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| Shakespeare Apocrypha: The London Prodigall, which was also incorrectly added to Shakespeare's Third Folio |
There are numerous other allusions to parables in
Shakespeare’s works that are also exceedingly evident. The Merchant of Venice, for example, clearly refers to the prodigal son’s leaving home and returning
bedraggled after his dissolute living (2.6.14-19; cf. the use of “younker” by
Falstaff in 1 Henry IV 3.3.79-80):
How like a younger
[“younker”] or a prodigal
The scarfed bark
puts from her native bay—
Hugg’d and
embraced by the strumpet wind!
How like the
prodigal doth she return
With
over-weather’d ribs, and ragged sails—
Lean, rent, and
beggar’d by the strumpet wind!
Gratiano, who utters this speech, himself echoes aspects of
the prodigal’s story (e.g., his drinking and desire for “mirth and laughter,”
1.1.80-1; he also is “too wild, too rude, and bold of voice,” 2.2.172). This
speech not only uses the word “prodigal” and the analogous bedraggled state of
return that echoes the parable; it also, by twice using the term “strumpet” may
subtly bring to mind the “strumpets” (i.e., prostitutes) with whom the prodigal
(allegedly) consorted (Luke 15:30). This prodigal, like the one in Luke 15,
departs to be “Hugg’d and embraced” by a strumpet and returns “Lean, rent, and
beggar’d.” In addition, Shylock in this play may serve as one illustration of
an elder son, one who, in this interpretation, refuses the invitation to join
in the celebration of forgiveness (see Tippens 1988: 61-4, 72).
Shylock in this play may interestingly serve as one
interpretation of the elder son in the parable, who serves in Luke to
characterize the “Pharisees and their scribes” (Luke 15:2). In this interpretation,
Shylock refuses to join the celebration of forgiveness (cf. the stained-glass
windows of Chartres Cathedral, the prodigal son play by Antonia Pulci, and the
blues song, The Prodigal Son, by
Robert Wilkins, in which the elder brother joins the celebration), and he
therefore is cut off from community/family. Jessica, his daughter, could also
be seen as echoing aspects of the prodigal in that she defies her father,
steals some of his wealth (“two sealed bags of ducats” and jewels, 2.8.12-22),
and leaves home to marry Lorenzo, who is a Christian (see Tippens 1998: 61-64, 72;
Parsons 1996: 156-8). Gratiano’s “prodigal” speech, in fact, takes place in the
context of Jessica’s acts of defiance against Shylock (2.5-2.8).
In fact, the Prodigal Son story, more than any other parable
of Jesus, significantly influences a number of Shakespeare’s plays. The
prodigal son narrative was almost omnipresent in Shakespeare’s world,
especially in Protestant areas, where it was often used to portray the primacy
of faith (the younger son) over works (the elder son). Prodigal Son plays
became exceedingly common in England, becoming “the oldest, most prevalent, and
most important species of English Renaissance drama” (see Young 1979 ix,
318-20, who lists thirty-five Prodigal Son plays extant in England before 1642;
Tippens 1988: 59-60), an emphasis that continued through the Elizabethan era
(see Helgerson 1976). A play directly based on the Prodigal Son, The London Prodigal, was even
incorrectly attributed to Shakespeare in the first edition of the Third Folio
of Shakespeare’s works.
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| The Third Folio |
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