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Chapter 21 - Service

from Part II - Shakespeare’s Virtues

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 January 2023

By
Joseph Sterrett
Edited by
Julia Reinhard Lupton  and
Donovan Sherman
Julia Reinhard Lupton
Affiliation:
University of California, Irvine
Donovan Sherman
Affiliation:
Seton Hall University, New Jersey
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Summary

Service is not always a virtue. It can be a drudgery, or an enslavement if not physical or legal, then economic. But Paul inverted this meaning to illustrate the greater commitment of the believer to God, a virtue that levels social divisions and asserts a broader community of faith. This chapter examines the ways that Shakespeare adopts or reshapes Paul’s use of service elevating it as a community virtue where one serves another, often toward no gain for oneself in order to support a greater good. Two plays illustrate this focus of Shakespeare’s, King Lear where service, though more poignant, is more brittle and precarious, and Cymbeline, a play that revels in the necessity of collective service to establish an enduring peace.

Keywords

St Paulservicefidesfaithreconciliationcommunitypeace
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Chapter
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Shakespeare and Virtue
A Handbook
 , pp. 204 - 211
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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