,,what ,,was ,,the ,,religion ,,of ,,shakespeare8 ,by ,m4 ,m4 ,mangasarian ,a ,lecture ,delivered ,before the ,independent ,religious ,society1 ,orchestra ,hall1 ,michigan ,avenue and ,adams ,st41 ,chicago1 ,illinois1 ,sunday1 at #aa ,a4 ,m4 #aijg ,toleration is possible only to men of large information4--,,schiller4 ,who am ,i8--,a mortal seeking knowledge6 ,,what ,,was ,,the ,,religion ,,of ,,shakespeare8 ,it is by observing the frequency and emphasis with which certain views and expressions occur and reoccur in an author1 and the consistency with which they are given the preference1 that we may be able to generalize as to his philosophy or religion4 ,as ,shakespeare's works are neither a treatise on theology nor a manual of philosophy1 our only means of discovering his attitude toward the problems of life and destiny is by reading1 as it were1 between the lines4 ,a great mind can neither sophisticate nor suppress its earnest convictions4 ,this does not mean that anyone with earnest convictions must necessarily be a propagandist4 ,to think and to let think1 represents a state of mind which is entirely consistent1 both with enthusiasm and toleration1 if not with proselytism4 ,we believe that ,shakespeare has unmistakably expressed himself on the subject of religion1 as he has on that of patriotism1 for instance1 but without any missionary zeal1 which fact has led not a few students of his works to the conclusion that of all the great poets ,shakespeare is the only one without a religion4 ,green1 in his ,short ,history of ,england1 writes1 that ,it is difficult to say whether ,shakespeare had any religious faith or no4 ,but this is not a fair way of stating the problem4 ,if by religious faith ,green means the ,anglican1 the ,presbyterian1 or the ,unitarian faith1 then it is true that we do not know to which of these he nominally belonged1 and it does not much matter4 ,but if he means that we have no means of knowing whether or not he accepted the ,christian or any other supernatural interpretation of the ,universe1 the allegation is not true1 so far as we are able to judge4 ,it is difficult to read any one of ,shakespeare's tragedies without perceiving that its author is an anti-supernaturalist4 ,in ,shakespeare this world is all there is1 and it is what men have made it4 ,it is in terms of naturalism1 pure and simple1 that ,shakespeare states the problem of human existence4 ,it is no objection to this to say that there are ghosts1 witches1 and apparitions on his stage1 and that therefore he was a believer in the supernatural4 ,we must not confound the machinery of the stage with the stage-master4 ,even ,hamlet1 when he exclaims that he sees his dead father and ,horatio asks him ,where8 answers3 ,in my mind's eye2 which shows how little the appurtenances of the theatre of those times affected the atmosphere of the author's mind4 ,this same ,hamlet who in popular parlance has beheld his dead father revisit the glimpses of the moon1 declares in the language of his own sober thought1 that the beyond is an undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns4 ,and if ,macbeth1 unlike ,hamlet1 puts faith in the supernatural1 he does so to his own hurt4 ,but even ,macbeth recovers his senses sufficiently to exclaim3 ,and be these juggling fiends no more believed1 ,that palter with lies in a double sense2 and again3 ,infected be the air whereon they ride2 ,and damned all those that trust them6 ,if it be objected that ,shakespeare's hostility to the supernatural is confined to what might be called the bogus variety1 and not to the kind that is true1 we reply that there is no evidence in the plays that ,shakespeare ever made such a distinction4 ,without anywhere intimating that he believed in one kind of the supernatural and not in another 7the kind people believe in is generally their own1 and the kind they deny1 that of somebody else71 ,shakespeare expresses his opinion of those who accept the supernatural in no uncertain way3-- ,look how the world's poor people are amazed ,at apparitions1 signs1 and prodigies1 ,whereon with fearful eyes they long have gaz'd ,infusing them with dreadful prophecies4 99 ,having just told us that ,it is difficult to say whether ,shakespeare had any religious faith or no1 ,green intimates that ,shakespeare was an agnostic1 and probably a disciple of ,montaigne4 ,if he was an agnostic1 it is not true that we do not know whether he had any religious faith or no4 ,we can be sure that he was without religious faith of any kind1 using the word religious in the sense of the supernatural--if he preferred agnosticism to the creeds4 ,he was an agnostic1 it is to be supposed1 because he could not conscientiously profess any of the religious faiths of his day4 ,but to be an