Abstract
A new sub-genre developed around the end of the sixteenth century: advice on composing one’s own prayer. Such prayers were expected to explore concrete events in daily life, such as the spiritual opportunities or risks of trade. Less laudably, an economic register was used in the hope that private prayer would prevail on God to act in a particular way. This chapter first explores contrasting positions about bargaining in or through the medium of private prayer, and then sees how these are taken up by Shakespeare in Henry VIII, Measure for Measure, and Henry V.
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Sullivan, C. (2020). Some Economic Aspects to Private Prayer in Shakespeare. In: Mukherji, S., Roberts, D., Tomlin, R., Oppitz-Trotman, G. (eds) Economies of Literature and Knowledge in Early Modern Europe. Crossroads of Knowledge in Early Modern Literature, vol 2. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37651-2_2
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