Social Order In Shakespeare Essay

Social Order in Shakespeare’s Plays

William Shakespeare was an important playwright during the Elizabethan era. This period in England was under the reign of Queen Elizabeth and was a time of great advancements and entertainment. The population grew 400% between 1500 and 1600, leading to many social changes (“A Brief History of the Audience” 1). During that time, there were strict laws and rules that allowed the church and government to control citizens’ lives including the social organization. The Elizabethan social system had strict boundaries, restricting laws, and tight social beliefs which all influenced Shakespeare’s plays.
Social classes in the Elizabethan era were strictly bound into different categories. The classes were divided by the amount of wealth or the amount of land each person owned. The royal family, or the Monarchy, was the highest class in the Elizabethan system. The next category under the royal family was the nobility and gentry, otherwise known as gentlemen (Ashby 54). These men owned most of the land in England (Ashby 54). Together, the nobility and gentry made up two percent of the population of England (Ashby 54), totaling only about 55 families in England (“Social, Cultural, and Economic Significance” 1). The next division in the system was a group of people considered to be the middle class (Ashby 55). This group was called the yeomanry (“Elizabethan Era” 1). The yeomanry consisted of farmers, craftsmen, and tradesmen who “… saved enough to live comfortably, but who at any moment, through illness or bad luck, could be plunged into poverty” (“Elizabethan Era 1). The next class was the laborers, who worked doing many different jobs such as masonry, shoemaking, or carpentry (“Elizabethan Era” 1). Lastly...

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...ctated what each class wore, every class in Shakespeare’s plays wore elaborate, upper-class dress (“Elizabethan Theater” 1). Lastly, the seating in the Globe Theater was also divided, each section with a different pricing for each class (“Elizabethan Theater” 1). These social aspects of the era all affected the writing and performing of Shakespeare’s plays.
The Elizabethan era made a large impact on how Shakespeare wrote his plays. Each aspect, class division, separating laws, and beliefs of the culture affected the outcome of each of his writings. For example, in Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare incorporated the social classes into the structure of his play. Each character in Romeo and Juliet represented the different classes of the society. The change caused by the Elizabethan era led Shakespeare to write plays that adapted and presented the culture of his culture.