How A Midsummer Night’s Dream drew on 1 Corinthians
A documented line of influence: William Shakespeare demonstrably engaged Paul’s work. The commentary below is Gröblé’s, verbatim from each work’s page.
The source
1 Corinthians
Paul · c. 54
BibleThe influenced
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
William Shakespeare · c. 1595
ShakespeareRelevance
5/10
On A Midsummer Night’s Dream’s page
- Bottom's "most rare vision" speech in Act 4 is a scrambled echo of Paul: "the eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen"
- The straight version is in 1 Corinthians 2:9 — Paul's words for a glory too great to report
- Shakespeare gives the sublime line to his most ridiculous character and lets him fumble it. Read Paul first and the gag is sharper
On 1 Corinthians’s page
- Paul's promise of glory beyond reckoning — "eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard" (2:9) — becomes a punchline two thousand miles downstream
- Shakespeare hands it to Bottom, who wakes from the night's enchantment and mangles it into "the eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen"
- The joke only lands if you know the verse he's botching