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II

BIBLE CHARACTERS

II Hen. VI. 4: 2.

Adam. I Hen. IV. 2:4 and 3:3. Hen. V. 1: 1. Ham. 5: 1. Love's Labor 4:2; 5: 2. Much Ado 2: 1 (twice). Rich. II. 3:4. As You Like It 2: 1.

Eve. Love's Labor 1: 1; 5: 2.

Com. of Err. 4:3.

Rich. III. 3:4. Twelfth Night I: 5.

Two Gent. 3: I. Merry Wives 4:2. Sonnet 93.
Abel. Rich. II. 1: 1. I Hen. VI. 1:3.

I:

Cain. I Hen. VI. 1:3. II Hen. IV. 1: 1. Ham. 5:1; 3:3. Rich. Love's Labor 4:2.

II. 5:6. K. John 3:4.

Noah. Com. of Err. 3:2.

Japheth. II Hen. IV. 2: 2.

Twelfth Night 3: 2.
3:2.

Abraham. Mer. of Ven. 1:2; 1:3. Rich. II. 4:1. Rich. III. 4:3.

Hagar. Mer. of Ven. 2: 5.

Jacob. Mer. of Ven. 1:2 (five times); 2: 5.

Laban. Mer. of Ven. 1:3 (twice).

Pharaoh. I Hen. IV. 2: 4.

Pharaoh's Soldiers. Much Ado 3:3.

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Goliath. Merry Wives 5: 1. I Hen. VI. 1:2.

Jezebel. Twelfth Night 2: 5.

Job and Job's wife. Merry Wives 5: 5. II Hen. IV. 1:2.

Solomon. Love's Labor 1:2 and 4: 3.

Sheba (Saba). Hen. VIII. 5:4.

Daniel. Mer. of Ven. 4:1 (three times).

Nebuchadnezzar. All's Well 4:5.

Jesus. Rich. III. 5:3. III Hen. VI. 5:6.

Christ (Master). Rich. II. 4: I. Rich. III. 1:4. II Hen. VI. 5: 1.

I Hen. IV. 1:1; 3:2. Hen. V. 4: 1. I Hen. VI. 1: 2.

Mary (Mother of Jesus). Rich. II. 2:1. Hen. VIII. 5: 1. I Hen. VI. 1: 2.

Herod. Hen. V. 3:3. Ham. 3:2. Merry Wives 2: 1. Ant. and Cleo. 1:2; 3:3; 4:6.

The Nazarite. Mer. of Ven. 1:3.

Twelve Apostles. Rich. II. 4:I.

Judas. Rich. II. 3:2; 4: 1. III Hen. VI. 5:7. Love's Labor 5:2 (seven times). As You Like It 3:4.

Judas Maccabeus. Love's Labor 5: 1; 5: 2.

Barrabas. Mer. of Ven. 4: I.

Lazarus. I Hen. IV. 4:2.

Dives. I Hen. IV. 3:3.

Pilate. Rich. II. 4: 1. Rich. III. 1:4.

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Prodigal Son. I Hen. IV. 4:2. Merry Wives 4:5; Winter's Tale 4:2. II Hen. IV. 2: 1.

I.

Peter (St. Peter). Much Ado 2:1. Two Gent. 2:3. Twelfth Night 3: 1. Othello 4:2.

Paul (Saint) (Apostle). Rich. III. 1:2; 1:3; 3:4; 5:3

St. Phillip's daughters. I Hen. VI. 1:2.

Satan. Com. of Err. 4:3; 4: 4. I Hen. IV. 2:4. Merry Wives 5: 5. All's Well 5:3.

The Devil. Ham. 2:2; 3: 1. Mer. of Ven. 1:3; 2:2. Rich. III. 1:2; 1:3.

Belzebub. Twelfth Night 5:1. Hen. V. 4:7. Macb. 2:3. Lucifer is once mentioned in the Bible Isai. XIV. 12 and Shakspeare uses the word with a similar meaning in Hen. VIII. 3:2. Hen. V. 4:7.

'These references are of course to the story known as "The Prodigal Son," but the word "prodigal" is not found in the Scriptures.

'Saint Paul in Richard III. is several times used in reference to St. Paul's Cathedral.