agnostic does not mean to be without a religion2 it only means to be without a revealed religion4 ,this very agnosticism1 as the expression of a courageous1 honest and rational protest against revealed religions1 is a religion--more manly1 certainly1 than the popular religions1 because while the latter are imitative to a large extent1 the former is unconstrained and personal4 ,those who say unqualifiedly that ,shakespeare had no religion1 as ,prof4 ,santayana of ,harvard ,university1 does1 must mean by religion a recognition of the supernatural1 which we submit is to make a partisan use only of the word religion4 ,wishing to prove the absence of religion in ,shakespeare1 ,prof4 ,santayana writes3 ,if we were asked to select one monument of human civilization that should survive to some future age1 or be transported to another planet to bear witness to the inhabitants thereof what we have been upon earth1 we should probably choose the works of ,shakespeare4 ,in them we recognize the truest portrait and best memorial of man4 ,after this magnificent tribute to the universality of ,shakespeare4 99 ,venus and ,adonis4 ,prof4 ,santayana proceeds to qualify his statement by deploring what he calls the absence of religion in ,shakespeare4 ,he fears that if ,shakespeare were our sole interpreter1 the archaeologists of that future age1 or the cosmographers of that other part of the heavens1 after conscientious study of our ,shakespearian autobiography1 would misconceive our life in one important respect4 ,they would hardly understand that man had had a religion4 ,this fear is unfounded4 ,it may surely be learned from ,shakespeare that man had had many superstitions1 and also that there was in our world the worship of the ,good1 the ,true and the ,beautiful4 ,such a report would not leave the inhabitants of a strange planet in the dark as to whether or not man had had a religion4 ,let us make this point a little clearer3 ,in ,shakespeare we find both the religion of superstition--addicted to the belief in ghosts1 spirits1 miracles1 visions1 and revelations past and present--and the religion of sense1 namely1 the elimination of the supernatural from human affairs1 and the exalting of ,goodness1 ,beauty1 and ,truth1 with ,truth as the greatest of the three1 as the highest possible ideals of man4 ,but1 evidently1 ,prof4 ,santayana does not believe that it is possible to leave out the supernatural from religion and still have a religion4 ,but for ,shakespeare1 in the matter of religion1 writes ,santayana1 the choice lay between ,christianity and nothing4 ,he chose nothing4 ,in our opinion ,shakespeare chose something which was more in accord with the concensus of the competent1 though opposed to the prejudices of the populace1 namely3 the rationalist attitude in the presence of life and death4 ,and why is not this attitude as much entitled to be called a philosophy and a religion as the theological8 ,would it not be unfair to say1 for instance1 that ,tennyson's ,the ,coming ,church of ,humanity is no church at all1 because it is not after the fashion of orthodoxy3 ,i dreamed that stone by stone ,i reared a sacred fane1 ,a temple1 neither pagod1 mosque1 nor church1 ,but loftier1 simpler1 always open-doored ,to every breath from heaven2 and truth and peace ,and love and justice came and dwelt therein3 --or to contend that ,goethe was profane and irreligious because the verse in which he sums up his philosophy omits all reference to the essentials of revealed religion8 ,in the ,entire1 the ,good1 the ,beautiful resolve to live-- ,wouldst fashion for thyself a seemly life4 ,then fret not over what is past and gone2 ,and spite of all thou may'st have lost behind1 ,yet act as if thy life were just begun4 ,the religion of not a few of the best minds has been of the above type2 and surely1 to a reasonable man the ,catholic who denies that the ,protestant is a ,christian1 or the ,trinitarian who excommunicates the ,unitarian is not more sectarian than the philosopher who denies that ,goethe1 ,tennyson1 ,voltaire1 or ,shakespeare1 had any religion at all because they did not have his religion4 ,the ,german critic1 ,gervinius1 on the other hand1 expresses the opinion that ,shakespeare was silent on religion because his platform was not a pulpit4 ,but it was a very narrow view to take of religion1 to intimate that outside the pulpit religion is an intruder4 ,if religion is one's philosophy of life1 it is at home everywhere1 but if it is only one's beliefs concerning dogmas and rites1 then the pulpit is its exclusive sphere4 ,shakespeare was silent on religion of the kind ,gervinius has in mind1 not because his platform was not a pulpit1 but because he had no such religion to express4 ,a man's religion is his philosophy