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Copyright © (2008)JOHN HUDSON All Rights Reserved
 1
SHAKESPEARE’S JEWISH RELIGIOUS ALLEGORIES AND WHAT THEY IMPLYby John Hudsoncontact; Darkladyplayers@aol.com Introduction
This paper discusses the use of Biblical allegory in theShakespearean plays, together with their use of Hebrew and theirauthor’s familiarity with Judaism. It examines
Titus Andronicus
,
A Midsummer Night’s Dream 
and
As You Like It
, and shows thatthese contain allegories relating to the Roman-Jewish War, whichled to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70CE. The strangepresence of these allegorical satires implies they could havebeen created by a Marrano Jew, and suggests that the majorcontributor to the plays could have been the experimental poet Amelia Bassano Lanier (1569-1645).
Judaism and Hebrew 
One of the most peculiar features of the Shakespearean plays isthe familiarity that their author demonstrates with Judaism andHebrew. Such knowledge was extraordinarily rare in ElizabethanLondon. After all Jews could not legally live in England at thetime and there were only 200 secret Jews or Marranos/Conversos inthe whole country, of whom the Bassano family of court musicians were the most prominent. Surprisingly, the subject has attractedonly a handful of investigators, for instance David Basch hadsuggested that the playwright quoted from the Talmud in half adozen places, and a few words of spoken Hebrew and many Hebrewpuns have been found in the plays by Florence Amit. I willpresent four out of the scores of examples that have beenidentified.My first example comes from 
The Merchant of Venice.
Portia says“I am lock’d” (3,2,40) and “I am contain’d” (2,8,5) in one of thecaskets. These are strange statements because it is her portraitthat is inside the casket and not Portia herself. But a Hebrew
 
Copyright © (2008)JOHN HUDSON All Rights Reserved
 2
speaker would know that PoRTia’s name in Hebrew is spelt PRT.They would see the lead casket, know that the word ‘lead’ inHebrew is YPRT (
oepheret
--the first letter is a soundless letterthe
ayin
), and realize that the Hebrew pun shows that Portia(PRT) is contained inside the lead (Schöenfeld 1979). Naturallythis is the casket chosen by the suitor Bassanio, whose name isthe original spelling of the name of the Bassano family who, we might suppose, would recognize a Hebrew pun.My next example is from 
As You Like It.
There are several cluesthat the start of the play is set in Paradise. One of these isthe rib-cracking which the playwright has added to the wrestling which has been taken from the original novel
.
We are told thatrib-cracking is a sport for ladies because indeed it was by rib-cracking that Eve was created in the Book of Genesis (Gen 2;21).She was a broken consort, meaning both a companion and also thekind of orchestra that would play “broken music” as it wascalled. But why does Rosalind say that this broken music is “inhis sides” (1,2,134), thereby linking the word rib to the wordfor side? The answer is that the Hebrew word
‘tsela
’ was alwaystranslated into English as rib, but where the word appears in theHebrew Bible it usually means side, referring for instance to thesides of the Ark of the Covenant. So the playwright seems to beshowing their knowledge of the meaning of the original Hebrewusage.My third example is of the actual spoken Hebrew (or perhaps thedialect Ladino), in the plays which comes from the nonsenselanguage in
All’s Well That Ends Well
. The interpreter says toParolles (whose name is Mr. Words) "
Boskos vauvado 
. I understandthee, and can speak thy tongue.
Kerely-bonto 
, sir, betake thee tothy faith..." (4,1,75-77). The nonsense language the interpreteris speaking is actually Hebrew. If translated, the interpreter isnot reciting nonsense but saying something that makes sense inthe context of the play "
In bravery like boldness, and in surety 
,
 
Copyright © (2008)JOHN HUDSON All Rights Reserved
 3
I understand thee, and can speak thy tongue
. I am aware of hisdeception
sir, betake thee to thy faith...",
B'oz K'oz
; In bravery like boldness
Vah vado 
; And in his surety ( vah = and; vado=vad meaning‘sure’ with an ‘o’ ending meaning his, ie. Surety)
K’erli;
I am aware (ki = since, erli = er, aware, li =grammatical suffix meaning to me)
b’onto 
; his deception (b'on(na) = deception, grammaticalending ‘o’ meaning his.
i
 My last example comes from 
A Midsummer Night’s Dream 
. Helenaquestions her beauty and describes herself as being ugly as abear, while Lysander calls Hermia “tawny” to which she repliesshe is fair skinned. They are then contrasted in terms of theirheight, one being dwarfish and the other a maypole. Manyaudiences might not notice, but the two girls are successivelycontrasted in this manner in terms of their ugliness/beauty,their darkness/fairness and their shortness/tallness. Now inchapter 9 of the
Tractate Nedarim 
, (part of the
Mishnah
), thereis a discussion of when marriage vows are made in error. TheTalmudic discussion concerns exactly these same pairs ofqualities, and they appear in exactly the same order. Moreover,although Helena’s absent father never comes on stage, he is twicereferred to by name as “Nedar”.
Nedar 
is the Hebrew verb meaning‘was absent’—very appropriate for an absent father—butadditionally it is an amusing pun on the Hebrew word
neder 
(plural
nedarim 
) meaning a vow, which wittily alludes to the veryname of the Tractate the playwright is using (Altimont 2007).
 
Finally, in addition using to Hebrew sources, the playwright usesthe work of Fernando de Rojas, the Marrano author of
LaCelestina
. This is used to create the Nurse’s scene in
Romeo and Juliet
and may be used for some of the love dialogue in
As YouLike It
---which as in
La Celestina
is a parody. It is alsopossibly used in
Henry VIII 
,
The Winter’s Tale 
, in
Troilus and 
of 00

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kvaleer9115

Mask upon Mask Look at p.e.at: -The Marrano of Reason, work from Yovel (about Spinoza) -The article 'is their a hidden jewish meaning in the Don Quichote'Cervantes Society of America 24.1-2004) -The work of Fernando Pessoa (with all his heteronyms) -And take a look at Portugals' history since (1497)(and not only in Belmonte)...totaly different than Spain's history You're theory could be right..if other bold scholars would have the chutzpah..to admit it Succes K'V from Lusitania

reply05 / 25 / 2009
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