Age Of William Shakespeare - Elizabethan Age - essay

AGE OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Today, we will be considering Shakespeare as he lived and worked in the age but before that we should also be doing a brief study of backgrounds to his age and to his work and this becomes necessary because, the shakes the industry today is so large that if you don't know the context within which he worked it is possible to read him in very different and maybe sometimes wrong ways as well. Renaissance England is known primarily for its drama and Shakespeare is of course a form of dramatist of his age. We will be looking at some of the contexts which are important and which record over and over again in his place once it is to do with ideas of order and authority. We will be looking at it in terms of kingship and politics as well as in terms of domestic city and the home we will also be looking briefly at the religious background to the age and then we will do a prior official sketch of William Shakespeare himself. Now, first of all when we consider order authority and power in the court what we are talking about is kingship but before we look at kingship we have to consider the fact that in Shakespearean England, Elizabethan England or Jacobean England hierarchy was something that was seen as acceptable and which everybody believed in.

WHAT IS HEIRARCHY?

There was a belief in an ordered hierarchic world and this order and this hierarchy was not something which man made but which God had ordained. It was divinely ordained it was set in place by God himself and it could be seen not just in the affairs of men and women but also in nature itself. So, when you have a sequence there would be GOD and then there would be angels, and then there would be man, and below there would be the animals, and then there would be plants, and then below that also there would be rocks and so on. The hierarchy could actually go on indefinitely within each of these categories also there were hierarchies so amongst the Angels there were the Archangels and then there were the ordinary angels and we could actually go on with that as well for some time. But, let us briefly consider how the hierarchy works within human beings in the political arena. There was the king of course who was the top of the hierarchy table and he was in command of all human beings in a kingdom be beneath him there were his Nobles his aristocracy and then, there were the common people right at the bottom of the table in the family the father or the husband would be the head of the household and then, there would be the other men and then, there would be the other women and it also depended of course upon class so it a high class family or in an aristocratic family. Then it would vary from how it was in a middle class or a low class family there were even hierarchies amongst animals so amongst the animals the lion was of course the king of the animals, amongst trees the English believed that the oak was the king of all trees. They had an order which was there for every group that was present in nature as well as in society. The benefit was that, because there was a hierarchy, there was an order and that order was recognizable and it was endorsed by both the church as well as by government. They said by nature people knew their place in life and they kept to that place they did not then try to climb above their station in life. So there was a certain advantage then to having this extremely ordered an extremely hierarchical society. The great chain of being as it was called was a scale which had been given to human beings by nature and of course which had been ordained by God.

WHAT IS KINGSHIP?

In terms of kingship there were several ideas which bolstered the notion that the King was the head of the political Kingdom and head of the entire kingdom. So he had the right to govern the lives of the ordinary people one of the principal ideas the political concepts which helped Kings to retain their kingship was the Divine Right theory.

The Divine Right theory claimed that Kings were placed upon their throne not because they wanted it or because other people wanted it but because God wanted it. Now, this is actually interesting because how do we know God's will and this will was claimed after a king became the king himself. So then he claimed that God lays me upon the throne so kings were placed on a throne not by human interference but because of the anointing of God. It became even more tricky because then they said that they were directly connected to God. It was like they had a hotline to God and not just did they have this hotline to God nobody could do anything to them because if they did then God would be mad at them. So in theory how it worked was that once you were King you were king forever because you could not be deposed you could not be asked to step down from the throne and only God had the right to remove a king. So obviously God is not removing any kings so humans could not interfere and a king was for like a lifetime.