of life1 in accordance with which he shapes his conduct and interprets human destiny1 and surely ,shakespeare was not without such a working-religion4 ,the position of ,w4 ,j4 ,birch1 the ,english parliamentarian who writes from the ,christian standpoint1 appears to us more consistent4 ,he believes that ,shakespeare was not at all silent on religion1 in the ,christian or supernatural sense of the word1 but demonstrably antagonistic to it4 ,he then produces passage after passage to show ,shakespeare's positive dislike for such fundamental tenets of revealed religion1 as the doctrines of providence1 the ,fall of ,man1 the ,holy ,sacrament1 the ,word of ,god1 ,salvation1 the ,church1 the ,priesthood1 etc4 ,birch denounces ,shakespeare because he was not a ,christian2 because not only the details1 but the essentials1 also1 of ,christianity are the themes of his flippancy4 ,he infers further1 from the companions of ,shakespeare--,marlowe1 ,green1 ,raleigh1 ,beaumont and ,fletcher2 and from the books he read--,lucretius1 ,plutarch1 ,lucian1 ,montaigne and ,bruno--that he could not have been a ,christian1 as no follower of ,jesus ,christ could take any interest in such profane writers4 ,replying to those who quote the ,will of ,shakespeare to prove his piety1 ,birch says that the ,will is not in the poet's handwriting2 that the signature1 alone1 was his1 the rest being the customary form of legal documents drawn by lawyers for such occasions4 ,the real sympathies of ,shakespeare1 ,mr4 ,birch thinks1 may be inferred from such lines as the following3-- ,an idiot holds his bauble for a ,god1 99 and again3 ,by that same ,god1 what ,god soe'er it be1 99 --which seems to imply1 according to this ,christian critic of ,shakespeare1 that there are as many ,gods as there are fancies4 99 ,titus ,andronicus4 ,the reason which ,mr4 ,birch assigns for the indifference of ,shakespeare's contemporaries to his works and fame was his non-,christian teachings1 which made him rather an object of distrust and fear than of admiration4 ,the world of his day was religious1 says ,mr4 ,birch1 and1 therefore1 it was glad enough to forget ,shakespeare and remember the men who had left monuments of piety behind4 ,the opposition of the religious element is thus given as one of the reasons for the absence of any recognition of his genius and the oblivion to which he seems to have been condemned before a less pious or puritanic age discovered with ecstasy the wealth and glory of his thousand souls4 ,milton's joyous exclamation echoes the gratitude of the intellectual world3 ,thou1 in our love and astonishment ,hast found a life-long monument4 ,but the majority of the apologists of supernaturalism1 appreciating the value of ,shakespeare as an ally1 have stoutly claimed him as a ,christian believer4 ,bishop ,wordsworth has written a voluminous work to show how much of the ,bible there is in ,shakespeare4 ,mr4 ,george ,brandies1 with much justice1 calls this pious bishop's book unreadable4 ,another ,christian interpreter of ,shakespeare offers the following apology for the poet's seeming indifference to the tenets of orthodox religion3 ,doubts have been entertained as to ,shakespeare's religious belief1 because few or no notices of it occur in his works4 ,this ought to be attributed to a tender and delicate reserve about holy things1 rather than to inattention or neglect4 ,the above shows how indispensable to the interests of ,christian doctrine ,shakespeare's approval of them had come to be regarded by the later ,christians4 ,his was too great and shining a name not to have it listed on their side1 and so was invented a tender and delicate reserve on the part of the poet1 to explain his open protests against their creeds1 which they mildly call his failure to take notice of them4 ,others1 again1 have written lengthy arguments to prove that the immortal poet was a devout ,catholic1 an orthodox ,calvanist1 a loyal ,anglican1 and so forth4 ,the man who in his lifetime was associated with ,marlowe and his school1 and who was vehemently denounced by the exponents of religion in that day--the ,puritans--is today hailed by the descendants of these same ,puritans as the honor and glory of their faith4 ,but this change of heart is a purely sentimental one4 ,it is1 as already intimated1 the increasing eclat of ,shakespeare's name and fame which has made him desirable as a coreligionist4 ,already1 even ,thomas ,paine is being claimed as a fellow-believer4 ,mr4 ,brooke ,hereford writes that if he1 the author of the ,age of ,reason1 were living now1 he would join the ,unitarian ,church4 ,it is not1 however1 by consulting our own necessities that we find out the religion of another4 ,we may all wish that ,shakespeare believed just as we do1 and