Shakespeare’s works were created after the Reformation, a period of turmoil that made English society reel politically and religiously. He was born and raised in a Catholic family; his father, John, was on the 1592 recusants’ list published by the authorities, his mother, Mary, came from the Arden family, who were strongly Catholics, and his daughter Susanna on the 1606 recusants’ list. In the 1590s, Shakespeare energetically began to create his plays and poets. In April 1594, Ferdinando Stanley, whom Cardinal William Allen in Rome, Parsons, and William Stanley (a Catholic exile) had supported as a future Catholic King, was likely poisoned. In the same year, Elizabeth and James VI of Scotland cooperated to creat “strict Laws” “against Jesuites and such kind of men” who “favoured the Spanish Party” (Camden 481). Thus, there was no hope for Jesuits’ and Papists’ restoring Catholicism in England.” Against a backdrop of both countries’ legislative cooperation, Jesuits and Papists “could not agree upon a fitting Person of their own Religion, [and therefore,] they cast their Eyes upon the Earl of Essex” (Camden 482).
Likely influenced by the thoughts of Gentili, a prominent figure in the field of international law, who, in his book dedicated to Essex, maintained, “religion is a matter of the mind and of the will, which is always accompanied by freedom” (qtd. Gajda 112). Essex had moved toward supporting the toleration of Catholicism already in late 1591; “a number of officers from Essex’s army in Normandy paid visits to Flanders, renewing their commitment to Catholicism and raising hopes of a more general improvement for Catholics in England” (Hammer1175n.135). Under these circumstance, with Jesuits and Papists keeping a close eye on him, the Protestant war-hero Essex paradoxically appeared a potential champion of Catholics. Thus, Essex’s toleration policy for Catholicism increasingly engaged Catholics.
However, Lord Burghley, William Cecil, Secretary State, opposed toleration, maintaining that “there could be no government where there was division, and that state could never be in safety where there was toleration of two religions” (qtd. Stone). Consequently, the missionary Catholic priests were persecuted. Burghley’s son, Robert Cecil, was also against toleration: “toleration of open dissenters was ‘the highway to break all the bonds of unity, to nourish schism in the Church and Commonwealth”’ (qtd. Stone 83). Eventually, Essex was severely denounced for his toleration policy at his trial, and executed. In a Chapter, I explore Hamlet’s Quarto 2 (1604), arguing that Essex’s career influenced the creation of Hamlet.
In “the Elizabethan Court Politics,” to explore Essex’s influence on Shakespeare’s works, I frequently refer to Elizabeth, her politics, and her Secretary State, Robert Cecil, who was Essex’s main rival. They competed especially over the succession issue. Greenblatt argues that According to Greenblatt, Shakespeare was content with “Tudor ideology” (Self-Fashioning 254), but I have found that he was extremely radical and rebellious against Elizabeth’s regime, much like Essex. Even during his trial, in his last few days before execution, he denounced Cecil for his dubious engagement with Spain’s bid for the English throne.
There was a direct link between Shakespeare and Essex through the Earl of Southampton, who had been Essex’s most ardent follower, and was sentenced to death alongside Essex in February 1601 (he remained imprisoned in the Tower until the beginning of JamesI’s regime). Shakespeare dedicated his Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594) during the Plague pandemic to Southampton, who, thus actually, aided Shakespeare financially. Notably, in 1603, he did not write an elegy for Queen Elizabeth, who had allowed Essex to be executed. In contrast, he paid tribute to the memory of Essex in his The Phoenix and Turtle in 1601 by contributing it to Robert Chester’s Love’s Martyr, an elegy for Essex. Notably, according to Don Rodrigues’ 2022 research, Shakespeare not only contributed but also revised, and edited Chester’s manuscript. The entire poem by Chester is written in the Venus and Adonis stanza. Chester was likely one of the great admires of Venus and Adonis, which was enthusiastically read among the students of Oxford and Cambridge; this was the most popular of all Shakespeare’s works during his lifetime.
Shakespeare’s plays and poems include significant references to Catholic ideas and practices. I focus on the idea of free will, which had been highlighted and defended by Catholic theologians such as Desiderius Erasmus and Luis de Molina in the 16th century due to the Reformist attack on free will. The Reformists were based on determinism. I also maintain that Catholics value the idea of miracles and how to bury the dead, in which connection, Shakespeare expresses requiem, a ritual for the souls of the dead in the Mass. Like other playwrights in his time, Shakespeare handled the then controversial and theological issues, about which I also argue. On “Shakespeare’s Catholicism,” I have explored the reference to “pax of little price” (Henry V III.vi.45) and have tackled the Catholic practice of exorcism because Shakespeare depicted it in his early The Comedy of Errors, through his middle-period Twelfth Night and King Lear, to his last play The Tempest. Also, I have explored why Shakespeare changed the word from “pix” to “pax” in the phrase “a pax of little price” in Henry V.
