Elizabethan Age

By- Archana kumari

Assistant professor, Marwari college, Ranchi

The publication of Spenser’s Shepherd Calendar in 1579 as marking the opening

of the golden age of Elizabethan age.”—Hudson . The Elizabethan Age (1558-
1625) is generally regarded as the greatest in the history of English literature.
Historically, we note in this age the tremendous impetus received from the
renaissance, reformation, and from the exploration of the new-world.

Such an age of thought, feeling and vigorous action, finds its best expression in
the development of drama which culminating in Shakespeare, Jonson and
University Wits. Though the age produced some excellent prose works, it is
essentially an age of poetry, but both poetry and drama were permeated by
Italian influence, which was dominated in English literature from Chaucer to the
Restoration. The literature of this age is often called the literature of the
Renaissance.

The age also gives the non-dramatic poets; the center of this group is Spenser,
whose Shepherd Calendar and Fairy Queen marked the appearance of the first
national poet since Chaucer’s death in 1400; then comes Chapman who is noted
for his completion of Marlowe’s Hero and Leander, and for his translation of
Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. Sidney, besides his poetry Astrophel and Stella, wrote
his prose romance Arcadia and the Defense of the Possie, one of the earliest
classical critical essay.

The Elizabethan Age is the golden age of English drama. It was now that plays
came to be divided into five acts and a number of scenes. Strictly speaking the
drama has two divisions: comedy and tragedy, but in this age, a mixed mode of
drama was developed called Tragicomedy, a type of drama which intermingled
with the both standard of tragedy and comedy.
Characteristic of the age:

The most characteristic feature of the age was the comparative religious
tolerance. The frightful accesses of the religious were known as “The Thirty Years
war.” The whole kingdom divided again itself—the north was largely Catholic,
while the Southern counties were as strongly Protestants. It was in age of
comparity social contentment. The rapid increase of the manufacturing towns
gave employment to thousands who had before being idle and discounted. It was
an age of dreams, of adventure, of unbounded enthusiasm. A new literature
creates a new heaven to match men’s eyes. So, dreams and deeds increase side
by side and the dream is ever greater than the deed. The age of Elizabeth was a
time of intellectual liberty, of growing intelligence and comfort among all classes,
of unbounded patriotism, and of peace at the home and abroad.

Elizabethan Sonneteers

Sonnet in England was imported from abroad. It was Wyatt who introduced the
sonnet in England. Wyatt’s lead was accepted by Surrey whose sonnets were
likewise published after his death, in the Miscellany. Wyatt was much under the
spell of his model Petrarch, and out of his thirty-two sonnets, seventeen are but
adaptation of Petrarch’s. surrey in a new form for his sonnets, which later was to
be adopted by most of Elizabethan sonneteers, the most prominent of whom was
Shakespeare. Surrey’s sonnets have a tenderness and grace, occasional lyrical
melody, and genuine-looking sentiments which are absent from Wyatt’s. It was
left for Thomas Watson to recall first the attention of the readers to the sonnet
after Wyatt and Surrey.

The Italian plan of writing sonnets in sequences was adopted by Spenser also. His
Amoretti, a series of 88 sonnets describe the progress of his love for Elizabeth
Boyle, whom he married in 1594. It is with Sidney’s work that the popular vogue
of the sonnet began. The vogue remained in full swing till the end of the 16th C.
Sidney’s most important was his sonnet sequence, Astrophel and Stella which
appeared in 1591. It comprised one hundred and eight sonnets and eleven songs.
It is Sidney told the story of his unrequited love for Penelope. Sidney’s sentiments
in his sonnet sequence are partly real and partly conventional. A critic avers that
“Sidney writes not because it a pleasant and accomplished thing to do but
because he roust. His sonnets let out of the blood.”

Formally considered, Sidney’s sonnets are different from both the Shakespearean
and Petrarchan kind. He does not always adhere to the same pattern. Samuel
Daniel was another poet who wrote sonnets to b in the fashion, without
conviction and probably, without a real mistress to sing. His sonnets in Delia are
merely chill appeals but the language of these sonnets is usually pure and their
versification correct. Michael Drayton’s collection Idea hardly gives the
impression of a true passion, shows the little delicacy, and is often vulgar yet he is
versatile and more than once ingenious to the point of the fantastic. Constable’s
sonnets have the charm of delicate fancy and scholarly elegance. Shakespeare’s
sonnets are a class by themselves. The collection is unequal and some of sonnets
are merely “clever,” being fashionable exercise in quibbles and conceits common
to the generality of the sonneteers. But the best of them are worthy of the great
poet, and in their high imaginative quality. Felicity of diction and lyrical music, are
unequalled in Elizabethan poetry.

