A careful study of Shakespeare reveals that he hated false religion. Here he defines outward religion and useless "fake" prayer, in contrast to real prayer. It is the latter, he explains, that reaches the ear of Heaven:
"Pleads he in earnest? Look upon his face;
His eyes do drop no tear, his prayers are in jest
His words come from his mouth, ours from our breast.
He prays but faintly and would be denied;
We pray with heart and soul, and all beside:
His weary joints would gladly rise, I know;
Our knees shall kneel till to the ground they grow:
His prayers are full of false hypocrisy;
Ours of true zeal and deep integrity.
Our prayers do out-pray his; then let them have
That mercy which true prayer ought to have".
Richard 11, Scene V Act ii
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