Sir Jonathan Bate’s lectures on Shakespeare’s use of rhetoric are drawing to a close with the last taking place in May. The most recent was on tuesday the 27th of March in the Museum of London discussing William Shakespeare’s representation of spirits and ghosts within his plays. This topic had a certain poignance due to the era in which the plays were written as many of Shakespeare’s plays were performed in the context of the Church reformation in England where the country frequently changed from Catholic to Protestant and vice versa. Ghosts are a Catholic concept and would’ve been seen as somewhat controversial in 16th century Elizabethan England.
This brings to mind the question “did Shakespeare believe in ghosts?” however it is often difficult to assume his opinions and beliefs through his written work. It is possible Shakespeare held some Catholic values as his father was a recusant Catholic in a time when the monarch was Protestant. Sir Jonathan Bate also explores the idea of epicureanism presented in Hamlet through the character of Horatio, Catholicism through Ol Hamlet and protestantism through Hamlet himself.
Bate’s lectures would be a useful tool for GCSE and A level english literature when writing essays on Shakespeare, this one specifically would relate to those studying Hamlet and Macbeth due to the obvious portrayals of ghosts however it also offers some interpretations of Julius Caesar, Richard III and Henry VIII. Sir Jonathan Bate’s past lectures can be downloaded from the Gresham College website free of charge.
