Exploring Religion in Shakespeare

This past weekend, I attended two plays at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City.  I love the Shakespeare Festival, though I do not get to go very often.  The Festival is endeavoring to stage each of Shakespeare’s plays over the course of eleven years, as part of its “Complete the Canon” project.  This year, they performed four Shakespeare plays as well as several smaller productions.  I attended The Merchant of Venice and The Merry Wives of Windsor.  Both were performed marvelously well.  Merry Wives had me laughing early and often.  However, in this blog, I would like to focus on The Merchant of Venice.

We owe many of our English idioms to Shakespeare.  From Merchant, we get the phrase “pound of flesh.”  We use this phrase metaphorically now, but it is quite literal in the context of the play. 

To briefly summarize the plot of the play:  Antonio, the merchant referred to in the title, borrows money from Shylock, a Jew, in order to lend the money to his friend Bassanio, who wishes to woo the Lady Portia.  Portia’s father has devised a test for her suitors:  they must choose from one of three containers or “caskets,” one lead, one silver, and one gold.  One of the caskets holds a portrait of Portia.  If the suitor finds the portrait, he may then marry Portia.  Bassanio chooses the correct casket, the one made of lead, and moves forward with plans to marry Portia when he receives a letter from Antonio.  The merchant has lost his assets at sea and is unable to repay Shylock the money he owes him.  Shylock subsequently takes Antonio to court to exact his insurance on the loan:  a pound of Antonio’s flesh.  At first, Shylock is adamant that he will have his revenge on Antonio, but over the course of the trial, he relents.  As a condition of not exacting punishment on the hapless merchant, the court requires Shylock to convert to Christianity.  Earlier in the play Shylock’s daughter, Jessica, falls in love with a Christian and converts so she can marry him.  The condition of Shylock’s conversion, therefore, represents a complete loss of identity for him.

While in Shakespeare’s time Jewish people were viewed with suspicion and even hate, this play is not, at its heart, anti-Semitic.  Shylock is flawed, yes, but so are all human beings regardless of the faith they profess.  Despite the attitudes toward those of the Jewish faith during Shakespeare’s day, the play presents Shylock as a man and father who becomes the victim of Venetian society. 

It is important to note that Shakespeare usually does not include explicit stage directions in his plays apart from when a given character enters or exits the scene.  Some stage directions are implied by the dialogue, but most are left to the discretion of the actors and directors.  To this point, the current production at the Utah Shakespeare Festival makes Shylock and Jessica into sympathetic characters.  The actors playing these characters portray the anguish of having to renounce their faith.  Jessica demonstrates the inner conflict of the character, wanting to be with Lorenzo, the man she loves, but also clinging to her identity as a Jew, retaining her former prayer habits and mannerisms.  Shylock expresses his dismay and despair at the loss of his religious identity through his tone of voice as well as his posture.

The current production thus presents us with a question:  Are the Christians in the play superior in that they decry physical violence, or are they just as cruel as the Jews seem to be given their disregard for the Jews in treating them as little more than animals?  Who holds the moral high ground?  These are questions which are important for us to consider even today.  Do we have deep-seated pre-conceived ideas about people based on our own cultural upbringing?  How can we work to change our own attitudes?  In essence, What Would Jesus Do?

Spiritual Rejuvenation

You may have noticed a significant lack of youth in Catholic churches lately.  As a millennial and a cradle Catholic, I may be able to offer some insight into why so many young people leave the Church at this point in their lives.  Most of the people I went to high school with are no longer practicing Catholics, and their process of falling away started in high school or earlier.  There could be many reasons for this, from lack of strong examples in their home lives, to wanting to assert their individuality, to simply becoming disillusioned with the faith for whatever reason.

I never experienced this falling away, and I attribute that to several factors.  Firstly, I had great adult role models in my immediate family.  Secondly, I had wonderful formation in my early teens.  The Madeleine Choir School recently had the opportunity for parents to experience a “Mr. Glenn religion class.”  While I joked at the time that the participants wouldn’t get the full effect unless they sat on metal folding chairs and took copious notes from the old overhead projector, I think it was a great idea.  Being in one of Mr. Glenn religion classes was like being in a college-level theology course.  Of course, religion classes at Judge seemed very rudimentary after that, which could have contributed to some of my former MCS classmates leaving the church.

However, I feel like the music background I got at the Choir School set me on a path to stay in the Church.  I continued to participate in choirs in high school, joining the Saint Ambrose Parish choir my junior year.  I’ve been involved in our parish music ministry ever since to varying degrees.

