Passion Plays in the United Kingdom
Influence on Shakespeare
### Influence on Shakespeare

[Shakespeare](/wiki/Shakespeare "Shakespeare") expects his audience to be familiar with characters and events in the [Mystery Plays](/wiki/Mystery_Plays "Mystery Plays") and alludes to the Passion Plays he most probably would have seen in nearby Coventry. The majority of Shakespeare's plays contain [biblical references](/wiki/Biblical_allusions_in_Shakespeare "Biblical allusions in Shakespeare"),Naseeb Azeez Shaheen, Biblical References in Shakespeare's Plays University of Delaware Press, (2011\), . and some of those are specific references to the events and characters contained in Passion Plays.

For example, in *Macbeth* and *Hamlet*, there is reference to [Pontius Pilate](/wiki/Pontius_Pilate "Pontius Pilate") who famously washed his hands to signify his innocence of the death of [Christ](/wiki/Christ "Christ"). Both [Lady Macbeth](/wiki/Lady_Macbeth "Lady Macbeth") and [Macbeth](/wiki/Macbeth "Macbeth") talk of washing blood from their hands. As Macbeth puts it:

> Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
> Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
> The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
> Making the green one red. (Act 2 Scene 2\)

There are also references to the [crucifixion](/wiki/Crucifixion "Crucifixion"), staged with copious amounts of stage blood in medieval Passion Plays, in *Macbeth*. A war\-weary Captain gives an account of the bravery of Macbeth and [Banquo](/wiki/Banquo "Banquo") during a battle referring to 'another [Golgotha](/wiki/Golgotha "Golgotha")':

> If I say sooth, I must report they were
> As cannons overcharged with double cracks,
> So they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe.
> Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,
> Or memorize another Golgotha,
> I cannot tell—
> But I am faint, my gashes cry for help. (Act 2 Scene 1\)


Can we infer that Shakespeare was a devout Christian based on his works?