We also see that though these theories of kingship circulated and were used to bolster up kingship itself in practice kings were often questioned they were also deposed and they could also of course be executed as Charles ii was. Other problems with this theory of kingship was that once a king believed that he had been instituted by God he or she could become extremely tyrannical and cruel, and there was no possibility of changing him. He or she believed that there was no possibility of changing him. James the first who ruled during the latter half of Shakespeare's life was such a king who believed in the Divine Right theory of kingship he also passed on that belief to his son Charles the first who was of course executed. So what we see is a theoretical understanding of the concept and a practical working out which has no connection with the theory at all. Kingship also depended upon genealogy upon lineage bloodlines were important. So you if you wanted to be King you had to prove that you had some connection through an earlier King and we see this in place such as Hamlet and Macbeth in Shakespeare itself that if you do not have the same blood within you as the king who has just died, then you do not have the right to claim the throne at that point in time it was not necessarily always to be a son or a daughter you could also be a brother you could be a distant relative you could be a cousin you could be many other things. So, Macbeth is a cousin. In Hamlet it's the brother who ascends to the throne after the death of the king so variations are possible but the bloodline is still important. At some point you had to be able to claim a common ancestor with the King who had just died if you ever hoped to attain the throne of the King kingship also necessitated the support of both the nobility and the aristocracy. And this we see playing out in not just in real life during Shakespeare's time but, also in Shakespeare's plays where if the support of the noblemen is not there and this again happens both in Macbeth as well as in Hamlet that the Kings are sent to the throne claiming that all the courtiers support them so, if the court support them then even if you're slightly distant in your relationship to the king It is possible to become king. Interestingly, Shakespeare is one of the first authors who then says that it is also necessary to have the support of the common people but this support of the common people is something that is also seen historically.

When Elizabeth's sister Mary became Queen before her she did so with the support of the common people who carried her into London and helped to reinstate her onto the throne of England. So the pillars then that helped kingship to stay in place during this time include the Divine Right of Kings ship the idea of genealogy and lineage but also the support of the nobles and the support of the common people the support of the common people is also seen in a place .so what we are being then told is that if you do not have the love of the common people then it's difficult to remain King it was not enough only to become King if, these were the ways by which you could become King by claiming support of people and by calling into question the Divine Right theory of kingship if you wanted to remain King you had to demonstrate that authority.

Demonstration of authority was done in very interesting ways. I thought you had to be seen and it had to be seen forcefully. So, Kings displayed themselves in all their finery and in all their extravagant pomp because people could see them and see them as wealthy and powerful they would appreciate their magnificence and in doing so they would recognise the fact that these are people who are far above ordinary people. So the court then was a space of lavish wealth and there was no attempt at restraint or economy during the time if for a quick understanding of this. All that is necessary is to look at a couple of paintings of either Elizabeth or King James. They are always dressed in silks Velvets, satins expensive material and they are covered with pearls and jewellery. They never dress in simple manner instead they are always dressed in extreme gorgeousness and magnificence and that was one way of demonstrating to their courtiers and to their ordinary people that they were kings and queens that they had power and magnificence. This power of magnificence was also seen in the royal progress wherein they went through London but also sometimes into the countryside to stay with some of their courtiers and they did this not in a simple fashion galloping in one on a horse or going in a carriage but, in a sustained procession so that people then could line up at the sides of the streets and watch them as a procession passed by. This kind of magnificence was also seen when they went into the countryside because they would take huge numbers of people with them the entire court would move to the countryside and sometimes, they impoverished the people whom they went to stay with as well so authority. Then was in reinforced and was made visible via these methods. But in addition, to this there were other methods as well one of the most common was via the church.

The church was controlled by the king the king or the queen was called the defender of the faith and she or he controlled the church so all prayers all sermons had to be then in favour of the king or the queen. So you could not then preach a sermon in which you said that maybe we can do something to the Queen those were not possible instead the sermons and religion itself gave it’s endorsed the authority of the king or the queen. This is the most significant way in which kingship is authorized during this period. Authorized and forced and reinforced was by the spectacle of punishment

Now today we think of state punishment as something that takes place in prisons far away from our eyes the ordinary people don't really see that. During Elizabethan times and Jacobean times the worst punishments were performed out in public so, that everybody could come and see it especially those for treason and betrayal of the Royal figure of the king and the Queen. If somebody had committed treason then a public holiday would be declared everybody would be invited all the common people and in public they would be drawn and quartered that they would be disembowelled eventually. They would be cut up into pieces hung up and so on and so forth in addition after all this had been performed upon them their body would be displayed in public view for many days until such time as it rotted. In addition to this one other step that was popular during the period was that the heads of traitors were placed upon poles along the sides of London Bridge now to enter London you crossed over London Bridge and what you crossed over on both sides was the heads of traitors displayed with rotting skulls. So that people then looked at them and knew that when you walk into London you walk into a place where the power of the king or the queen is most visible.

