The Winter’s Tale is rich in messages to the Catholic audiences of Shakespeare’s time, but did not threaten his role as a public playwright in the company of the king, James I. Shakespeare was forced to do two things simultaneously throughout his career: remain a loyal subject, and write Catholic plays. The Winter’s Tale contains coded messages that gave hope to Catholics who suffered persecution. The king accuses his wife of infidelity and condemns the accused father to death. The king’s loyal servant, Camillo, warns the accused father and together they flee to Bohemia. Bohemia, at that time offered refuge to Catholics fleeing persecution. Pope Paul V (1605–1621) was born Camillo Borghese and was the reigning pope at the time of the production of this play. This is code but it is obvious. Camillo is the good servant working behind the scenes. This play is saying indirectly that the pope is in charge, trust him, he is doing what he can. Paulina, who defends the innocence of the queen, is based on Maudlin Brown who spoke out in defense of the Faith. The conflict at the start of the play concludes with reunion of all those who were separated.
In part one of Dr. White’s commentary on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, he points out that this particular comedy makes obvious references to the 12 days of Christmas, with the “twelfth night” as the end of festivities. And the plot of the play is also connected to the Feast of the Epiphany, i.e., seeing the truth where others fail to see it. This play contains a host of strong-willed characters and numerous cases of mistaken identity wherein they are unable to see the truth about themselves. It’s a play that reminds us we are human. A great comedy, according to Dr. White, but one sprinkled with sorrow and sadness.
T.S. Eliot changed the face of poetry with Four Quartets, his four-part poem based on musical string quartets that features four instruments. The four instruments in the musical version are replaced with four voices in the poem. The Quartets deal with: air, earth, water and finally fire. The poems are based on his life’s experiences. The final quartet is about Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost appeared as fire from the sky to inflame the Apostles and Our Lady with the full enlightenment of Christ’s life and message. Modern man is in his many sins is punished by fire in the form of aerial incendiary bombs that fell over London during WWII, which Eliot personally witnessed. He reasons that we will be redeemed by the fire of suffering given to us by God in this life to avoid the suffering of fire in the next. Receive the fire of the Holy Ghost and burn with love of God. Suffering is redemptive. The fourth Quartet is a hidden sonnet: seven lines and seven lines instead of the usual 14. Sonnets are always love poems, thus this too is a love poem. Four Quartets is considered the greatest lyric poem of the twentieth century.
In part two of his commentary on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Dr. White describes how Shakespeare’s characters bear a striking similarity to those found in Greek mythology, namely Echo and Narcissus. Twelfth Night, White tells us, is filled with similar instances of self-love. But, interspersed with dramatic readings, he also points out that there is life in the play, whereby love breaks out of selfishness. Dr. White sees it as a play filled with truthfulness, in which characters eventually see what is real, i.e., what is actually there. This ultimately leads to a happy ending as they learn to care about someone other than themselves. He ends the commentary with a question and answer session.
Part One of Dr. White’s two-part examination of Shakespeare’s classic comedy, The Taming of the Shrew.Dr. White gives a classical definition of comedy which reminds us of our human nature, that we are but flesh and blood, and as a consequence keeps us humble. In this comedy we see the tensions between men and women – the “battle of the sexes.” The lecture also analyzes the character of Katerina and Petruchio who represent pure will and pure ego respectively.
Dr. White describes the comic novel Don Quixote as a great Catholic work, in fact the best-known Spanish novel ever. He proceeds with a dramatic reading of G. K. Chesterton’s poem, Lepanto, dealing with the great naval battle in which Cervantes, a devout Catholic, took part. Following Lepanto, Cervantes became, in essence, the lonely knight riding through Spain, always failing but never giving up. Out of this came Don Quixote, the first of a new literary genre: the modern novel. Dr. White closes his commentary by noting that Cervantes died on the same date as another of his literary heroes, William Shakespeare.
