Results of Ruminations

I fully acknowledge that Shakespeare's religion is one of two things: Unknowably opaque, or allusively scripted. To consider him as secular Scripture would be considered blasphemous if it weren't for the fact that it's true. Only the Bible competes with Shakespeare in terms of quotes and penetration of social and linguistic ubiquity. While Shakespeare's personal religion, I think, falls into the first of those abovementioned categories, it makes no sense to argue about a man's universality and then insist he had nothing to say that couldn't be a part of religion. Of course, when I say "religion" I pretty much mean Christian--though that's a troubled phrase that I won't deal with now--in the limited sense of that's what I'm most familiar with. It's patent that Shakespeare lived in a tumultuously Christian time (more stable than much of Europe, though) and probably had limited exposure to other ideas of faith. His few passing ref...