such biblical allusions, audiences would immediately grasp his meanings, charaterizations and unfolding situations. His works-meant to be performed-gave Scripture life. The Bible was not mere words in Shakespeare's work, but, like all of Scripture, were used for reproof, instruction, conviction and training. Listening to Shakespeare with an ear that's open to whispers from God's Word can kindle both passion for his great literary works and the Greatest Book of all, Holy Scripture.

365 Devotions pairing Scripture from the King James Bible and lines from Shakespeare's plays and sonnets. Includes little known history, curiosities, and facts about words introduced or used in new ways by Shakespeare.

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2012 im Fachbereich Anglistik - Literatur, Note: 2,0, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald (Anglistik), Veranstaltung: Shakespeare's Sonnets, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: The topic of Shakespeare and Religion is not a new one, but it has “come to the foreground” due to the “recent “turn to religion” in historical and literary scholarship” (Jackson/Marotti 1). Thus, it is has been tried “to make sense of the dramatist’s awareness of, relation to, and use of religious beliefs, religious culture” (Jackson/Marotti 1). In this term paper, I want to focus on biblical references and allusions in the Sonnets. In order to do that, I will at first take a look into the matter of religion in Shakespeare's time. I will also examine his personal religious beliefs. After that, will look into religious allusion in Shakespeare's writing, i.e. firstly his plays and secondly his poetry. As I want to focus on the Sonnets, a closer look will be provided on three selected ones. These analyses will focus on the biblical references and allusions they contain. Therefor, a detailed analysis in terms of literary devices will not be given. Moreover, I will not describe the characteristics of the Sonnet from.

Oxford Shakespeare Topics provides students and teachers with short books on important aspects of Shakespeare criticism and scholarship. Each book is written by an authority in its field, and combines accessible style with original discussion of its subject. Notes and a critical guide tofurther reading equip the interested reader with the means to broaden research. Despite the presence of hundreds of Biblical allusions in Shakespeare, this is the first book to explore the pattern and significance of those references in relation to a selection of his greatest plays. It reveals the Bible as a rich source for Shakespeare's uses of myth, history, comedy andtragedy, his techniques of staging, and his ways of characterizing rulers, magicians and teachers in the image of the Bible's multifaceted God. This book also discloses ways in which Shakespeare's plays offer both pious and irreverent interpretations of the Scriptures comparable to those presentedby his contemporary writers, artists, philosophers and politicians. After an opening chapter comparing the Bible as a fragmented yet unified collection of 46 books with the fragmented yet unified First Folio collection of Shakespeare's 36 plays, each of the following six chapters matches a book of the Bible with a representative play: the creation myth of Genesiswith the first play in the Folio, The Tempest, the historical epic of Exodus with Henry V, the tragedy of Job with King Lear, the tragicomedy of the Gospel of Matthew with Measure for Measure, the homiletic disputation of Paul's Epistle to the Romans with The Merchant of Venice, and the apocalypticmasque of the Book of Revelation with The Tempest again. Though its subject matter and style appeal to a broad audience, this book is grounded in recent scholarship in Shakespeare and Biblical studies. Its intertextual readings are framed by descriptions of the historical circumstances of each work's composition and reception and by an emergent theory ofallusion as a principle of creation and understanding.

This volume explores the influences of Catholicism and Protestantism in a trio of Shakespeare's tragedies: Julius Caesar, Macbeth, and Hamlet. Bypassing the discussion of Shakespeare's personal religious beliefs, Batson instead focuses on distinct footprints left by Catholic and Protestant traditions that underlie and inform Shakespeare's artistic genius.

Thinking Shakespeare gives theater artists practical advice about how to make Shakespeare’s words feel spontaneous, passionate, and real. Based on Barry Edelstein’s thirty-year career directing Shakespeare’s plays, this book provides the tools that artists need to fully understand and express the power of Shakespeare’s language.