How As You Like It drew on The Gospels
A documented line of influence: William Shakespeare demonstrably engaged Matthew’s work. The commentary below is Gröblé’s, verbatim from each work’s page.
The source
The Gospels
Matthew · c. 85
BibleThe influenced
As You Like It
William Shakespeare · c. 1599
ShakespeareRelevance
5/10
On As You Like It’s page
- Orlando frames his first scene as the Prodigal Son's story — the parable from the Gospels sets the comedy's exile-and-return in motion
- "What prodigal portion have I spent that I should come to such penury?" — the line all but quotes Luke 15, husks and hogs and all, straight from Shakespeare's Geneva Bible
- Knowing the parable first lets you hear Orlando's complaint as the scriptural echo it is
On The Gospels’s page
- Shakespeare reaches straight for the Parable of the Prodigal Son to launch his comedy
- In Act 1 of As You Like It, Orlando casts his disinheritance as the prodigal's exile — "Shall I keep your hogs and eat husks with them?" — a near-quotation of the Luke parable
- The "husks" detail betrays Shakespeare's own Geneva Bible at his elbow