ADVANCED ASSOCIATE OF SPEECH NEW ZEALAND IN SPEECH AND
DRAMA (TEACHING AND PERFORMANCE)
PAPER THREE
SHAKESPEARIAN 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 atuned 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.