Although David was, according to the books of Samuel, the "Lord's anointed," chosen by
Samuel to rule over Israel, his father-in-law Saul repeatedly attempted to murder him. In
response, David demonstrated his piety by consistently observing the principle of disciplined
"non-resistance" to Saul's provocation. Instead of taking up the spear to kill his enemy, he took
up his harp to play divine sweet music, which soothed his monarch's weary mind. Although a
fierce warrior in battle against the Philistines, among his own people David set the highest
standards of respect for authority even when authority erred in the most outrageous ways. He
was a poet whom God had ordained to be a king --
if only he avoided the temptation to seek
immediate gratification by obtaining revenge against his crazed father-in-law and monarch.
If the argument of this dissertation is correct, it is easy to see why "Shakespeare" would have
been caught in the grip of a "David complex”; David symbolized not only the paradigm of model
behavior for homo politans
in difficult political circumstances, but also the raison d’être of de
Vere’s calling as artist and prophet.
Accordingly, it should hardly come as a surprise that one of Shakespeare's favorite narrative
elements of the Bible is the account of David's ascension to the kingship of Israel found in the
books of I Samuel and 1 Kings. Of the eighty-one Shakespeare Diagnostics included in this
dissertation, seven are from these historical books of the Old Testament. These account for more
than fifty of Shakespeare's total Bible references, making these chapters among the most
important sources of imagery, wording and dramatic situation in the canon.
David's humility, eloquence and leadership had of course become a primary source of
ideological justification for the Medieval monarchies of Europe over many previous centuries.
By the 16th
century world of emerging conflict between the old Catholic order and the new
Protestant nations such as the Tudor monarchy, he had assumed even greater importance as a role
model. Tudor doctrine interpreted the narrative of his ascension as justification for national
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