that he was upon our side of the question1 but could our wish be any evidence in a matter of this kind8 ,the real attitude of ,shakespeare toward revealed religion will be learned by observing1 as we stated above1 the frequency and consistency with which certain expressions appear and reappear in his works4 ,an author's intimate beliefs may be ascertained by observing the prevailing mood of his mind1 the atmosphere his characters breathe in1 and the more or less permanent moulds into which his thoughts flow4 ,that is alone to be called a man's opinion1 writes ,shaftesbury1 which is1 of any other1 the most habitual to him1 and occurs upon most occasions4 ,to the same effect are the words of ,sir ,bulwer ,lytton1 quoted by ,w4 ,j4 ,birch in his ,philosophy of ,shakespeare3 ,in the mind of man there is always a resemblance to his works4 ,his heroes may not be like himself1 but they are like certain qualities which belong to him4 ,the sentiments he utters are his at the moment2 if you find them predominate in all his works1 they predominate in his mind4 ,we may illustrate the truth of the above remark by an example from ,moliere1 the ,shakespeare of ,france1 as he has often been called4 ,in a conversation between a beggar and a citizen1 the beggar is asked what he considers the object of life4 ,to pray ,god for the good people who give me alms1 he answers4 ,ah1 you pass your time in praying to ,god6 ,in that case you ought to be very much at your ease1 says the philosopher citizen4 ,alas6 sir1 replies the beggar1 ,i often have not what to eat4 ,that can not be1 protests the citizen1 ,god would not leave those to die of hunger who pray to him morning and night4 ,come1 here's a pound2 but ,i give it you for the love of humanity4 ,it is not possible for anyone who believed in orthodox ,catholicism to express with such emphasis and lucidity a sentiment like the above4 ,moliere could never have placed the praying mendicant in the light he does1 nor invoked the name of humanity to a man who did all his begging in the name of the deity1 had he been a consistent ,catholic4 ,equally conclusive are the following ,shakespearian lines in one of the historical plays1 on the denominational sympathies of the great poet3 ,king ,john instructs the ,cardinal to bear this message to the ,pope of ,rome3-- ,tell him this tale2 and from the mouth of ,england ,add this much more1--that no ,italian priest ,shall tithe or toll in our dominions2 ,so tell the ,pope1 all reverence set apart ,to him and his usurped authority4 ,and when the believing ,king ,philip protests against what he calls blasphemy1 ,king ,john returns in words which leave not a shadow of doubt as to ,shakespeare's positive distrust of ,catholicism3-- ,though you and all the ,kings of ,christendom ,are led so grossly by this meddling priest1 ,dreading the curse that money may buy out2 ,and1 by the merit of vile gold1 dross1 dust1 ,purchase corrupted pardon of a man1 ,who in that sale sells pardon from himself2 ,though you and all the rest1 so grossly led1 ,this juggling witchcraft with revenue cherish2 ,yet ,i1 alone1 alone do me oppose ,against the ,pope1 and count its friends my foes4 ,in the same way ,shakespeare's attitude toward the ,puritans of his day is decisively shown in his frequent references to them1 of which the following is a fair specimen3 ,though honesty be no ,puritan1 yet it will do no hurt4 ,even more final than the above is ,shakespeare's rejection of the idea of providence1 which is the nerve of supernaturalism4 ,when ,miranda1 a young1 innocent girl1 observes from the shore a ship1 with its freight of human lives1 sinking1 lashed mercilessly by the blind and unfeeling elements1 she exclaims3-- ,had ,i been any ,god of power1 ,i would ,have sunk the sea within the earth1 or e'er ,it should the good ship so have swallowed1 and ,the freighting souls within her4 ,only a little less decisive is ,shakespeare's repudiation of all other-help1 and his recommendation of self-help1 which makes ninety-nine per cent of the belongings of the popular religions superfluous3 ,our remedies oft in ourselves do lie ,which we ascribe to ,heaven4 ,again ,shakespeare writes3-- ,in religion1 ,what damned error1 but some sober brow ,will bless it and approve it with a text4 ,we can imagine how a man who1 kept apart from the great theological interest of the day1 could make the above comment2 but for a partisan of any one of the sects1 such a characterization of the folly and wickedness of making a number of ,bible texts the occasion for endless wrangles and bloodshed would have been impossible1 for the very cogent reason that in condemning the practice of resorting to ,scripture as the court of last appeal in all matters of religion1 he would have undermined