...wondered what it was like to live in Elizabethan times; to deal with the everyday normal life and to contribute to their society. During this Era, people were still charged with crimes and did receive punishments for their actions like today; yet The Elizabethan Era remained a significant part of our history due to the amount of injustice and cruelty. During this Era a crime committed and the punishment given was based on a person’s placement in society. For a class of Nobility crimes were more unusual or did not happen as often as a crime from a commoner. “The most common crimes of the Nobility included: high treason, blasphemy, sedition, spying, rebellion, witchcraft, murder, and alchemy.” (Alchin). The upper class was wealthy, educated, and involved with the clergymen. They did not feel the need to steal money, but when jealousy was aroused, murder could become a technique to eliminate the enemy. This led to the effect of their crime; the punishment. If the defendant was a part of the highest class in society, then they were already free from a...
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...intricacy can be seen in the amount of soliloquies he speaks throughout the play. Each one of Hamlet’s soliloquies reveals his innermost thoughts and gives the reader or audience insight as to what he is feeling at that time. The audience cannot help but to show some feeling towards the characters such as Hamlet, Fortinbras and King Claudius. All throughout the play, Shakespeare uses various characters to represent the social, economical, and cultural effects that are shown in Hamlet that may also correspond to the Elizabethan audience. Some characters that represent these effects include Hamlet, Fortinbras, Claudius, and Rosencrantz. It is through these characters’’ speeches and actions that really target the audience. The numerous soliloquy presented by Hamlet is one of the speeches in the play that captivates the audience. This is because the audience can relate to it, and they can anticipate what's to come and see the development of the characters. Elizabethan audiences were people from different levels of class, from Commoners to Royalty attended the theatre; the people who attended the theatre all shared one thing, the entertainment. Plays then were very realistic, often having real cannons being fired,...
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...Crime and punishment in the 1600s — not a happy subject. These were violent times. Laws during this time were strict, some even could be called irrational. Crimes were met with torturous, violent executions. Lots of people received torture; although the lucky ones got a direct execution. Many of these punishments were executed in public, for hundreds of people to see. The lower class saw these viewings as fun outings and treated them like it was a show. Many of the Elizabethan laws were created by the Catholic Church. This resulted in many of the laws were straight from the Bible. The Queen also had some affect in creating the laws. The laws varied in between the upper and lower class. The upper class had many political laws. Among the most common of these include: High treason, blasphemy, sedition, alchemy, and witchcraft. High treason is given to anyone who tries to over through the Queen or anyone else in a high place of government. Blasphemy is a rule created by priests. A...
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...Original Text: Ghost I am thy father's spirit, Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night, And for the day confined to fast in fires, Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid To tell the secrets of my prisonhouse, I could a tale unfold whose lightest word Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, Thy knotted and combined locks to part And each particular hair to stand on end, Like quills upon the fretful porpentine: But this eternal blazon must not be To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list! y Translation: M I’m your father’s ghost. I’m stuck walking the earth at night, and during the day I sit in a sinner’s waiting room for heaven until I made up for my sins. If I wasn’t restricted from telling you about this waiting room, than I could tell you stories that what blow your mind; but since you’re alive, you can’t hear them. Listen though, if you ever loved your father. Elizabethan Era: In order to gain a full appreciation of this passage, one must understand the cultural beliefs of the Elizabethan era. In the day of the Elizabethan era, ghost were thought to be real and the two largest popularly known religions were “Protestant or Catholic religion” (elizabethanera.org.uk). Only by understanding the religious beliefs of heaven and hell, sinning , and coming back from the dead...
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...Shakespeare's play Hamlet is a very effective piece of writing. Or it was an effective piece of writing. The writing in Hamlet was suited for Elizabethan era audiences, wherein all figurative language, allusions, and other literary devices were intended to engage people in this time period. To make Hamlet a more accessible text to a contemporary audience we must consider updating some of the allusions within it. “O my offence is rank, it smells to heaven; It hath the primal eldest curse upon't, A brother's murder.” (3.3.137-139). And “It out herods Herod” (3,2,14) are both allusions that if given an update would effectively target a modern day teenage audience. The first allusion is one that causes great confusion to a modern day teenager as “the primal eldest” is not a familiar term in today's language. The primal eldest refers to the first recorded murder in the Christian Bible and it is used in Hamlet to compare with the crime of Claudius which is the killing of the previous king. This comparison was effective in the Elizabethan era, however today it has lost its appeal. This is most likely because Religion was a ruling force in the time of Shakespeare. It was prevalent in every aspect of society. This is not the case today. Although religion does prevail in western societies it does not have nearly the impact that it used to have. In order to make this allusion effective for today's teenager we must update it. The most effective update is “O my offence is rank, it smells...
