The Wonderful World of Literature Part IV -- Shakespeare and The Bible

When in doubt… It’s from Shakespeare –Any Literature between the 18 th and 21 st centuries is dominated by the Bard.

Famous Lines: To thine own self be true. All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet. What a rogue and peasant slave am I. Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

Get thee to a nunnery! Who steals my purse steals trash. Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. The better part of valor is discretion. A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse! We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.

Double, double, toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble. By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes. O brave new world, that has such people in it. To be or not to be, that is the question.

If not Shakespeare… It’s from The Bible. –Garden, serpent, plagues, flood, parting of waters, loaves, fish, forty days, betrayal, denial, slavery and escape, fatted calves, milk and honey.

Writers use scripture ALL the time: Stories of the Apocalypse. The Four Horsemen –The pale (or green) horse is Death. –Clint Eastwood -- Pale Rider

Loss of innocence –In “Araby”, this could be The Fall. –Every story about the loss of innocence is really about someone’s private reenactment of the fall from grace.

Here goes… A young boy (11, 12, or 13 years old) has experienced a life of safety— uncomplicated—limited to attending school, playing in the street, when suddenly… –He discovers girls.

Early adolescence… The narrator has no way of dealing with the object of desire—or even to recognize that what he feels is desire. His culture does all it can to separate boys and girls. He promises to buy this girl something from Araby –She can’t go because of a religious retreat at her school.

After many delays and much frustration, he arrives at the bazaar just as it is closing. He finds a stall open—turns away from what he sees and suddenly recognizes… –he sees he is no different from anyone—that the girl is average—that he’s been a fool—that the girl has never really thought about him.

Loss of innocence, fine… …but The Fall? No serpent, no apple, no garden. OOPS! But… The doors are protected by two great jars. So what? So what you say?

Well… They’re described as being “like two eastern guards”. Genesis 3:24 -- “So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden, Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”

The swords keep man from a former innocence. And this is a loss-of-innocence story. It’s harsh because these stories are so final. You can NEVER go back—that’s why the narrator is so upset—his childhood and innocence is gone forever. Authors know their religion.