The Great Chain In Elizabethan Time

People in Medieval England found themselves within a social and political hierarchy due to their monarchical government, which likely influenced their willingness to believe in the Great Chain of Being. While humans only ranked third in the overall Chain, the subdivisions within humanity gave certain people, particularly kings, a sense of power over those the Chain dictated to be beneath them. Even if they were below kings, angels, and God, plebeians in Medieval England could still take comfort in the fact they outranked lesser beings like animals and plants. Inevitably, the Great Chain changed how those of Elizabethan times viewed the world, as demonstrated by the culture of that time period. Establishing the Great Chain of Being provided many writers inspiration for their stories, but also caused repercussions in European society.

On the more optimistic side, writers like Christopher Marlow and Pico della Mirandola would show how humans can break out of their place on the Chain and work their way up (“Introduction”). In literature or plays, moving up the Chain usually meant enduring some sort of philosophical contemplation to be superior to humanity on an intellectual level. However, some writers, such as William Shakespeare, took a more pessimistic view of the Chain and showed what could happen if people tried to leave their assigned place in the world. King Lear and Hamlet both dramatize how kingdoms, and families, fall apart if someone wrongfully makes their way to the top of the Chain, or at least the human section of it. Despite writers viewing the Chain differently, it created some of the most thought-provoking works in literature and drama due to no one knowing the answers to questions raised by the