his own position4 ,such a passage as the above illustrates with what scant sympathy the leading mind of that age contemplated the warfare of rival faiths4 ,and when it is remembered that what heated the religious sects1 the one against the other1 were subjects concerning which no one possessed any knowledge1 we will appreciate ,hamlet's amazement that we should make such fools of ourselves3-- ,so horridly to shake our disposition ,with thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls4 ,a further condemnation of the claims1 of religious organizations that they possess a ,revelation which answers definitely and finally man's questions concerning the here and the hereafter1 and a recommendation of the scientific attitude of modesty and openness of mind to fresh knowledge1 is found in the lines1 so frequently quoted1 but with little understanding of its import3-- ,there are more things in heaven and earth1 ,horatio1 ,than are dreamt of in your philosophy4 ,revelation may be closed1 the ,bibles and creeds may have no further use for study and investigation1 but for a man of the rationality of ,shakespeare1 no revelation1 no ,bible1 no creed1 approached anywhere near covering the ever widening realm of truth4 ,the books of the gods are sealed4 ,shakespeare believed in the open book4 ,shakespeare's belief in the religion of ,humanity is also shown by his sympathy with goodness irrespective of the race1 creed1 or country which produces it4 ,he could admire a pagan for his virtues despite the teaching of the catechism which condemns the non-,christian world to the tortures of hell4 ,only a man of the sanity and chastened sympathies of ,shakespeare could speak of a ,roman skeptic in the following exalted tone3 ,his life was gentle1 and the elements ,so mixed in him1 that nature might stand up1 ,and say to all the world1 ,this was a man6 ,his approval also of the philosopher's behavior in the presence of death1 as distinguished from the believer's dogmatism1 is shown in the parting scene between ,cassius and his great friend1 ,brutus3 ,for whether we shall meet again ,i know not4 ,therefore our everlasting farewell take4 ,forever and forever farewell1 ,cassius6 ,if we do meet again1 why1 we shall smile2 ,if not1 why1 then this parting was well made4 ,it has been suggested that the above does not show ,shakespeare's own intellectual attitude toward the beyond1 for he is only reporting the sentiments which such a character as ,brutus entertained4 ,in other words1 it is one of ,shakespeare's characters1 not ,shakespeare himself1 who is philosophising4 ,but it is curious that in ,plutarch's history1 from which our poet borrowed freely for this play1 ,brutus acknowledged a future state1 and is positive of his future reward4 ,i gave up my life for my country in the ,ides of ,march1 for the which ,i shall live in another more glorious world1 ,plutarch reports ,brutus to have said4 ,shakespeare's changing this dogmatic assurance concerning a future life to the philosophic attitude of unconcern shows conclusively which way his own sympathies inclined4 ,to further clinch the point1 that ,shakespeare is here speaking his own thought and not merely inventing thoughts suitable to his pagan characters1 let us quote a stanza from his ,sonnets which1 it is admitted1 embody the poet's own philosophy4 ,it will be seen that he is thoroughly imbued with the ,lucretian1 or the scientific thought1 of man and nature3 ,when ,i consider every thing that grows ,holds in perfection but a little moment2 ,that this huge state presenteth nought but show ,whereon the stars in secret influence comment4 ,and what is true of nature is true also of man1 notwithstanding his self-exaltation3 ,when ,i perceive that men as plants1 increase1 ,cheered and checked even by selfsame sky1 ,vaunt in their youthful sap1 at height decrease1 ,and wear their brave state out of memory4 ,yet this transitoriness of man1 instead of diminishing1 enhances his value1 and makes love1 friendship and truth all the more precious4 ,life would not have been so great a gift1 if it were unending4 ,love1 the greatest of all blessings1 shines upon the dark brow of death like a rich jewel in an ,ethiop's ear4 ,it is the thought of death1 of separation1 which creates attachments and friendships inexpressibly sweet4 ,then the conceit of this inconstant stay ,set you most rich in youth before my sight4 ,of course there are also many expressions in ,shakespeare which a ,catholic may cite to prove that ,shakespeare was a faithful child of the church1 or a ,protestant to show that the greatest mind of ,england was on his side1 but the context of ,shakespeare1 it must be admitted1 is unreservedly on the side of the non-supernatural and the rationalistic interpretation