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Renaissance era and Shakespeare
Shakespeare social classes in plays
Fashion during shakespeare's time
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Elizabethan Society had a very strict social code at the time that William Shakespeare was writing his plays. Social class in Elizabethan England could determine many things, from how a person spoke or what they could wear. This led to Shakespeare basing his plays on these social classes, mostly the upper class. Shakespeare used the upper class in a majority of his plays, such as “Shakespeare’s Henry IV.” Shakespeare relied on the innovations of the Renaissance in his plays related to the upper class, because he liked to give his characters more depth and vary the overall rhythmic structure of his plays to make them interesting for the audience. The way the upper class spoke was important in Shakespeare’s plays. They spoke by using blank verse, as proved in this quote: (bard.org) “The verse form he uses is blank verse. It contains no rhyme, but each line has an internal rhythm with a regular rhythmic pattern.” Blank verse is mostly used in plays like Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night's Dream”, which is a good example of this. This quote shows that the upper class was the main focus, because the way they spoke was most favorable by Shakespeare. Blank verse was a complex and powerful way of speaking, which makes the conversation more interesting in his plays. This form of speaking is also used in poetry today. Another example of blank verse is in this quote: (Holowienka) “With the upper class being able to achieve a higher and better education, their speech was more The way the upper class dressed was also important in Shakespeare’s plays. They wore refined, sophisticated, and expensive clothes, which they wore more for display than for comfort. This is proved in the following quote: (bardstage.org) “…Costumes therefore conveyed an... ... middle of paper ... ...d dress differently than the lower class to give each of them unique characteristics not found in the other class. In the modern world day, most people speak the same, regardless of whether they’re rich or not, as long as they’re from the same place. Most people tend to dress the same, too, unless they can’t afford certain types of clothes. The Renaissance days differ in lots of ways from today because of this. Works Cited Brown, Starla. “Costumes and Sets in Shakespeare’s Theater.” www2.springfield.k12.il.us. Web, 23 April 2014. Debora B., Schwartz. “Shakespearean Verse and Prose.” Cla.calpoly.edu. Web, 23 April 2014. Holowienka, Roxanne. “Henry IV, Part One: Language of the Upper and Lower Class.” www2.cedarcrest.edu. Web, 23 April 2014. “Globe Theatre Costumes.” Bardstage.org. Web, 23 April 2014. “Shakespeare’s Language.” Bard.org. Web, 23 April 2014.
The first way that Shakespeare's world was diffreent than the modern world is that they didn't have fancy lights or sound producers. They just had to speak up and hope for good weather. The article titled" Shakespeare: Not of Age, But for All Mankind" by Douglas A. Burger says," There are no artifical lights, no conventional sets, no fancy rigging." By this he means that there were no specail effects that we are used to. This is unlike the modern world, in which we have artifical lights, small microphones so
Do you think the story of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare would be different if they would have been in a different social class such as a peasant or a royalty. The social classes play a very important part of the story. Social classes are the grouping of people according to their wealth, job, and heritage. Although during the Elizabethan period in England there were some similarities between the social classes, such as nobility, gentry, yeomanry, and poor, their differences greatly outweigh their commonalities
Renaissance society was made up of 3 estates. The first estate is clergy, the second is nobility also called Renaissance men and the third is commoners. 85% of commoners were peasants and the other 15% were townspeople. There were 2 writers during the Renaissance who outline the way certain people should be. Machiavelli wrote “The Prince” which told how to get and hold political power. Castiglione wrote the “Book of Courtiers” which describes the perfect Renaissance noble. In Renaissance society marriages were arranged to strengthen political ties. The woman’s family paid the dowry and the men controlled the business and family. Children were only adults when their father went to the court and freed them. Renaissan...
In the play ‘Romeo & Juliet’, Shakespeare uses feminism and masculinity. This is just one way he shows gender roles throughout the play. However, Shakespeare doesn't necessarily follow the Elizabethan life that women followed in Elizabethan England time period. Women in the Elizabethan Time period had to follow certain rules:
William Shakespeare is possibly the greatest English writer every to live. Many people all around the world enjoy reading his plays. Often in his plays, Shakespeare describes things like lifestyle and laws of his time period. However, some people claim that Shakespeare’s plays are not historically accurate and therefore, mislead the people who read his plays. So how can one determine if Shakespeare is accurate or not? Well, one could ask, what was the social class like, what personal experiences did Shakespeare have, and what were some laws that governed the time.
In one case, the lifestyle of upper classman and hierarchy are accurately portrayed in Romeo & Juliet. According to “The Experiences of Life in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1650” the “European society was supposedly divided into two status groups- nobles and commoners. Nobility implied certain privileges, notably the title granted and the right to bear a coat of arms” (The Experiences of… para 4). Shakespeare clearly portrays these classes with the friends and families of Romeo and Juliet. The families thought themselves superior to others, although they did not stand high enough to the Prince, they clearly boasted about their social standing, comparing themselves to others, as Shakespeare shows with many of the scenes in his play, including the scene with the nurse at the Capulet’s party. The nobility also possessed political rights because of this “…there were clear hierarch...