Additionally, I explore how Shakespeare managed to escape the censorship, which targeted political and religious matters presented onstage, regarding some of the works discussed in this paper such as Titus Andronicus, King Lear, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Merry wives of Windsor, All’s Well That End’s Well, Measure for Measure, The Phoenix and Turtle, A Lover’s Complaint, and Sonnets (these are listed in the order in which I discussed them).
From my studies, I hypothesize that Shakespeare first became fascinated with Essex’s policy of toleration for Catholicism, continually supporting this policy while being attracted to Essex’s sense of justice, intelligence, and passion, ultimately to commit himself to Essex.
Likely influenced by the thoughts of Gentili, a prominent figure in the field of international law, who, in his book dedicated to Essex, maintained, “religion is a matter of the mind and of the will, which is always accompanied by freedom” (qtd. Gajda 112). Essex had moved toward supporting the toleration of Catholicism already in late 1591; “a number of officers from Essex’s army in Normandy paid visits to Flanders, renewing their commitment to Catholicism and raising hopes of a more general improvement for Catholics in England” (Hammer1175n.135). Under these circumstance, with Jesuits and Papists keeping a close eye on him, the Protestant war-hero Essex paradoxically appeared a potential champion of Catholics. Thus, Essex’s toleration policy for Catholicism increasingly engaged Catholics.
However, Lord Burghley, William Cecil, Secretary State, opposed toleration, maintaining that “there could be no government where there was division, and that state could never be in safety where there was toleration of two religions” (qtd. Stone). Consequently, the missionary Catholic priests were persecuted. Burghley’s son, Robert Cecil, was also against toleration: “toleration of open dissenters was ‘the highway to break all the bonds of unity, to nourish schism in the Church and Commonwealth”’ (qtd. Stone 83). Eventually, Essex was severely denounced for his toleration policy at his trial, and executed. In a Chapter, I explore Hamlet’s Quarto 2 (1604), arguing that Essex’s career influenced the creation of Hamlet.
In “the Elizabethan Court Politics,” to explore Essex’s influence on Shakespeare’s works, I frequently refer to Elizabeth, her politics, and her Secretary State, Robert Cecil, who was Essex’s main rival. They competed especially over the succession issue. Greenblatt argues that According to Greenblatt, Shakespeare was content with “Tudor ideology” (Self-Fashioning 254), but I have found that he was extremely radical and rebellious against Elizabeth’s regime, much like Essex. Even during his trial, in his last few days before execution, he denounced Cecil for his dubious engagement with Spain’s bid for the English throne.
There was a direct link between Shakespeare and Essex through the Earl of Southampton, who had been Essex’s most ardent follower, and was sentenced to death alongside Essex in February 1601 (he remained imprisoned in the Tower until the beginning of JamesI’s regime). Shakespeare dedicated his Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594) during the Plague pandemic to Southampton, who, thus actually, aided Shakespeare financially. Notably, in 1603, he did not write an elegy for Queen Elizabeth, who had allowed Essex to be executed. In contrast, he paid tribute to the memory of Essex in his The Phoenix and Turtle in 1601 by contributing it to Robert Chester’s Love’s Martyr, an elegy for Essex. Notably, according to Don Rodrigues’ 2022 research, Shakespeare not only contributed but also revised, and edited Chester’s manuscript. The entire poem by Chester is written in the Venus and Adonis stanza. Chester was likely one of the great admires of Venus and Adonis, which was enthusiastically read among the students of Oxford and Cambridge; this was the most popular of all Shakespeare’s works during his lifetime.
Shakespeare’s plays and poems include significant references to Catholic ideas and practices. I focus on the idea of free will, which had been highlighted and defended by Catholic theologians such as Desiderius Erasmus and Luis de Molina in the 16th century due to the Reformist attack on free will. The Reformists were based on determinism. I also maintain that Catholics value the idea of miracles and how to bury the dead, in which connection, Shakespeare expresses requiem, a ritual for the souls of the dead in the Mass. Like other playwrights in his time, Shakespeare handled the then controversial and theological issues, about which I also argue. On “Shakespeare’s Catholicism,” I have explored the reference to “pax of little price” (Henry V III.vi.45) and have tackled the Catholic practice of exorcism because Shakespeare depicted it in his early The Comedy of Errors, through his middle-period Twelfth Night and King Lear, to his last play The Tempest. Also, I have explored why Shakespeare changed the word from “pix” to “pax” in the phrase “a pax of little price” in Henry V.
Additionally, I explore how Shakespeare managed to escape the censorship, which targeted political and religious matters presented onstage, regarding some of the works discussed in this paper such as Titus Andronicus, King Lear, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Merry wives of Windsor, All’s Well That End’s Well, Measure for Measure, The Phoenix and Turtle, A Lover’s Complaint, and Sonnets (these are listed in the order in which I discussed them).
From my studies, I hypothesize that Shakespeare first became fascinated with Essex’s policy of toleration for Catholicism, continually supporting this policy while being attracted to Essex’s sense of justice, intelligence, and passion, ultimately to commit himself to Essex.
