Table of Contents

Introduction
1: Drama and the Word: The Bible on the early modern stage
2: Shakespeare's incarnational aesthetic: The mystery plays and Catholicism
3: Comedic form and paschal motif in the first and second quartos of Romeo and Juliet
4: 'I am not he shall buyld the Lord a house': Religious imagery and the succession to the English throne in King John
5: : 'Covering discretion with a coat of folly': The redemptive self-fashioning of Hal
6: 'Usurp the beggary he was never born to': Measure for Measure and the questioning of divine kingship
Conclusion

About the Author

Beatrice Groves is the Junior Research Fellow in Humanities at Wolfson College, Oxford.

Reviews

Groves writes with clarity and argues with lucidity; her analysis avoids unnecessary jargon or dense prose. In this spirit, using a judicious argument and obvious learning, Groves does indeed produce a laudable piece of scholarship and makes a meritorious contribution to this growing body of scholarship. Paul J. Voss, RES learned and judicious Andrew Hadfield, Times Literary Supplement [A] very graceful and profoundly important book...a great book...I urge everyone with an interest in early modern Britain to read it. Martin Henig [a] fascinating book Contemporary Review The book, densely footnoted, offers a renewed sense of Shakespeare's engagement with the religious culture of his time. Church Times