Faith and Folly in Shakespeare’s Romantic Comedies

Faith and Folly in Shakespeare’s Romantic Comedies by Chris Hassel, Jr. explores how Shakespeare’s romantic comedies engage with Christian themes, particularly those drawn from Pauline and Erasmian ideas. Hassel analyzes plays such as As You Like It, highlighting Shakespeare’s comic vision as an affirmative celebration of man’s follies and his potentialities, where folly is not merely mocked but embraced with humility and self-awareness. The book discusses how characters, especially fools and lovers, embody a wisdom that acknowledges the limits of human understanding and the expressive challenges of conveying transcendental truths through art and love. Hassel emphasizes the interplay between faith and folly as central to the comic structure, showing how Shakespeare’s works reflect the Christian cultural context of their creation while also questioning and celebrating human folly in love, art, and life.