Search results for "Measure for Measure. John the Baptist. Matthew’s Gospel. Shakespeare."

“Let Me Have Claudio’s Head”

2016

<div> <p>In an attempt to produce a reconstruction of the genealogy of the sources, this essay investigates the relationship between <i>Measure for Measure</i> and the <i>Gospel</i> of Matthew, examining in particular the possibility that the episode related to Claudio’s supposed beheading is somehow associated with the death of John the Baptist, as recorded in Matthew 14:1-12. In Shakespeare as well as in the Evangelist’s text, the request for the head is charged with a highly symbolic value: it is a visualization of the triumph, the gift that the instigator makes to his own superiority, a narcissistic gratification. It is an expression of personal affir…