"The word "devil" is used many times as an epithet to express devilish character, or in slang and oaths.

III

SCRIPTURE FACTS, INCIDENTS, PLACES, ETC.

Lights Created. Tempest I: 2.

Fall of Man. Hen. V. 2:1 and 2:2. I Hen. IV. 3:3. As You Like It 2: 1.

Adam's transgression. Much Ado 2: 1.

Adam a gardener. Ham. 5: 1. II Hen. VI. 4:2.
Eden.

Rich. II. 2: 1.

Birth of Cain. K. John 3:4. II Hen. IV. 1: I.

Cain as a murderer. I Hen. VI. 1:3. II Hen. IV. I: I.

Abel murdered. Ham. 3:3. Rich. II. I: I. I Hen. VI. 1:3.
The Flood. As You Like It. 5: 4. Com. of Err. 3:2.

Bosom of Abraham. Rich. II. 4: I.

Egyptian darkness. Twelfth Night 4: 2.

The lean kine. I Hen. IV. 2: 4.

Firstborn of Egypt. As You Like It. 2:5.

Pharaoh's Soldiers. Much Ado. 3:3.

The ten commandments. Ham. 5: 1. I Hen. VI. 1:3. Meas. for

Meas. I: 2.

Law of Inheritance. Hen. V. 1: 2.

Jephthah's sacrifice of his daughter. III Hen. VI. 5: 1.

Patience of Lot. II Hen. IV. 1: 2.

Nebuchadnezzar's Fall. All's Well 4: 5.

The hill of Bashan. Ant. and Cleo. 3: 2.
Herod's slaughter of infants. Hen. V. 3:3.

Blind man healed. II Hen. VI. 2: 1.

Prodigal Son. (See Bible Characters.)

Calf killed for Prodigal's feast. Com. of Err. 4:3.

Devil's entering swine. Mer. of Ven. 1: 3.

Betrayal of Jesus. Rich. II. 4: 1. (See Judas.)

Pilate's handwashing. Rich. II. 4:1. Rich. III. 1:4.
Crucifixion of Christ. I Hen. IV. 1: 1.

I:

Field of Golgotha. Rich. II. 4:1; 4: 2. Macb. 1: 2.

Sepulchre of Christ. Rich. II. 2:1. I Hen. IV. 1:1.

Jerusalem. K. John 2: 2. I Hen. IV. 1: 1. II Hen. IV. 4:4. III Hen. VI. 5: 5.

The Holy Land. Rich. II. 5:6. II Hen. IV. 4:4.

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IV

SHAKSPEARE AS AN INTERPRETER OF BIBLE WORDS

The dramatic and poetic works of Shakspeare furnish one of the best aids to a correct interpretation of the meaning of many words and phrases in the English Bible which are difficult, or obscure, when viewed in the light of modern standards of the English language.

The writings of Shakspeare extended over a period of twenty-four years ranging from A. D. 1587 to 1611. The King James translation of the Bible was begun in 1604 and completed in 1611.

Thus our common version of the Bible was translated during the latter part of the period in which the great dramatist wrote. The translators would naturally use English words in the sense employed by the leading writers of the age, and of all writers, Shakspeare was the most likely to employ the colloquial tongue of his time and country.1

Our English Bible, therefore, may be used as a student's guide to certain forms of expression found in Shakspeare and likewise Shakspeare may be profitably studied for interpretation of many words in the Bible.

It is claimed for the King James version of the Bible that one reason why it "gives such general satisfaction to the English ear is that it speaks a language of its own which is conventionally received as a Biblical tongue." 2

This remark may be applied to many of the finer passages of Shakspeare's dramas; indeed the Poet is never so grand as when he approaches the style of Biblical poetry and it is a matter of common observation that many passages of his works are often quoted, by mistake, as from the Bible itself.

The Commissioners appointed by King James to translate the Bible also acquired the same lofty Biblical style of expression - the same use

"If we except the translators of the Bible, Shakspeare wrote the best English that has yet been written. Writing for the general public, he used such language as would convey his meaning to his auditors-the common phraseology of his period.”—Richard Grant White.

'Ency. Brit., Vol. 8, p. 389.

'See quotation from "Shakspeare and the Bible" in preface.

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