Was Shakespeare a Catholic? The Historical Sources Revisited

Join Thomas McCoog, Archivist, British Province of the Society of Jesus in London as he presents his lecture "Was Shakespeare a Catholic? The Historical Sources Revisted" at UNLV. McCoog presents evidence in this free lecture.

One of the most controversial areas of recent Shakespeare scholarship concerns his religion: was he a Catholic? Shakespeare lived during an age, the end of the sixteenth century, when to be a Catholic involved persecution, fines, imprisonment, and sometimes execution. His possible Catholicism has been advanced as one of the principal reasons that we know so little about his personal life. There is considerable evidence of the activities of the Jesuits around Stratford-upon-Avon and also of other Catholic influences upon his life, but does the evidence warrant a claim that Shakespeare was a Catholic?

The lecture is co-sponsored by the UNLV Department of English. The event is Wednesday, March 10 at 7:30 p.m in the Marjorie Barrick Museum Auditorium on the campus of UNLV.

Image Credit: (Occidental College)