HOW POWER FUNCTION THE SOCIETY?

Now moving on from the power of kingship and the power in the court we move on to the idea of how power relationships worked within the family. Now the simplest basis upon which power function within the family was the principle of male primogeniture that is that the firstborn son inherits everything and stands in the place of the father it's a simple rule and one which continues to flourish that the eldest son is the one who has all the advantages. He's the one who inherits property but he is also the one who inherits the name if, there is a royal name or an aristocratic name. This of course had several problems attending to it one was that younger sons had nothing. Sometimes they would have to go elsewhere to seek their fortune but also that there would be the sentiment between the younger sons and the eldest son because the eldest son had not just all the wealth but also all the power in fact because the eldest son was supposed to stand in the place of the father. He could then control his younger brothers.

we see this in Shakespeare's as you like it where Orlando is a younger son and he has an older brother Oliver who then treats him badly doesn't give him his money doesn't let him get educated and so on. There were also sad other strange practices regarding the bringing up of children. Children usually boys were sent away from the family at very young ages if they were not of the nobility then they were sent away to be apprenticed to a trade so at a fairly young age soon of the about reaching the year of ten or a little before a laughter they would be sent away to other families where they would live and work until such time as they grew up and learned the trade completely and well and then returned. This was not resolved only for young boys to go away as apprentices it was also something that happened to the children of nobility they would be sent away to learn to be Knights and then they would have to live in the households of other aristocrats and learn the customs of court and courtiers and only then could they return to their families. It also of course gives us a picture of a family which is not very close-knit as in if the child has gone away he doesn't really have much of relationship with either his parents or his siblings. When he comes back they are all more or less strangers to him. So that was a reality which was seen in many of the families of the time as well.

One of the ways in which power was exercised by the head of the family was in determining marriage choices. We think of the West as being the place that everybody has a love marriage but that actually is a custom which comes to the West fairly late. Initially even in the West arranged marriages were the norm and especially in terms of class. So if you belong to a rich family or to an upper-class family or to a noble family then you had no choice about whom you married family. The family would determine whom you would marry and it depended upon the father's and what they thought would come as advantage to the family. So there was no question of personal preference or very little preference there was little autonomy regarding the choice of marriage partner and this was interestingly true for both men and women. For women of course they were used as pawns they were used for bug as bargaining chips but even sons were seen in this way that marriage was not about whether you loved somebody or whether you want to spend your life with somebody. It was about what you would bring to the family because you married a particular woman and what that connection with her family would do for both families.

Now women of course had other disadvantages as well education was not seen as being essential for a woman so after a very basic minimal education in learning how to read and write. After that they were mainly educated if they were from the lower houses they were educated in doing household chores so all the choices that are necessary for running a household they were taught. Those women from the upper classes were taught household management how to manage a large family with lots of servants a large household. Where there are lots of several departments which you have to take care of. Whether it was weaving or farming how cooking and cleaning everything was taught to the woman so that they could manage a household. Girls belonging to the aristocracy were often given an excellent education but that excellent education did not in any way render them equal to their brothers or to the other men folk whom they lived with. The best example for all of this is somebody like Queen Elizabeth. Queen Elizabeth is supposed to have been very well educated she could speak Latin and she could speak it well in fact she schools courtiers from other kings and ambassadors in their own languages. Sometimes their historical accounts which claim so but the fact that she had an extensive education did not mean that everybody else also shared the same in education in addition though she had power because she was Queen that power did not then percolate down to the other women of the time. So they did not enjoy the same levels of power that she did she was able to keep herself from getting married as in she refused to get married claiming that she was married to the kingdom of England itself. Other women did not have those kinds of choices and they were then given away in marriage determined according to the determining of their fathers their brothers. From an early age all women were taught that they were under the control of their menfolk and this is interesting because they were supposed to have only three ages. Now if we remember that Shakespeare claimed that there were seven ages for men for women there were only three ages. The seven ages of men proceed from childhood through education and through working as a soldier and so on and so forth into senility. But for women there were only three ages and this these three ages were very simple they were as daughter as wife and his widow or mother.

