William Shakespeare: Difference between revisions

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==Theosophy and Shakespeare==
==Theosophy and Shakespeare==
[[H. P. Blavatsky]] held Shakespeare in highest regard. The Introductory of [[The Secret Doctrine (book)| ''The Secret Doctrine'']] begins with his words from ''Henry the V'', "Gently to hear, kindly to judge."<ref>Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna. The Secret Doctrine Vol. I (Adyar, Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, 1978), xvii</ref></blockquote> She further states that "Shakespeare, was and will ever remain the intellectual "Sphinx" of the ages"<ref>Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna. ''The Secret Doctrine Vol. II'' (Adyar, Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, 1979), 419.</ref></blockquote>


==Division of Seven==
==Division of Seven==

Revision as of 18:45, 13 August 2012

William Shakespeare ( b. April 26, 1564 - d, April 23, 1616) was a English playwright, poet, and dramatist.

Biography

Influence on H. P. Blavatsky

Theosophy and Shakespeare

H. P. Blavatsky held Shakespeare in highest regard. The Introductory of The Secret Doctrine begins with his words from Henry the V, "Gently to hear, kindly to judge."[1] She further states that "Shakespeare, was and will ever remain the intellectual "Sphinx" of the ages"[2]

Division of Seven

It is not Shakespeare only who divided the ages of man into a series of seven, but Nature herself.[3]


By what prophetic instinct Shakespeare pitched upon seven as the number which

suited his fantastic classification of the ages of man, is a question with which we need not be much concerned; but certain it is that he could not have made a more felicitous choice. In periods of sevens the evolution of the races of man may be traced, and the actual number of the objective worlds which constitute

our system, and of which the earth is one, is seven also.[4]

The life of man he divided into seven ages (Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act II, Scene 7, l. 143), for "As the moon changes her phases every seven days, this number influences all sublunary beings," and even the Earth, as we know. With the child, it is the teeth that appear in the seventh month and he sheds them at seven years; at twice seven puberty begins, at three times seven all our mental and vital powers are developed, at four times seven he is in his full strength, at five times seven his passions are most developed.[5]

Notes

  1. Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna. The Secret Doctrine Vol. I (Adyar, Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, 1978), xvii
  2. Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna. The Secret Doctrine Vol. II (Adyar, Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, 1979), 419.
  3. Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna. The Secret Doctrine Vol. II (Adyar, Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, 1979), 117.
  4. Sinnett, Alfred Percy. Esoteric Buddhism (London: Theosophical Publishing House, 1972), 43.
  5. Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna. The Secret Doctrine Vol. II (Adyar, Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, 1979), fn. 312