of life4 ,when we come to examine the construction of ,shakespeare's plays1 we shall find that it is as decisively along rationalistic lines as the atmosphere which permeates them4 ,gods and ghosts fleet across his stage1 but they have no perceptible influence upon the order or drift of events in ,shakespeare's world4 ,the center round which ,shakespeare makes the universe revolve is--man6 ,this represents a radical departure from theology4 ,the change from the contemplation of ,god to the study of man is the ,renaissance in a nut-shell4 ,shakespeare1 as the great ,renaissance poet1 lifted this world into the importance which the next world had usurped1 and urged men to reclaim the prerogatives which they had1 in fear and servility1 deeded away to their gods4 ,study1 for instance1 ,romeo and ,juliet1 and it will be seen that the entire story1 beginning with the rosy dawn in which love and youth met1 to the noon-day storm which swept the unhappy lovers to their graves1 is conceived1 created and presented without the remotest reference to a divine providence as a factor in human affairs4 ,everything happens in a natural way1 and from natural causes4 ,romeo's rashness and ,juliet's impatience leave room for no mysteries as to their fate4 ,there may be1 or there may not be1 a ,god1 but to explain this tragedy it is not necessary either to postulate or to deny his existence4 ,shakespeare steers clear of the occult powers that are supposed to preside over human destiny1 and never once does he cross their paths or enter the circle of their influence4 ,consider1 for example1 the conduct of his ,romeo and ,juliet in the presence of death4 ,much is made of the death bed scene in religious literature4 ,people are supposed to turn their thoughts heavenward in that hour1 and to show anxiety about their souls4 ,it is then1 we are told1 that a sense of the world to come takes irresistible possession of the mind4 ,the last words of the dying are recalled to show how1 upon the brink of the grave1 as the earthly sun is sinking1 the heavenly lights begin to appear4 ,but ,shakespeare's ,romeo and ,juliet confront death without any thought of a future reunion1 which is very remarkable considering their youth and their fondness for one another4 ,it almost betrays a deliberate effort on the part of ,shakespeare to prevent these ardent lovers1 dying ere the budding rose of love had opened1 to even dream of a life beyond where they may forever live and love4 ,nothing could be a clearer indication of ,shakespeare's intellectual freedom from both the phraseology and method of theology4 ,romeo knows of no other paradise than his ,juliet1 while to the latter1 where ,romeo is1 there is heaven4 ,this is frank1 honest1 free1 but it is not how the ,mohammedan1 the ,christian or the ,jewish religions expect the dying to express themselves4 ,romeo's address to death ignores all revealed religions3 ,come1 unsavory guide6 ,thou desperate pilot1 now at once run on ,the dashing rocks1 thy seasick weary bark6 ,here's to my love6 99 99 99 ,thus with a kiss ,i die4 ,surely this is not the language of the believer4 ,nor has ,romeo any illusions about death3 ,oh here ,will ,i set up my everlasting rest2 ,and shake the yoke of inauspicious stars ,from this world-wearied flesh4 ,and to think that ,romeo had a ,catholic priest for a friend6 ,but it shows how clean ,shakespeare's mind was from such fantasies 99 99 99 more than cool reason ever comprehends4 99 ,and when ,romeo takes his farewell of ,juliet1 his thought is equally free from fancies3 ,eyes1 look your last6 ,arms1 take your last embrace6 and lips1 ,o you1 ,the doors of breath1 seal with a righteous kiss1 ,a dateless bargain to engrossing death4 ,nothing could be more un-,catholic and un-,protestant than this parting of ,shakespeare's best lovers4 ,juliet1 who has often knelt before the priest1 dies without one appeal to religion for comfort or support4 ,she has no faith1 now1 in the hour of her greatest need1 in prayer1 crucifix1 ,bible or church4 ,go1 get thee hence1 she cries to the friar when he approaches to minister to her in her crushing sorrow4 ,she follows ,romeo without uttering one word about ,god1 or the future4 ,in the same spirit1 ,the rest is silence1 murmurs ,hamlet as he sinks to the ground1 and we may announce with considerable assurance that the words are ,shakespeare's as much as they are ,hamlet's4 9999 ,but the naturalism of the poet as opposed to the supernaturalism of the religion of his day is further brought out by the free and uninterrupted operation in his plays of the law of action and reaction1 of cause and consequence4 ,it is no angel of heaven1 as we read of in ,scripture1 that exalts or strikes down the people in ,shakespeare's world2 but by