 So it is only in relationship to the men in your life that women had a life at all and Queen Elizabeth herself makes this clear because though she was Queen she never called herself a queen she called herself a king. She claimed that she was manly even though she had the body of a weak and feeble woman. She used to say she had the heart of a king and the heart of a king of England. So there was no independence for women. Now education for boys was in stages they began at what would call the petty schools. After which they went on to the grammar schools and we all know that Shakespeare Ventura grammars but from there if they were lucky if they had money. If they had a sponsor they could then move on to university. So we know that Spencer went to university because he had a sponsor we know that Marlowe went to university for whatever reason Johnson went to University projects. Shakespeare did not have somebody to fund him and so therefore his university education got stopped. But he still had the benefits of a Grammar School Education. Now we also ought to remember that this was not a society that was absolutely fixed things were changing so this whole idea that marriage was determined by the families even this idea was slowly changing during this time and with parental consent and with the support of the family. It was possible sometimes to choose your own marriage partner in fact several of Shakespeare's comedies give us this example whether it's “As you like’’ it or whether it is “much ado about nothing’’ what we see is that the women and the men they pick their own partners and they can have a happy married life.

ROLE OF RELIGION IN SOCIETY

We move on now to religion in court life during the period and religion actually becomes very important because this is the age of the Reformation. Not just in England but also in Europe. In Europe of course the Reformation took place because of strongly felt emotion regarding the corruption that was extent in the Catholic Church. But the Reformation in England and the founding of the Anglican Church was more from personal reasons. Especially the personal reasons of Henry the Eighth and his marriages rather than any strong desire to reform the church in fact Henry the Eighth was a very staunch Catholic until such time as the Pope refused to grant him the divorce that he wanted. And the divorce that he wanted from Catherine of Aragon because he could not get it as a Catholic he then decided to found his own church the Anglican Church. In doing so then he was able to marry Anne Boleyn and it is the marriage to Anne Boleyn which of course gives us Queen Elizabeth. But Henry the eighth's son Edward the sixth was responsible for Protestantism taking strong root in England and for it then flourishing and continuing to become continuing to remain the state religion in between the reins of Edward the 6th an Elizabeth the first. There was a very brief reign of their sister Mary now Mary's reign is usually characterized as the reign of Bloody Mary because she was a Catholic the daughter of the aforesaid Catherine of Aragon. Mary who was a Catholic. She killed a lot of Protestants. So she actually had a state funded elimination of people who claim to be Protestants during this period. but even with that her death made it possible for Elizabeth the first to ascend to the throne and that ascension then helped religion the Protestant religion to establish itself firmly. Elizabeth herself had a very moderate state policy regarding religion and she said so long as you kept it private she wasn't really very bothered about it though officially her line was that she was Protestant all of this has a bearing upon Shakespeare's life. There has been much discussion as to whether Shakespeare was a secret Catholic and whether his sympathies itself were Catholic.

Many of Shakespeare's plays are set in the surroundings of Courts or even if not the court of a king they might be the court of a Duke they might be the court of some ruler but usually there will be a scene or something to do with kingdoms ruling rulers Kings etc. This is something that seems to have been a source of endless fascination for Shakespeare and his portrayal of court life and court intrigues is supposed to also draw upon the court life and court intrigues which were visible in Queen Elizabeth's court and in the court of King James. Who succeeded her to the throne of England now t. Which of course were extremely wealthy and splendid magnificent gorgeous but they were also places of intrigue and malice and manipulation of corruption and of deception. We see all of this playing out in the courts that Shakespeare shows us in the place that he wrote if to give a random example if you were to think in terms of Hamlet the court of Hamlet everybody their spies upon everybody else. Nobody tells the truth to anybody else in fact one is always uncertain as to where the truth is in the words that anyone speaks. Because even people who consider themselves or whom one might consider a friend might be spying on you and reporting back to the king the Queen or somebody else so there is no possibility for a straightforward honest relationship instead all relationships are governed by deception and intrigue in the courts that we see in Shakespeare's plays. Now though Shakespeare's courts are set in different countries so you have some in Illyria you have some in Venice you have some in imaginary places like Bohemia but all of them reflect life as it was in the court of England. It is something that he looked at over and over again and he looked at the kinds of corruption that were possible in a court during the time.