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...soft, very primitive, and especially proper. Lady Macbeth challenges these gender roles to an extreme as her character is highlighted as a power thirsty and sinister woman who will do anything to get to the crown. In the traditional gender roles of Elizabethan society by being characterized by Shakespeare as a very sinister woman who will goes as afar as murder and treason to obtain her darkest desires. The Elizabethan times took place during Queen Elizabeth I’s reign on the English throne. During this time period, prosperity was extremely rapid, which resulted in gender roles being exemplified even more than before. Men were the obvious superior to women and treated them like objects. Women typically...
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...A villain is a character whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot of a play, novel or film. The obvious villains of Shakespeare’s ‘The Merchant of Venice’ and Marlowe’s ‘The Jew of Malta’ would be Shylock and Barabas respectively as these two characters are both depicted as evil and greedy Jews, perhaps due to the racial hatred of the Elizabethan era and the ongoing stigma of Judaism in English society. However, it could be argued that the women of the two plays, including the daughters of the two aforementioned antagonists, Jessica and Abigail, wealthy wife of Bassanio – Portia in ‘The Merchant of Venice’ and the cunning courtesan of ‘The Jew of Malta’, Bellamira, are more villainous than the traditional figure of vices of Shylock and Barabas due to the way that the female characters interact with and often disregard the norms of the Elizabethan era and the expected behaviours of women even in modern society. Women in fiction, especially young women, very rarely tend to be portrayed as villainous due to the cultural expectations of femininity. Womanly and feminine traits are those of ones of love, care and innocence, thus women and girls will not be traditionally assumed to be deviant or cruel due to the preconceived idea and judgement that society has on women. In the 21st Century, there is still this assumption in place as women are often able to manipulate the patriarchy and criminal justice system to their own advantage by adopting the traditional female...
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...killed King Duncan, the audience finds him struggling with the guilt he feels. Shakespeare shows Macbeths guilt through his inability to say ‘Amen’ which would have previously come easily from him. But after killing Duncan Macbeth believes God has turned his back on him because he committed the biggest sin- Regicide- and have gone against the divine right of kings and so would no longer be under the protection of God. Furthermore, in his mini-soliloquy in Act 3 Scene 1 Macbeths says the murder of King Duncan “put rancours in the vessel of my peace”. This shows he is being tormented with a constant reminder of his crime and sins and this can be perceived as guilt coming out by the audience. Another line from one of Macbeth’s soliloquies after killing Duncan is “things bad begun make strong themselves by ill” this shows that whilst he feels guilty for the serious crimes he has committed he has convinced himself that killing more will make his conscious strong again and not as vulnerable to guilt. In Act 3, Scene 3 of Hamlet, Claudius has a similar problem...
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...king murdered. His evil is so complete that by the time he dies in the last scene the audience is relieved. His father’s treatment of him has turned him against a heavenly belief that causes society to think of him as unnatural or illegitimate to an earthly belief that allows his illegitimacy to become legitimate. He is not sad and downcast he is not looking for the affection of a father though toward the beginning of the play he seems to hint at it when he says “Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land. / Our father’s love is to the bastard Edmund” (1.2.16-17). The audience may have a small amount of sorrow for this character at this point, but he soon turns on his father, erasing any sympathy the audience may have felt for him. Edmund’s crimes are much more serious than Don John’s and the evilness of his character is not enjoyable for the...
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...times in different areas of Europe and was a slow process of change rather than a sudden shift in ideas and values. England The English drama of the 16th cent. showed from the beginning that it would not be bound by classical rules. Many themes and ideas can be seen in the components of the Elizabethan drama. For example, many works were influenced by other works. Themes on revenge were seen and blood and killing was evidenced in many works by, for instance, Thomas Kyd 's Spanish Tragedy (c.1586). Marlowe’s works presented deeper meanings of questioning life. Shakespeare, of course, stands as the supreme dramatist of the Renaissance period, equally skilful at writing tragedies, comedies, or chronicle plays. His great achievements include the perfection of a verse form and language that captures the spirit of ordinary speech and yet stand above it to give a special dignity to his characters and situations; a marvellous ability to unify plot, character, imagery, and verse movement. With the reign of James I the English drama began to decline until the closing of the theatres by the Puritans in 1642. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_drama Comedy in Elizabethan Drama: The term "comedy" as applied to a division of the drama was not used in England until the Renaissance had brought a knowledge of the classical drama and theatre. Though the term was new the thing was old. The comic spirit invaded the miracle plays at an early date; while there were...
