ADVANCED ASSOCIATE OF SPEECH NEW ZEALAND
IN SPEECH AND DRAMA
(TEACHING AND PERFORMANCE)
PAPER THREE
Shakespearean Drama
TIME: One Hour
QUESTION:
Either
A:
How did the social, historical and artistic features of Elizabethan England influence
Shakespeare’s writing? Illustrate your answer with reference to two of his named plays.
Or
B:
With reference to two named Shakespearian plays, explain how the physical features of the
Elizabethan theatre influenced both the acting areas and style of performance.
SAMPLE ANSWER:
A
The social, historical and artistic features of Elizabethan England influenced
Shakespeare’s writing and were reflected through the storylines, characters and
literary techniques used in his plays. These aspects can be seen particularly in his
tragedies Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth.
Firstly, a major social feature of Elizabethan England was the patriarchal society.
The men of the households and families were the decision makers, and had
complete control over their wives, daughters and even sons to an age. This can be
seen in Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet in the instance of Juliet and her father
Capulet. She, a young girl of 15, is in love with Romeo, the son of the enemy
household, the Montagues, but is engaged through her father to a respectable
gentleman, Paris. When she informs he parents that she does not wish to marry
Paris, her father reinstates his status as head of the family and the one who has
complete control of his daughter’s heart. He shouts at her “Get thee to church a
Thursday or never after look me in the face.” If Juliet does not comply with his
wishes, she is to be thrown out, disowned and not called a Capulet again. This
relationship is typical of a patriarchal lifestyle, a feature of Elizabethan England
influencing Shakespeare’s writing.
Another instance of this can be seen in the character of Lady Macbeth and her
husband in the play Macbeth. She is the one who holds a high degree of ambition, of
lust for power, a thirst for blood. When she hears of the withes’ prophecy that her
husband somehow is to become King, she yearns to murder the current King herself,
as she fears Macbeth is “too full of the milk of human kindness” to carry out the
deed. However, being a woman, under the restrictions of the patriarchal society she
cannot commit the crime herself. She is forced to guilt-trip Macbeth into murdering
the King to satisfy her ambition, thus showing how the patriarchal aspect of
Elizabethan England influenced Shakespeare’s writing.
Elizabethan England was ruled by the monarchy and Church and the history of
previous kings and queens was a huge aspect of society at the time. The historical
tradition of having a ruler on the throne was very important to many Elizabethans. Of
course, every king and queen has enemies but many of the citizens doted on their
monarch and did their best to please the current ruler. Shakespeare was no
exception. Just as citizens honoured the memory of previous kings and queens, so
did Shakespeare by writing them into his plays. An example of this is his writing
Henry VIII for Elizabeth I. This would have pleased her greatly as it immortalised the
memory of the former king of England. After James I came to the throne,
Shakespeare wrote the play Macbeth with reference to previous Scottish kings and
bloodlines as well as the very important characters of the witches. This play so
favoured the belief of England’s once-Scottish king. James I believed witchcraft
played a major part in the mysteries of life at the time, so their prominent role
pleased him. Once again, it is shown that this historical feature of Elizabethan
society and the monarchy influenced the content of Shakespeare’s writing.
Elizabethans were people who were living in a time of artistic growth, particularly in
the art of literature. Just as modern society is very visually focussed in our work and
entertainment, Elizabethan were entranced with the beauty of words, and were
attuned to critical listening. Shakespeare took advantage of this feature and wrote
his plays for the ears of his audiences.
He used setting cues in his plays to give the audience a mental picture of the
settings of his plays which were often performed on a bare stage. For example in
Macbeth, King Duncan says upon his arrival at Macbeth’s estate “This castle hath a
pleasant seat,” thus describing the niceties of the environment around him and
setting the scene. Shakespeare also uses this technique in Romeo and Juliet, in the
Capulet’s tomb. Weeping over his beloved Juliet, whom he believed to be dead,
Romeo describes the horrors of the setting as “a palace of dim night” and describes
Juliet in the presence of “worms that are thy chambermaids.” Here he gives the
audience an image af the dark, dank, creepy tomb and once again, Shakespeare
has used the Elizabethan tendency to listen for beautiful words to his play’s
advantage.
Shakespeare also uses iambic pentameter in his plays, that reflects the appreciative
ear of the audiences of the time, eg in Macbeth “Let light/ not see/ my deep/ and
dark/ desires.” Elizabethans did not talk in iambic pentameter, but because of the
artistics ears of the time, delighted in hearing it throughout the plays. The rhythm
was one that they found pleasing. Perhaps this is because it is the same as a human
heartbeat. Iambic pentameter also indicated poetry which often showed a member of
the upper class was speaking. When a member of the lower class spoke,
Shakespeare often wrote in prose. The difference between the two again shows the
feature that Elizabethans appreciated the art of words so this too shaped
Shakespeare’s writing.
Finally, Shakespeare invented many new words that added to the English language
such as “amazed”, “gossip” and “bloodstained”. There is no doubt that this too
reflects the Elizabethan love of words and their appreciative ears.
In conclusion, this essay has described how social, historical and artistic features of
Elizabethan England influenced Shakespeare’s writing. The patriarchal society, the
importance of the history and memory of the monarchy, and the love of words all
were aspects that Shakespeare wrote into his plays, giving readers and actors a
reflection of the society that existed 400 years ago.
EXAMINER’S REPORT:
This was an in-depth response to the question. You were able to show how the social,
historical and artistic features of Elizabethan England influenced Shakespeare’s writing with
detailed references to the two plays ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Perhaps you could
also consider the prevalent belief in the supernatural, (Macbeth), the fact that King James was
a direct descendant of Duncan and Malcolm, thus allowing Shakespeare to make Macbeth
and Lady Macbeth the “villains” of the play, the wheel of Fortune (destiny). Another
contributing feature to Shakespeare’s writing was the influence of previous writers such as
Ovid.