Now we look at Shakespeare's life and career very briefly because it'll also be looked at in some detail in the other units devoted to Shakespeare.

LIFE OF SHAKESPEARE

Shakespeare was born in 1564. He was born in this little town a village called Stratford-Upon-Avon. He was born to a very prosperous lover called John Shakespeare and his wife Mary. Shakespeare went to Grammar School in Stratford upon Avon. He studied over there long school days and he studied intensively or not but eventually. He was unable to go to university because his father John Shakespeare. His business failed and we have records of the fact that John Shakespeare's life went from prosperity and a certain social position it slid down into bankruptcy and into hiding away from creditors because he owned money to so many people. There are records which state that John Shakespeare did not go to church because he was scared of the creditors running him. In the November of 1582 William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway who was many years older to him. Soon after their marriage there was a baby born to them the first of his daughters later on he also had twins with Anne Hathaway after that for a period Shakespeare disappears from all records. When we next find news of Shakespeare it's in the 1590s. He appears in London so in 1592. He is mentioned by Robert Greene and he calls him an upstart crow and he says that he thinks he is the only Sheikh seen. Because his plays were successful and he has earned the envy of many of the other playwrights of the time. So therefore then we can gather that by 1592 Shakespeare had made a name for himself in London in the theatre world and that name was such a successful name. That people were actually writing about him and saying nasty things he is also from this point onwards 1592 till 1612. He stays more or less in London as part of the Lord Chamberlain's Men later on they're called the King's Men and he writes plays on an average of one two three a year sometimes far more. So by the time 1612 comes round and he retires to Stratford-Upon-Avon. He has built a reputation but he has also earned a lot of money. Now during this period that he lived in London we do not hear very much about his family because his family stays back in Stratford upon Avon. He doesn't bring them to London his son this twin dies and it is soon after the death of a son Hamlet that he writes Hamlet. Shakespeare made so much money from writing plays and acting in his in those plays now Shakespeare as part of the Lord Chamberlain's Men also acted in the palace of the time. So he was not just a playwright but also an actor and famously he is supposed to have acted the part of the ghost in Hamlet but also the part of Adam in “As you like it”. He usually acted all men's roles if that is very interest.

After all of this what we know is that he also became prosperous enough to buy several properties. These properties were in Stratford-Upon-Avon but also in London itself that he bought land he bought buildings and he lived a fairly prosperous life. He retired in 1612 but that does not necessarily mean that he stopped writing he continued to write in collaboration with other playwrights. Henry the eighth's the play was written after his retirement to Stratford-Upon-Avon and it was performed. In the performance of the play the theatre itself the globe burnt down and it was later on of course rebuilt. Shakespeare died in 1616 and he is buried in Stratford-Upon-Avon and his bones have not been moved from there because he wrote for himself a little epitaph. It said that if anybody moves his bones from there that would though that person would be cursed.

During his lifetime he did not publish his plays instead his plays were published randomly by various people during his lifetime and after his death by two of his friends Heming and Condell. They put together a collection of his plays and this was published as a complete set in 1623. This was called the first folio which is from where we get all the information all the plays of Shakespeare that we possess today.

We have today looked at a background to the study of Shakespeare and we have considered backgrounds connected to authority and order in the court and in the home during Shakespeare's time we have also looked at religion and court life during his time and briefly we have done a biographical sketch of Shakespeare.