their own acts they rise or fall4 ,intemperance brings ,timon of ,athens to the dust2 folly ruins ,othello2 insolence cuts ,corialanus' career short2 ambition and superstition strangle ,macbeth2 hypocrisy subjects ,angello to the contempt of his fellows2 hatred and revenge blight the life of ,shylock4 ,heaven plays no part on ,shakespeare's stage4 ,man reaps as he sows1 and no gods are necessary to enforce cause and effect4 ,if ,nature's laws defy the power of man1 do they bend or break when gods command8 ,pride1 shame1 intemperance1 greed1 hate--these can never lead to happiness1 all the gods to the contrary4 ,nor can all the powers of heaven and hell turn self-restraint1 moderation1 justice1 contentment1 courage1 love and peace1 into demons of hell4 ,nature is sound2 ,nature is all-sufficient1 and in ,shakespeare ,nature occupies the stage so completely as to leave neither room nor necessity for any other power4 99 ,midsummer's ,night's ,dream4 9999 ,we are neither recommending nor condemning ,shakespeare's attitude toward the question of another life1 but simply endeavoring to represent it4 ,nothing is so certain and so effective in ,shakespeare as his criticism of the ways of ,providence4 ,when ,othello1 for instance1 awakens to a sense of his irreparable loss--when the pity of ,desdemona's death1 like the incoming tide of the sea1 sweeps over him and takes his breath away1 he gasps out these significant words with his eyes searching the abysses of space over his head3 ,methinks there should now be a huge eclipse of sun and moon1 and the affrighted earth should yawn at altercation4 ,he can not understand how any ,god could look down with unmoistened eyes upon such a tragedy4 ,what does ,god do with his powers if he will not interfere to save men such as ,othello from committing ignorantly so heinous a crime8 ,again he stammers out1 ,are there no stones in heaven but what serve for the thunder8 ,is ,god only a spectacular being8 ,is all he can do to thunder in the clouds and dazzle with his lightning8 ,where is the ,god of help8 ,is he real8 ,does he exist8 ,to make effective this indifference or helplessness of the gods1 ,shakespeare contrasts their stolid unconcern with human sympathy4 ,emelia1 the wife of the man who poisoned ,othello's mind1 breaks into a heart-rending lamentation when she learns of the death of her innocent mistress1 which shames the silent and tearless gods3 ,i'll kill myself for grief1 she sobs as she sees stretched at her feet the victim of human folly and crime4 ,how eloquent1 and how melting are these words6 ,she does not care to live if she can not protect innocence and virtue1 beauty and goodness against hate and envy4 ,and this from a woman whose character was not above reproach6 ,how admirable is the seething passion in her human soul compared with the dumbness of the almighty gods6 ,by the mouth of another frail woman ,shakespeare passes the same criticism upon the current conceptions of divine providence4 ,when young ,juliet learns that ,romeo has killed her cousin1 for which rash act he has been banished for life1 thus blighting her dearest hopes1 she cries3 ,can ,heaven be so envious8 ,later on1 when her own parents persecute her and drive her to a desperate experiment with death1 and all for the purpose of wresting a little happiness out of life1 she exclaims3 ,is there no pity sitting in the clouds8 ,finally1 when all her hopes are turned to ashes1 and she realizes the bitterness of her fate1 she sobs3 ,alack1 alack that ,heaven should practice such stratagems upon so soft a subject as myself4 ,this is a strong criticism of the popular fancy of a ,father in ,heaven who broods over his children as a hen over her young4 ,unlike the preachers of the conventional faiths1 ,shakespeare sought to divest people's minds of dreams and fairy stories1 that they may learn to cope with reality4 ,this is the answer to the charge that the critic takes away people's comfort when he takes away their religion4 ,on the contrary1 he helps them to replace the shadow with the substance4 ,men will do more for themselves and their world if they realize that if they do not1 no other power will4 ,man becomes a god when the place is vacated by the idols4 ,but if there is still any uncertainty about ,shakespeare's religious philosophy1 we recommend the careful perusal of the scene in ,macbeth between ,macduff1 ,malcolm and ,rosse4 ,the latter has just informed ,macduff that the tyrant has put his entire household to death3 ,macduff4--,my children1 too8 ,rosse4--,wife1 children1 servants1 all that could be found4 ,macduff4--,my wife killed too8 ,rosse4--,i have said4 ,macduff4--,all my pretty ones8 ,did you say all8 99 99 99 ,all8 ,what1 all my pretty chickens1 and their dam1 at one