📜 Shakespeare chose “Palestine” instead of simply saying “the Holy Land.”

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1. Elizabethan Usage of “Palestine”

In Shakespeare’s era (late 1500s–early 1600s), English writers often used “Palestine” as a poetic or classical term for the land of the Bible. The word came into English through Latin Palaestina (used by Roman and medieval writers), which was familiar to educated audiences.

Calling it “Palestine” gave the line a literary weight—it sounded elevated, classical, and dignified, fitting Shakespeare’s style of mixing biblical, historical, and romantic imagery.

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2. “Holy Land” vs. “Palestine”

• “Holy Land” was a common medieval phrase, but it was strongly tied to pilgrimage, crusading, and religious devotion.

• “Palestine” conveyed the same sacred association but also carried an air of romance, exoticism, and distance—a sense of a far-off, almost mythical place.

So by using “Palestine,” Shakespeare could appeal both to the religious imagination (pilgrimage to the land of Christ) and the romantic imagination (a distant, almost unattainable land of longing).

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3. Rhetorical Effect in the Quotation

The line is about extreme devotion—walking barefoot all the way to a sacred, far-off land just for a kiss.

• If he had said “Holy Land,” it would feel purely religious, almost sermon-like.

• By saying “Palestine,” he blends biblical sanctity with poetic romanticism, making the woman’s devotion sound at once spiritual, exotic, and passionate.

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4. Pilgrimage Imagery

Elizabethan audiences knew that Jerusalem and Palestine were the ultimate destinations for medieval pilgrims. To invoke “Palestine” was to immediately conjure up an image of:

• Long, dangerous journeys,

• Barefoot penance,

• Sacred longing.

This amplified the metaphor of desire—her love is so overwhelming, it takes on the intensity of a religious pilgrimage.

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✅ In short:

Shakespeare chose “Palestine” because it evoked both the sacredness of the Holy Land and the exotic, poetic flavor of a far-off place of longing. It elevated the metaphor beyond religion alone, into a universal symbol of ultimate sacrifice and desire.

— Azahari Hassim

Founder, The World of Abrahamic Theology