Music is what has kept me in the Church.  I was reminded exactly why this was at the Mass for Our Lady of Mount Carmel on Monday at the Carmelite convent.  A group of us sang who have all been touched by Choir School training in some way.  I have written before about going back to the roots of our faith when I sing the traditional Latin texts and chants.  Monday night gave me another opportunity to do this.  The most touching parts of the Mass for me though were times when I wasn’t singing.  Hearing the nuns chant the Sequence from the cloister, and hearing Fr. Christopher Gray and a seminarian from Texas chant the solemn form of the Salve Regina at the end of Mass really gave me a taste of what it might be like to live in a religious community.

The important thing here is that young people need to find an aspect of Church life that they can be involved in that they are passionate about.  They need something to rejuvenate their spirituality as they grow into adulthood.  I was lucky that I found mine at a relatively young age.  I realize that I had it pretty easy when it came to finding my niche in Church life.  Many young people do not have the same opportunity.  That is why it is important for the adults in their lives to encourage young people to continue to explore the faith and discern their calling.

Developing Self-Image as a Christian

A week or so ago, my dad was watching a group of small children playing, and he posed the following question:  Do you think little kids have the awareness that they are cute?  This question has a lot wrapped up in it.  When do we as humans develop self-awareness?  When do we develop self-esteem?  What influences our self-esteem and when do those influences start to affect us?

As a former teacher, my first instinct was to consult educational psychology.  Jean Piaget and other human development scientists have identified various stages of development.  Carl Rogers specifically delved more into the area of development of sense of self and self-esteem.  He posited that there are three components to self-concept:  self-worth (how we feel about ourselves in terms of personality), self-image (how we feel about ourselves in terms of physical appearance), and ideal-self (what we would like ourselves to be in terms of both of the previous aspects).

Many factors can influence our sense of self-image, from our environment, to the people with whom we interact, to the type of media we consume, and so on.  In the ideal circumstances, young children should be raised in an environment that promotes a good self-image, and therefore may have the awareness that they are “cute” from as early as two years old.  Unfortunately, the ideal is often not the reality.

As Catholics, hopefully we are taught from a young age that we are children of God and that God loves us.  Last week I wrote about Fred Rogers and his message that children are special just the way they are.  I wrote about how Mr. Rogers was an important adult figure in many children’s lives in that he instilled this sense of living as a child of God without actually saying the words.  It would seem to follow that, if we live life as people of God, we understand that God loves us no matter what, and that fact should have a positive effect on our self-image.  We just have to believe that it is true, even when it might be difficult to do so.

Life has many ups and downs.  The trick is to enjoy the up times and weather the down times, remembering that the down times won’t last forever.

How would you respond to my dad’s question?  Share in the comments section below.  Remember to keep all comments civil and respectful.

=====

Learn more about Carl Rogers and his theory of self-concept development here.

The Evangelism of Mr. Rogers

This past weekend, my mom and I went to see the documentary about Fred Rogers, Won’t You Be My Neighbor.  The documentary was also featured on the PBS News Hour on July 4^th.  If you have not seen the film yet, I highly recommend that you do, especially if you and/or your children grew up with “Mister Roger’s Neighborhood” on PBS.  It provides a big dose of nostalgia.

Before seeing the documentary, I did not know that Fred Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister, but it makes sense that such a kind and gentle man would be a man of God.  It might make some people uncomfortable to think of “Mister Roger’s Neighborhood” or its successor, “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” as television evangelization, but that is what it is.  The shows never directly address religion, but they teach morality and ethical behavior. 

Mr. Rogers strove to instill the children who watched his program with good self-esteem.  He told kids that they were special just the way they are.  His intent surely was not to create a generation of “special snowflakes”—those with the attitude that they deserve special treatment because of their uniqueness, whether real or perceived—but to give children confidence to be themselves.

Mr. Rogers taught coping mechanisms for difficult times in life.  Without using the words, he encouraged children to listen to their consciences.  In essence, he taught how to be the best person you could be.  Therefore, while he did not say anything explicitly religious or spiritual, he taught you how to be a child of God.  His “teaching method” was to explore concepts without making them conscious, that is, without naming them.  This method is effective for children because it encourages future connections.  When children encounter these concepts in later life, they recognize them from earlier exposure and can give a name to the concept.  Mr. Rogers was an excellent builder of background knowledge for children, which is essential for future learning to take place.

Those of us who grew up watching “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood” were primed not only to go to school and learn, but also to explore faith concepts.  In this sense, Fred Rogers was effectively an additional adult figure in our lives who modeled how to live as a person of faith.  What was wonderful about the show was that it brought these concepts into our everyday lives and into context throughout the week, not on Sundays only.

If you watched “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood” growing up or with your own children, or if your children watch “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” now, what is a message that has stuck with you?  What are your favorite memories of these shows?  Share in the comments section below.  Please remember to keep any comments civil and respectful.