LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW - Concordia Lutheran Seminary
LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW - Concordia Lutheran Seminary LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW - Concordia Lutheran Seminary
18 LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW XII whorehouse. The Bawd remarks, “She would make a puritan of the devil” (IV.vi.9). Later Pericles, grieving the deaths of both wife and daughter, comes to Myteline. He is so deep in depression that he has let his hair grow wild and refuses to speak to anyone. Marina, gifted with song and speech, restores him to sanity and they are reunited. Overjoyed, Pericles exclaims, “She is not dead” (V.i.215). They go to worship at Ephesus, where they encounter the priestess who cries, “That Thaisa am I, supposed dead / And drown’d” (V.iii.35-36). In this play we have a double resurrection. Pericles’ wife and daughter come back to life. Marina is not only one of Shakepeare’s virtuous women; she is positively an evangelist, preaching righteousness in the midst of a very fallen world. Even Pericles himself, after losing his reason like Nebuchadnezzar, experiences a kind of rebirth. 6. The Winter’s Tale Like Measure for Measure, this play has been a lightning rod for critics opposing Christianity. Hallet Smith contends, “considerable straining of the language, structure, and atmosphere of the play is required to make a specifically Christian doctrinal statement of it” (RS, 1567). Smith errs. Dogma is dogma, plays are plays. Dogma plays badly on stage, and plays are not written to expound dogma. Nevertheless, sound doctrine can inspire high art, and the greatest works of art can present Christian themes in imaginative ways inaccessible to academic theology. So we have in The Winter’s Tale a Christian story of redemption. Leontes, King of Sicilia, is hosting his old friend Polixenes, the King of Bohemia. Leontes tends to be jealous, though, and can’t get it out of his mind that he is being cuckolded by his friend. Leontes trumps up charges and imprisons his virtuous wife, Hermione. In prison, she gives birth to a daughter, Perdita. Leontes rejects his own child and banishes it. Even when he is confronted with the truth, Leontes remains intransigent. Polixenes breaks with him, accompanied by the faithful Camillo, former servant of Leontes. Suddenly, news comes that the King’s son Mamillius is dead. Hermione collapses and is carried off. The virtuous Paulina says, “this news is mortal to the queen” (III.ii.148). Then, at last, Leontes repents and grieves his rash behaviour: “I have deserv’d / All tongues to talk their bitt’rest” (III.ii.215-16). He assumes that his daughter is dead also. The banished child Perdita is taken to Bohemia where she found abandoned and raised by a shepherd. Eventually she falls in love with Florizel, son of Polixenes. In a parallel plotline, Polixenes disowns his son for courting a common shepherd-girl. Camillo reveals the truth of Perdita’s identity, and helps her and Florizel flee to Sicilia. Polixenes pursues them in anger. Leontes and reconciles with Polixenes and receives his “dead” daughter with astonishment. Paulina then takes them all to visit a “statue” of
BAUE: REDEMPTIVE THEMES IN SHAKESPEARE 19 Hermione. There Leontes, seeing the exact image of his wife, continues to express his penitence. Paulina promises even more amazing things, but admonishes the King, “It is requir’d / You do awake your faith” (V.iii.94- 95). The “statue” comes to life and embraces the joyful and amazed Leontes as Polixenes wonders how she has been “stol’n from the dead” (V.iii.114). Paulina has hidden Hermione until the lost daughter is recovered. Forgiveness is certainly a clear theme in this play, as Leontes finds true sorrow unto repentance. At work here also is the theme of reconciliation, as a father and son, and a father and daughter, and a husband and wife, and two estranged friends are all brought together in peace at the end. Central to the entire action is the resurrection of the “dead” wife, along with the finding of the lost child. * * * Many aspects of the Gospel can be seen dramatized in Shakespeare’s plays. Preparatory to the Gospel is the Law, and Shakespeare certainly deals with various aspects of sin in his Histories and Tragedies. Central to the Gospel is the idea of death and resurrection, which Shakespeare portrays on stage in several Comedies and Romances. Shakespeare often combines these motifs with weddings, forgiveness, reconciliation, and other Christian ideas. It is significant that resurrection should be portrayed so often in this canonical author. I believe that this is the underlying reason why Shakespeare is misunderstood and hated by many critics. But for this very reason he should be loved and studied by those who also love the story of redemption. 5 Rev. Frederic W. Baue, Ph.D., is Senior Editor of Church Resource Development, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. 5 For further study: Signet editions of individual plays, annotated, with critical introductions ($3.95 each). G. B. Harrison, ed., Shakespeare’s Works, annotated (Harcourt Brace, $65.50). Video: many film versions available.
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BAUE: REDEMPTIVE THEMES IN SHAKESPEARE 19<br />
Hermione. There Leontes, seeing the exact image of his wife, continues to<br />
express his penitence. Paulina promises even more amazing things, but<br />
admonishes the King, “It is requir’d / You do awake your faith” (V.iii.94-<br />
95). The “statue” comes to life and embraces the joyful and amazed Leontes<br />
as Polixenes wonders how she has been “stol’n from the dead” (V.iii.114).<br />
Paulina has hidden Hermione until the lost daughter is recovered.<br />
Forgiveness is certainly a clear theme in this play, as Leontes finds true<br />
sorrow unto repentance. At work here also is the theme of reconciliation, as<br />
a father and son, and a father and daughter, and a husband and wife, and two<br />
estranged friends are all brought together in peace at the end. Central to the<br />
entire action is the resurrection of the “dead” wife, along with the finding of<br />
the lost child.<br />
* * *<br />
Many aspects of the Gospel can be seen dramatized in Shakespeare’s<br />
plays. Preparatory to the Gospel is the Law, and Shakespeare certainly deals<br />
with various aspects of sin in his Histories and Tragedies. Central to the<br />
Gospel is the idea of death and resurrection, which Shakespeare portrays on<br />
stage in several Comedies and Romances. Shakespeare often combines these<br />
motifs with weddings, forgiveness, reconciliation, and other Christian ideas.<br />
It is significant that resurrection should be portrayed so often in this<br />
canonical author. I believe that this is the underlying reason why<br />
Shakespeare is misunderstood and hated by many critics. But for this very<br />
reason he should be loved and studied by those who also love the story of<br />
redemption. 5<br />
Rev. Frederic W. Baue, Ph.D., is Senior Editor of Church Resource<br />
Development, <strong>Concordia</strong> Publishing House, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.<br />
5 For further study: Signet editions of individual plays, annotated, with critical introductions<br />
($3.95 each). G. B. Harrison, ed., Shakespeare’s Works, annotated (Harcourt Brace, $65.50).<br />
Video: many film versions available.
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