Project Director

McCarthy, Andrew D.

Department Examiner

Rehyansky, Katherine; O'Dea, Gregory

Department

Dept. of English

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

Widely hailed as the single greatest writer and poet of the English language, William Shakespeare is not only revered for the sheer quantity and wide-ranging genres of his writing, but also the exceptional written quality, well-executed thematic diversity, and ability to explore the timelessness of the human experience. With the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible occurring in 2011 and the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death following in 2016, scholarship on Shakespeare’s use of biblical material underwent a significant resurgence. The focus of much of this scholarship has been on simply identifying the numerous references rather than on attempting to determine why Shakespeare chose to include these specific references and, more importantly, what larger purpose they serve within the plays. As the plays written between 1600 and 1606 are widely recognized by critics as Shakespeare’s most biblical, they are ideal for studying his motivations and the different effects his biblical borrowings have on both his original and modern audiences. By examining Othello (1602) and Measure for Measure (1603), it becomes clear that Shakespeare intentionally employed biblical elements in his plays to add deeper levels of meaning and implications for audience members, thus making a thorough knowledge of biblical material essential to fully enjoying the richness of Shakespeare’s dramatic works. As modern audiences have grown increasingly biblically illiterate, the moral and emotional significances of the biblical elements Shakespeare employs are often overlooked or misinterpreted, causing contemporary audiences to be unable to fully grasp the additional levels of meaning these passages add to his plays. Only when these plays are viewed with careful attention being paid to the biblical elements can the full weight of Shakespeare’s intended message be felt.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my Thesis Director, Dr. Andrew McCarthy, for his guidance, encouragement, and support throughout this project. I would also like to thank Dr. Katherine Rehyansky and Dr. Greg O'Dea for their thoughtful comments and revisions.

Degree

B. A.; An honors thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Arts.

Date

5-2018

Subject

Bible -- Influence; Bible -- In literature

Name

Shakespeare, William, -- 1564-1616 -- Criticism and interpretation

Keyword

Shakespeare; Bible; Measure for Measure; Othello; Christ-figure; Devil-figure

Discipline

English Language and Literature

Document Type

Theses

Extent

46 leaves

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

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