in Abraham's Sacrifice — Golding, Arthur, trans.; Beza, Theodore
Metadata
Play
Abraham's Sacrifice
Author
Golding, Arthur, trans.; Beza, Theodore
Year (catalogued)
1577
First performance
1575
Decade
1570s
Genre
Biblical
Play type
Closet Translation
Speech prefix(es)
The Angell. | Angell.
Words
238
Characters
1221
Typicality
0.40 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A10192
BritDrama no.
581
Cluster
Cluster 24 — Gods, cupids & celestial agents
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
Abraham, Abraham. Abraham, Abraham. Go take thine only deerebeloued son, Even Isaac, and bring him to the place which hight y e myrrh of God: which being done, Slay him in sacrifice before my face: And burn him whole upon a hill which I Will show thee there, go hie thee by and by. Into the sheath put up thy knife, And see thou do not take his life, Nor hurt the child in any wise. For now I see before mine eyes, What love thou bearest to the Lord, And honour unto him auord, In that thou dost so willingly Thy son thus offer even to die. Oh Abraham. Thus say the Lord, I promise thee By my eternal majesty, And by my Godhead: sith that thou Hast showed thy self so willing now, Me to obey, as to forbear Thine only Isaks life: I swear, That maugre Satan to his face, I will thee bliss and all thy raze. Considrest thou the lighsom sky, And on the shore the gravel dry? I will increase thine offspring more, Than stars in heaven, or sand on shore. Their enemies they shall overcome, And of thy body one shall come, By whom my blissing shall spread forth On all the nations of the earth. By him the treasures of my love And mighty power, shall from above Be sheaded down on all mankind, Because thou hast obeyed my mind.
Plot summary
Plot — Abraham's Sacrifice
In their old age, Abraham and Sara have been blessed with a son, Isaac. They show concern for his proper upbringing and give thanks for God’s mercy. However, Satan has designs on Abraham’s soul. An angel brings Abraham God’s command to sacrifice Isaac, and, despite Sara’s reluctance, he sets out with his shepherds on the three-day journey to the place of sacrifice. Satan rejoices at a situation in which he cannot lose: either Isaac will die, thus removing a long-term threat, or Abraham will disobey God and be damned. As they approach the appointed place, Abraham leaves the shepherds and goes on alone with Isaac. On arrival, Isaac is puzzled by the absence of any sacrificial offering. Abraham struggles with himself. Can he trust the angel? Since God has told him that Isaac will be father to a far-flung race of people, will the sacrifice negate a prophecy? He becomes resolute, and confronts Isaac with the knife. The child begs for mercy, but submits himself to God’s will and is bound. As Abraham is about to strike, the angel stops him: he has proven his love for God, and is given a sheep as an alternative offering, and the promise of divine favour in times to come.