Shakespeare's Window into the Soul: The Mystical Wisdom in Shakespeare's Characters [Paperback]

Martin Lings (Author), H.R.H. the Prince of Wales (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 9, 2006 | ISBN-10: 1594771200 | ISBN-13: 978-1594771200

A study of the mystical, spiritual, and profound visionary wisdom contained in Shakespeare’s plays

• Reveals the significant mystical symbolism in ten of Shakespeare’s later, more mature, works including Hamlet, Macbeth, and The Tempest

• Shows the progress of Shakespeare’s own spiritual development through comparison of his earlier and later plays

The plays of William Shakespeare are considered among the greatest dramatic works ever written because they transcend both age and time in the truths they convey about human nature. But Shakespeare’s plays, argues author Martin Lings, concern far more than the workings of the human psyche; they are sacred, visionary works that, through the use of esoteric symbol and form, mirror the inner drama of the journey of all souls.

In Shakespeare’s Window into the Soul, Martin Lings provides an in-depth study of Shakespeare’s later, more mature plays, such as Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, and The Tempest. By revealing the mystical meaning of these works, Lings not only conveys the dramatic artistry of these masterpieces, but also leaves readers with a deep and lasting impression of the playwright himself and his keen understanding of the passage the soul must make to reach its final sacred union with the divine.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A book I found hard to put down. [Provides] the meaning of the symbols Shakespeare uses to describe the inner drama of the journey of the soul contained within the earthly drama of the plays.”
(H.R.H. The Prince of Wales
)

". . . an in-depth reading of some of Shakespeare's later plays, from Henry IV to The Tempest, that explores how Shakespeare followed a more medieval tradition of the sacred, rather than the Renaissance trend toward humanism . . . . worth picking up if you are a true disciple of the Bard and want to read as much scholarship as possible."
(Karyn Johnson, Curled up with a Good Book, Dec 2006
)

From the Back Cover

LITERARY CRITICISM / SPIRITUALITY

"A book I found hard to put down. [Provides] the meaning of the symbols Shakespeare uses to describe the inner drama of the journey of the soul contained within the outer earthly drama of the plays."
--H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES

The plays of William Shakespeare are considered among the greatest dramatic works ever written because they transcend both age and time in the truths they convey about human nature. But Shakespeare's plays, argues author Martin Lings, concern far more than the workings of the human psyche; they are sacred, visionary works that, through the use of esoteric symbol and form, mirror the inner drama of the journey of all souls.

In Shakespeare's Window into the Soul, Martin Lings provides an in-depth study of Shakespeare's later, more mature plays, such as Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, and The Tempest. By revealing the mystical meaning of these works, Lings not only conveys the dramatic artistry of these masterpieces, but also leaves readers with a deep and lasting impression of the playwright himself and his keen understanding of the passage the soul must make to reach its final sacred union with the divine.

MARTIN LINGS (1909-2005) was a renowned British scholar who taught at several European universities and the University of Cairo. He was the keeper of Oriental manuscripts in the British Museum and the British Library and the author of numerous books on religion and spirituality, including The Book of Certainty, What is Sufism?, Ancient Beliefs and Modern Superstitions, and the internationally acclaimed Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Inner Traditions (July 9, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594771200
• ISBN-13: 978-1594771200
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #754,818 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shakespeare the Sage, July 23, 2007

By 

Dr. Richard G. Petty (Atlanta) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shakespeare's Window into the Soul: The Mystical Wisdom in Shakespeare's Characters (Paperback)

It is extraordinary that almost four hundred years after his death, the works of William Shakespeare continue to teach, inspire and enrich both the heart and the mind. In this intriguing book, Martin Lings provides us with a great deal of evidence that some of the later plays of Shakespeare, including Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Cymbeline and the Tempest, are also food for the soul. He makes a strong argument that these were sacred, visionary, even mystical works that used esoteric symbols and forms to reflect and reveal an inner drama: the journey of the human soul.

The author of this intriguing book was an interesting and accomplished individual who passed away in 2005. Born in Manchester, England in 1909, in his lifetime he traveled widely, was a lifelong student of Frithjof Schuon, converted to Islam and became a Sufi. He taught at several European universities as well as the University of Cairo. He was the keeper of Oriental manuscripts in the British Museum and the British library and wrote a great many original books about religion and spirituality.

This is one of his best, and it is quite an endorsement that H.R.H. The Prince of Wales consented to provide a foreword. Lings reveals some of the mystical meanings of the plays, as only a practicing mystic could. I thought that I knew the plays quite well, but he certainly led me to see them with fresh eyes. Many years ago I had a teacher who told me that the works of Shakespeare were some of the greatest spiritual teachings. It took me thirty years to discover that he was probably correct!

We are sometimes all guilty of projection: of seeing things that we wish were there, but in reality are not. So was Martin Lings projecting onto the plays? I do not think so. There is increasing evidence that Shakespeare had access to an extraordinarily rich vein of knowledge and insights. Hence the continuing debates about the authorship of the plays.

This book is an interesting complement to Arthur Versluis' work Shakespeare the Magus, in which Versluis shows how ideas about the nature of good and evil, astrology, herbalism and ideas about magic are all woven into the fabric of some of Shakespeare's later plays.

This book will probably be a little too esoteric for some scholars of Shakespeare, but for people on the spiritual path, the book contains a great deal of valuable material, and for them I warmly recommend it.