Análisis del intertexto bíblico de la segunda tetralogía de William Shakespeare y su traducción al español

Abstract

This doctoral dissertation identifies a new function for the scriptural composite in William Shakespeare’s second tetralogy (Richard II, 1 Henry IV, 2 Henry IV and Henry V), which demonstrates the validity of one of the initial hypotheses: the undeniable concomitance of the dramatic point of view from which Shakespeare designs these four plays and Francisco de Vitoria’s new doctrine of the origin of authority (potestas). The way Richard II is characterised, and particularly the way his language is strewn with New and Old Testament intertexts, portrays a mediaeval king who is convinced of his immediato (or direct) divine anointment. Conversely, though Henry IV is illegitimate, he and his son Henry V are presented by Shakespeare as upholders of divine authority, specially because both of these rulers are preferred and supported by their people. Theirs is not the immediato divine anointment to which Richard II so obstinately clang, but a mediato (or indirect) anointment. It is a mediated or indirect one because, according to the doctrine proposed by Vitoria, this divine right is of a teleological nature and, therefore, a right that could be ultimately administered by the political community. Through a contrastive analysis between the biblical intertexts employed by Shakespeare and the ways in which some significant translations have conveyed the intertexts into Spanish, this thesis proves the degree of reliability to the referred dramatic point of view in the Spanish reception of these four plays.