fell swoop8 ,then follow these significant words of the bereaved and wronged husband3 ,did ,heaven look on1 ,and would not take their part8 ,no wonder the sentiment expressed in the above was considered blasphemous by early ,christian critics of ,shakespeare4 ,to a believer in ,god's right to do as ,he pleases1 and in man's duty to bow humbly and uncomplainingly to the hand that smites him1 the question which ,macduff asks is both impious and wicked1 for he openly upbraids ,providence for its non-interference1 if he does not categorically deny its existence4 ,it is not probable that an honest adherent or even respecter of the current religious teaching of his day could have penned so bold a protest against the popular faith4 ,where1 ,shakespeare seems to ask1 is the ,heavenly ,father whose tender mercies are over all his children8 ,what does ,god do for man8 ,in what sense would a mother and her children1 foully murdered1 have been worse off1 if there had been no ,providence8 ,and in what way were they benefited by the existence of a ,heavenly ,father8 ,in this same play1 the poet has once more described his ideal man1 and there is more of the pagan about him than of the ,christian4 ,living in a community which regarded faith as the greatest of virtues1 without which no amount of moral excellence could avail anything1 ,shakespeare draws a picture of his saint which is the very antithesis of ,christian ideals4 ,malcolm asks for the respect of his fellows for his character1 not for his religion4 ,never was forsworn2 ,scarcely have coveted what was mine own2 ,at no time broke my faith2 would not betray ,the devil to his fellow2 and delight ,no less in truth1 than life4 ,the concluding line--and delight no less in truth than life--we have no hesitation in pronouncing as the most beautiful sentiment in ,shakespeare4 ,malcolm says not a word about his ,christian beliefs1 without which no one can be saved4 ,once more we call attention to the fact that there are in ,shakespeare1 as there are in ,voltaire1 nearly all the terms of church and creed1 but the underlying philosophy of the poet is1 if we may depend upon the above extracts and examples1 unequivocally rationalistic4 ,shakespeare was a freethinker1 in that he interrogates the popular faith about ,god1 and the hereafter1 and suggests an order of the universe which is the very negation of the supernatural4 ,his indifference to the fundamentals of the ,christian faith1 then1 is not due to the fact that he is not a preacher1 as ,gervinius suggests1 nor because he preferred nothing to ,christianity1 as ,santayana concludes1 or because of his tender and delicate reserve about holy things1 as ,charles ,knight1 one of the most enthusiastic admirers of ,shakespeare suggests1 but to his utter want of intellectual sympathy with the religious thought of his day1 and to the fact that he had worked out a religion of his own1 based on the natural virtues--an ethical religion of ,humanity1 with its commandments written1 not on parchments1 but in the blood of the race4 ,there is undoubtedly a religious atmosphere in ,shakespeare1 but it is the religion of the ,good1 the ,true1 and the ,beautiful2 without dogma and without miracle1 and as comprehensive1 as true to nature1 and as closely in harmony with the rationalistic interpretation of the universe as his own drama4 ,has not ,goethe1 in defining his own religion1 defined also that of ,shakespeare8 ,man is born1 writes ,goethe1 not to solve the problem of the universe1 but to find out where the problem begins1 and then to restrain himself within the limits of the comprehensible4 ,this is precisely what the great ,englishman1 whom ,goethe so sincerely admired1 did4 ,he restrained himself within the limits of the comprehensible1 which is a beautiful way of saying that he was practical and not speculative1 scientific in spirit and method1 and not theological4 ,he abstained from the unprofitable pursuit of the gods1 whom the ,bible says in one place1 no man can find out by searching1 and devoted himself to the study of man and his world4 ,this is the religion of sense4 ,there is everything in ,shakespeare about man1 and every bit of it is serious2 but there is nothing of any consequence in ,shakespeare about ,god or gods4 ,it is a matter of regret to the theologian that the great poet should have permitted the secular interests of life to engage his exclusive thought1 but we rejoice in the fact that ,shakespeare could not be tempted into the dusty and winding paths of theology which lead nowhere4 ,as truthfully as the great ,voltaire1 the glorious ,shakespeare1 poet1 philosopher1 historian1 could say of the founders of isms1 and the inventor and maker of gods1 they have troubled the earth1 and ,i have consoled it4