SHAKESPEARE AND CHRISTMAS
Some say that ever ‘gainst that season comes Wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated, The bird of downing singeth all night long: And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad; The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, No fairy tales, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallow’d and so gracious is the time. William Shakespeare It is a curious fact that this passage from Hamlet is the only one devoted to the topic of Christmas in all of the writings of Shakespeare. The great poet who dealt so completely with all the emotions of humanity for some reason was uninterested in that most joyous season of the year. He uses the word “Christmas” only three times in all the mass of his works, each time to describe a time of year only, not to talk about the day itself. The humorous writer Max Beerbohm offered an amusing reason for this omission. He asserted that Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare’s wife,…
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