During the Shakespearean era, obeying husbands and fathers was looked at so highly that it matched obeying the King of England; the uppermost pedestal was reserved for the Shakespearean man. Gender roles lead to the development of self-individualism which divided the men from the women by establishing a deep distrust of women into the men along with an authoritative dominance, and in hand locked women into a permanent submissive position. One of the most oppressed groups throughout history has been women, which were socially, economically, educationally and religiously oppressed during the time period of Shakespearean society. Social normality and political views has been throughout time, arguably the most extreme oppression enforcement over social outcaste subgroups. Society also held a strong grip on artists and the creative messages of the work that artist deliver to the world, which can depict a sometimes hidden, or subtle dropping of opinions of the hard hitting issues at hand during the present time period. Shakespeare is deemed as one of the greatest known writer’s in English history, not only because he was tremendously attentive towards the Elizabethan era and the diverse struggles that haunted the streets of England in everyday life’s routine, but because he did more than just take notice, as he acted upon the travesties he observed by weaving the representation of the world he came to know through his artwork, leaving the world with irreplaceable pieces of literature and insightful history of Shakespearean society.
Society in the16th century was highly structured. Women of the upper class were expected to be trophies for their husbands. The men were required to hunt, lead, and go into battle. If one chose not to follow these dictates, the rest of society would question, look down on, or even punish the deviant. The prominent author, William Shakespeare, placed this subject into comedy and tragedy plays with dramatically different outcomes. In Macbeth and Much Ado About Nothing, William Shakespeare makes fun of stereotypical gender roles by establishing Beatrice and Lady Macbeth as the dominant characters over Benedick and Macbeth through imagery, dialogue, and character personalities.
Shakespeare distinguished social classes by contrasting poetic meter between characters in A Midsummer’s Night Dream. The working class, Athenian Nobles and the fantasy world collided together to create chaos. As Shakespeare broke down the tradition of social classes, he created chaos and the motif of disorder in his play. Ultimately, the sense of order is rooted in tradition and when tradition is torn away society has nothing left to fall back on.
Queen Elizabeth I ruled for much of Shakespeare’s life in England and therefore had a great impact on his work. She had a big role in the social arts and culture. Affecting many peoples’ lives in England; she especially affected those in the arts. She supported artists in their work in many different ways. Shakespeare and his theatre being one of the artists she supported. The Queen would come to the theatres to enjoy a show, and whether or not she enjoyed it would be the result of the popularity and success of that play. Shakespeare made a living out of his play writings; the Queen would come and spend many pounds to see a play. This being the reason why Shakespeare would create characters appealing to his Queen.
Herman, Peter C. “Henry VIII.” Sixteenth Century British Nondramatic Writers: First Series. Ed. David A. Richardson. Detroit: Gale Research, 1993. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 132. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 March. 2014.
One example of this is in Falstaff’s use of prose instead of rhyming iambic pentameter. When Falstaff speaks it resembles the way a commoner would speak, he uses small words in short sentences without the formal poetic style of King Henry. In his honor speech Falstaff conveys his message in choppy, conversational style, with no word longer than four syllables (“catechism”), and no sentence longer than eight words (“Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I come on?”) (Shakespeare 101). When King Henry speaks it is in iambic pentameter, he uses larger words, and more lofty subject matter. This divergence in speech style helps intensify the rhetorical divide between these two men, and remind the reader of their juxtapositional traits in the play.
Elizabethan times in the 1600s was a progression for the world of the theater. A period named after Queen Elizabeth I of England, it is from this period that modern day society has its foundation for the entertainment industry. From the violence that was prevalent because of the Black Death, people turned to the theater for its poetry and romance. During this time period, there were two types of theatrical performances that were available for the people’s viewing, comedies or tragedies. These two genres were never really intertwined until the time of William Shakespeare. His play, Romeo and Juliet, is an example of both a comedy and a tragedy. It starts off as a comedy with Romeo weeping like a baby because of his love Rosaline, who did not love him back and ends as a tragedy when Romeo and Juliet, a pair of star crossed lovers, commit suicide because the lost of each other. It was also during Shakespeare’s time that writer were finally acknowledged by the people. Before this time, writers were not considered upper classman. Another group of people that began to rise into a higher social class were the actors. Actresses were not present back then because women were not allowed on stage. It was considered unladylike to have a female actor. Men played all the parts. Theater owners were dependent on actors to make them a profit. Rehearsals for the plays were fairly short, only lasting for about a week. The performances themselves would only show for three to four days.
Arguably the greatest playwright of his time, perhaps in all of history, William Shakespeare's literary works have had a tremendous impact (see Appendix 2). Reaching into the pop culture of the modern world through movies and quotes used in everyday conversation, Shakespeare's influence is astounding (see Appendix 1). One rarely stops to think, however, about events that had an impact on Shakespeare's life, particularly his writing. The outbreak of the plague, social disparity, political unrest, just a few of the historical happenings that impacted Shakespeare's plays, including Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and Henry IV
William Shakespeare was an English writer who was regarded as one of the best writer during the Elizabethan era. Shakespeare is known for many of his poems and plays that he wrote. Historically women weren’t regarded equally as men were. The education level that was offered during that time was different for men and woman. Woman weren’t getting further education unlike men were. Woman were homeschooled while men went to schools. During the Elizabethan era witches were being prosecuted and executed. William Shakespeare was influenced by the historical and cultural events that took place during the Elizabethan era and implemented it into his play called Macbeth. Major historical events that affected how the play Macbeth was written was witchcraft,