AUSTIN — Maurice Hunt, acting chair of the Baylor University English Department, will present his lecture, “In What Sense is Macbeth a Religious Tragedy?” at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 7, in Jones Auditorium. Before you see Mary Moody Northen Theatre’s production of Macbeth, which will run Feb. 14-25, make time to listen to Hunt. Light refreshments will be served. The event is sponsored by the School of Humanities.

WHO: Maurice Hunt
WHAT: Macbeth Lecture: In What Sense is Macbeth a Religious Tragedy?
WHEN: Wednesday, Feb. 7, 7-8:30 p.m.
WHERE: Jones Auditorium, Robert and Pearle Ragsdale Center, St. Edward’s University

Hunt’s major area of interest is Shakespearean studies. He has written numerous books on Shakespeare including Shakespeare’s Labored Art and The Winter Tale: Critical Essays both in 1995. The following passage is taken from Hunt’s paper entitled, “In What Sense is Macbeth a Religious Tragedy?”

“In the past, commentators interested in early modern English religious issues in Macbeth usually stressed the tragedy’s anti-Catholic elements and corresponding Reformation Protestant traits. Nevertheless, any Reformation Protestant reading of Macbeth must contend with … certain Counter-Reformation Catholic motifs.”

“This paper speculates about the significance in Macbeth of a … hybrid ‘Protestant/Catholic’ artistry in an officially Protestant England. In the course of this speculative argument, I re-describe and re-position in the play a familiar Shakespearean tragic preoccupation with a character who conforms to the early modern English dramatic profile of the scourge of God. In the case of Macbeth, it proves to be not the title figure — but [his nemesis] Macduff.”

Founded by the Congregation of Holy Cross, St. Edward's University has been named as one of America's Best Colleges for 2006 by U.S. News & World Report and was selected by The Princeton Review for inclusion in the guide Colleges with a Conscience. St. Edward's is a private, Catholic, liberal arts university of more than 4,900 students located in Austin, Texas.