Shakespeare's Reformation-Skewed Play

Together, this paints a picture of the contemporary religious setting. Shakespeare’s piece is predominantly Reformation, as it mainly ignores Catholic ideals and goes against them. This is no surprise, though, as plays were looked down upon by the Catholic church. According to Jensen, “To play and to put on plays were equally idolatrous” (Jensen 283). She continues, “Plays, even if they did not originate in the Catholic liturgical year, were still labeled by these writers as idolatrous—partly because of their origins in Greek and Roman pagan religious festivals, and partly because the Catholic Mass was itself so often defined as a piece of inherently idolatrous theater” (Jensen 285).The idolatry present in plays made it difficult for
Catholics to support the plays, and therefore, plays sometimes reciprocated those feelings. While Queen Elizabeth made strict rules on plays, the Reformation church had a better relationship with plays than the Catholic church. Therefore, Shakespeare mainly wrote about the church that gave him more support.
Another element in The Winter’s Tale that shows the play as a Reformation-skewed play is the …show more content…
A justice of the peace, realizing that the feastday of the local church was approaching, and "well p[er]ceyvynge that the keepynge of generall wakes or Veasts at or aboute certaine Sayntes dayes in the year [was] a thinge that heretofore hath bene overmuche sup[er]stycyously used in that county of Chester," ordered local constables to prevent the festivities; but a group of townspeople "well knowe[n] to be greatly affected & sup[er]sticiously inclined to the observynge & keepinge of the same wakes & such other lyke vayne & abolished trashe" organized the wake nevertheless, feasting, drinking, and entertaining outsiders for almost a week in defiance of their Protestant neighbors (Jensen