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...Homoeroticism and Homosexuality is characterized by the tendency for erotic feelings that one person has for another of the same sex. During the Elizabethan era, the identity or term homosexual didn’t exist (Bray, 2). Rather, the term “sodomite” or “sodomy” (Bray, 2-3) were used to describe sexually deviant activities which included homosexuality. “Sodomy” was considered a sexual, political, and religious crime. It was a sin so horrible against the king [or queen] that committing such a sin would be punishable by death (Bray, 3). However, this period was also one that was “conflated with pederasty” (Lyle, homosexualityinshakespeare.weebly.com) as theatrical culture practiced boys playing female roles. The usage of boys to play female roles created gender layering in cases like the Twelfth Night and As You Like It when characters, Viola and Rosalind, are seen cross-dressing. The details of Viola, disguised as Cesario, and Rosalind, disguised as Ganymede having relationships with Olivia and Orlando, indicate Shakespeare’s encouraging attitude toward homoeroticism...
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...the ranch, her husband disrespects her and is disliked by all the men on the ranch and as a result, manipulates the men innocently to get some attention. Lady Macbeth desires power and fame, and acts manipulatively and selfishly to get what she wants. Lady Macbeth is upperclass, giving her more freedom to do what she wanted. She had status, wealth, glamour and equal partnership with her husband. This was very unusual for the time- Shakespeare has presented her as a very modern anti-heroine. The writers have also presented the women as victims of their gender. During the time each text was written women had restrictions placed on their gender and struggled to achieve their dreams and ambitions. This is shown in the behaviour of each character. Although, it is harder to view Lady Macbeth as a victim because of her cruel and destructive behaviour, in comparison to the lonely and naive Curley’s wife. During the Elizabethan era, women were dominated by the male members of their family. They were raised to obey their...
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...structure in Shakespeare’s career. Throughout its history the Globe Theatre has hosted the very best of Shakespeare’s productions or works of art such as Hamlet, and the Twelfth Night were written to be performed on the stage of the Globe Theatre. The Globe Theatre was a theatre located in London, England. The Globe Theatre is commonly associated with William Shakespeare. The theatre was built in 1599 by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, which happened to be William Shakespeare’s playing company (Linda Alchin). The land that the theatre was built on was owned by Thomas Brend and was later inherited by his son Nicholas Brend and then later on his grandson Sir Matthew Brend. On the 29th of June 1613 the theatre was destroyed by a fire during a performance of Henry the Eighth (Linda Alchin). The Globe Theatre was rebuilt in June of 1614 and was closed in 1642. There is a modern reconstruction of the Globe Theatre in London called Shakespeare’s Globe and it opened in 1997 (J.M Presley). The Lord Chamberlain’s Men were actors who were shareholders in the Globe Theatre. The Globe Theatre was divided into shares of ten percent each with two brothers, Richard and Cuthbert Burbage having a double share or twenty-five percent each (Linda Alchin). Originally there was supposed to be a seventh shareholder, William Kempe but he sold his share to the four minority shareholders, giving them a share of twelve and a half percent. Their names were John Heminges, Augustine Phillips...
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...The Easy Way Out Set in Rome, before the founding of the Roman Republic, The Rape of Lucrece is Shakespeare’s narrative poem about the rape and resulting suicide of the title character. Dazzled by her beauty and virtue and his overwhelming desire to "own" her, Tarquin sneaks into Lucrece's bedroom and does the unthinkable. In an attempt to silence her after the act, he threatens not only to take her life her but claims that he will kill a slave and place him next to her thus proclaiming to the world that they were engaged in a sexual relationship and thereby destroying Lucrece's honor. Tarquin places Lucrece in, what seems to her, an impossible situation. Though Lucrece begs Tarquin to come to his senses and consider his own honor, he gags her with her nightgown and carries out the rape. Afterwards, Lucrece writes to her husband and father to come home quickly and when they do, recounts the atrocity and then stabs herself. Collatinus and Lucretius, then declare Lucrece’s tragedy to the people of Rome, which in turn leads to the downfall of the Tarquin regime and the rise of the Roman Republic. The true tragedy in the story of Lucrece is not the rape itself but the fact that Lucrece feels that suicide is the only option she has as a result. After raping Lucrece, Tarquin expresses a 'blame the victim' mentality. “Thus he replies: ‘The color in thy face, / That even for anger makes the lily pale, / And the red rose blush at her own disgrace, / Shall plead for me and tell...
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...Hate is an overwhelming emotion that is an integral portion of society; expressed greatly in media such as literature. This emotion is additionally vital in a play written by William Shakespeare. A famous poet during the Elizabethan era, one of William Shakespeare’s plays entitled, Romeo and Juliet demonstrated the impact hatred has on the people it surrounds. Romeo and Juliet is a play set in Verona, Italy in which two people, infatuated with each other, venture to extreme lengths to complete their desires in opposition to the venom held between their families, conclusively leading to their demise. This feeling of detest blinds entities from morality and influences them to commit regrettable mistakes, much present in modern society through...
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