Shakespeare’s World

Gulielmas, filius Johannes Shakespeare…

Born April 23, 1564 Attended King’s New School, at a time when there was an interest in the development of literacy/literature1582—Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway, who is scandalously older…Twins—Judith and Hament; Hamnet dies, age 11

The Dull Life of the BardBastard son?Lovers and mistresses?Compared to Marlowe and Jonson, Shakespeare led a less than scandalous existenceBut—is he the real author of the plays? Conspiracy theory to cover the identity of the true ‘master’??

The Three StagesThe Theatre (1594-1599): early histories and festive comedies:

Richard III; Henry IV; Henry VI; King John; The Comedy of Errors; Love’s Labors Lost; The Two Gentleman of Verona; The Taming of the Shrew; A Midsummer Night’s Dream; The Merchant of Venice; The Merry Wives of Windsor; Much Ado About Nothing; As You Like It; Twelfth Night; Richard II; Henry V; Titus Andronicus; Romeo and Juliet.

The Three StagesThe Globe (1599-1609): great tragedies and late histories, plus ‘problem comedies’

Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus. The ‘problem plays’ or ‘tragicomedies’ include Troilus and Cressida, Measure for Measure, and All’s Well That Ends Well.

The Three Stages

Blackfriars (1609+): late romancesPericles, Cymbeline, The Tempest,

The Winter’s Tale and Henry VIII

A Time of ChangeShakespeare was writing at a time of great genius and of immense social change. Notable literary figures include Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, John Webster, John Donne, Phillip Sydney, Edmund Spenser; then Richard Marston, John Fletcher, Thomas Kyd, Robert Greene, Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, Thomas Dekker; finally, John Milton and the Metaphysical poets, including Andrew Marvell. In the scientific and philosophical field, we have Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes. Changes in social roles; the role of the church; the family; ideas of society; the importance of science.

Shakespeare’s WorldDeath is an ever-present reality, and birth a dangerous experience. Popular belief is characterised by a combination of religion and superstition. Life expectancy is under the age of 30; infant mortality is alarmingly high, with some poor areas around 50% of all people to age 15. In terms of medicine, developments were poor; alcohol was used to alleviate pain while other remedies were often more dangerous than the illness itself. No concept of anesthetics, no idea of disease—germ theory was no formulated until the 1850s. Venereal disease was prevalent and included some cringe-inducing remedies—such as the use of mercury and fumigation.

The Black PlagueIn the plague-year of 1564, the year of Shakespeare’s birth, 254 people died in Stratford, out of a total population of 800. In 1563, 20,000 Londoners are thought to have died; In 1593, 15,000;In 1603, 36,000, or over a sixth of the city’s inhabitants.

A Time of GrowthPopulation of England:

3,060,000: 15644,060,000: 16004,510,000: 1616

Migration to London for better wages and because of enclosure. London population:

60,000; 1520120,000: 1550200,000: 1600375,000: 1650

Social HierarchiesThomas Smith Discourse of the Commonweal (1549) breaks the population down into four main categories, ‘gentlemen, citizens, yeomen, labourers’:

Gentlemen (50-60 under Elizabeth; 130 under James), plus all those who could support “whoever studieth the laws of the realm, who studieth in the universities, who professeth the liberal sciences, and to be short, can live idly and without manual labour, and will bear the port, charge and countenance of a gentleman, he shall be called master … and shall be taken for a gentleman”. Citizens—i.e., the bourgeoisie. Positions of importance. Economic independence and usually, business. Held civic offices.Yeomen—i.e., independent farmers. Owned land, independent means (employed labourers). Labourers—no voice or authority yet still hold minor positions such as constable and churchwarden.

Social Hierarchies: WomenWomen had few civil rights, despite the reign

of Elizabeth—not permitted to speak outright, unable to gain positions of power in government or church.

Those who dared to express public opinions were declared ‘shrews’, ‘scolds’ or ‘hags’—a punishable offence, as their ‘gossip’ was considered a threat to peace and order.

Notable women include authors who improved female literacy, such as Mary Wroth, Margaret More Roper, Anne Cooke Bacon, Anne Locke Prowsey, Mary Sidney, Elizabeth Tyrwhitt, Anne Dowriche, Isabella Whitney, Aemilia Lanyer, Jane Lumley, Elizabeth Carey, Viscountess Falkland.

Despite women’s low socio-cultural position, there were attacks on the patriarchal order and women did find ways to hold economic power.

Social Contradictions in Renaissance EnglandThere are five major forces emergent in the Renaissance that shape ideas about modernity:

Rise of capitalismDissolution of the patriarchal family and replacement with a nuclear familyTransformation of the state from dynastic to nationalIndividualism—for Shakespeare, this meant a shift from Catholicism to ProtestantismIntellectual revolution of the scientific worldview

The ReformationBreak-up of the unitary authority of the Catholic Church, a central reality of public life; executions of heretics under Mary (1553-1558); rising Protestantism first officially embraced in England by Edward VII and then Elizabeth I.Henry VIII severed the Anglican Church from Rome to obtain divorce (1533); Edward VI partially reforms it; Mary reverses the reform; Elizabeth restores the Edwardian compromise; James I Protestant (nominally) but anti-Puritan.

The Golden Age?A government ruled by a woman was regarded as suspicious and possibly weak, but at the same time, ‘monstrous’—the will to dominate was acceptable in men, but grotesque in a woman.England was constantly beset by the threat of Spanish invasion and internal revolt, with the result that the state employed surprising violence against perceived national enemies.

The Chain of BeingThe Medieval worldview is of an exquisitely ordered cosmos forming a “great chain of being”: animals; humanity; angels; God. Anti-humanist worldview: humanity is a representation or bearer of divine providence; human concerns reflect spiritual struggles between God and Satan.