Elizabethan Theatre

There were not many theatres during the Elizabethan Age (1568-1625). At the
time of Shakespeare there not probably more than public theatre in English, all in
London and they were built according to the design of inn yards of the period
which had been found marvelously convenient presentation of plays. The
theatres of that time were circular and octagon in shape. The main part of the
auditorium was the large round pit without a roof, in which the poor people
stood. Such people were generally fir the common message at that time were
called “Groundings” and Encircling this bit, round the walls, were three balconies
covered on the top but not in the front and containing seats.

In the Elizabethan theatres stage was large jutting for into the pit, and was
without scenery but the most meager presentation. Hence, it made no difference
that people stood at the side of the stage as well as in front. The scenery was
created in the imagination of the audience by the words of the Characters on the
play. In the absence of the curtains, the end of a scene was frequently shown by
rhyming lines. Just as the scenery had to be put into the play, so had entrances
and exists to be arranged as part of the play. The stage floor was generally
equipped a trap door for the sudden appearance and disappearance of the ghost
and spirits. At the back of the stage was a recess and this was curtained and
would be shut off when desired. Above the recess was balcony which served for
castle walls and upper room and other such scenes. It appears that this too could
be curtained off.

The young “bloods’ of the day actually hired stools round the stage itself. No
women were allowed to act by law. Consequently, the women’s parts were taken
by the boys with unbroken voices. Plays were not acted in the period costumes.
Thus, all Shakespeare’s plays were first acted in Modern Dress. It must not be
forgotten that the language of the plays fits in with the Elizabethan costumes
worn by the actor’s originally. Although there was no scenery yet the costumes
were quite lavish. On days when the theatre was open, a flag was shown from the
torrents and when the play is about to begin, a trumpet was sounded.

University Wits

The Pre-Shakespearean university dramatists are known as “University wits”,

they are so called because they were associated with the university of Cambridge
or Oxford. The constellation consists minor stars like Kyd, Lyly, Peele, Greene,
Lodge and Nash, all of whom revolved round the central son Marlowe. These
university men usually actors as well as dramatists. They knew the stage and the
audience and in writings their plays they remembered not only the actor’s part
but also the audiences love for stories and brave spectacle. Their training begins
as actors and then they revised old plays and finally become independent writers.
They often worked together, as Shakespeare works with Marlowe and Fletcher
either in revising old plays or in creating new ones they had a common score of
material and characters and so we find frequent repetition of names in their
plays.
 They were romantic in their attitude and represented the spirit of the
Renaissance. They were Bohemian in characterization. They like Bohemian life in
the Grub Street of their day. Their contribution to the literature is as follows:

1.They contributed to the formulation of the romantic comedy which blossomed

forth in the hands of Shakespeare. However, the early comedies lacked humor.

2.They, in spite of their lose plots, made some advance in plot construction and in
harmonizing the different threads of their stories into a perfect whole.

3.They prepared the ground for the historical plays.

4.They had fondness for heroic themes like Tamburlaine.

5.They prepared the way for the later tragedies.

6.They added poetry to dramatic production

7.They made definite improvement in the art of characterization.

William Shakespeare

Shakespeare, the prince of poets or the king of dramatist, is recognized the entire
world over as the greatest poet and dramatist. Paying a great tribute to him, Ben
Jonson writes “He was not of an age, but for all time”. For more than three
hundred years his reputation has remained constant and steadfast.

Shakespeare is the Proteus of the drama who changes himself into every
character and enters into every condition of human nature. He wrote tragedies
and comedies with equal felicity and art:

“And such Shakespeare whose strong soul could climb

 Steeps of sheer terror, sound the ocean grand

Of passion deep, or fancy’s strand

Trip with his fairies, keeping step and time”.

His mind was “the universal mirror of mankind”. He was an intellectual ocean
whose waves touched all shores of thought. His large heart embraced all nature:

“Nature herself was proud of his designs

And enjoy’d to wear the dressing of his lines”.

But Shakespeare is not without fault, as Hudson writes, “At places his psychology
is hopelessly crude and unconvincing; his style vicious; his wit forced and poor; his
tragic language bombastic”. At places there are factual errors in his dramas such
that the story, plot, scenes and characters start seeing unreal, e.g. the Modern
Switzerland in Winter’s Tale is shown as having a sea-coast. There are trees of
coconut and palm-dates side by side in As You Like It. Sometimes, the “Mistaken
Identity” scenes as in Merchant of Venice and Twelfth Night seem unreal. But
these are small things after the comparison with those paramount qualities which
have given him the first place among the world’s dramatist.

In the end, taken as a whole, Shakespeare’s plays constitute the greatest single
body of work which any writer has contributed to our English literature, says
Hudson. He was supreme, not only as a dramatist, but also as a poet to whom the
worlds of high imagination and delicate fancy were alike open.

Shakespeare’s Romances

Dr. Dowden divides Shakespeare’s 37 plays into 4 periods. He terms the last
period (1606-12) as on the heights-a period of restored serenity, of calm alter the
storm which marked the years of dramatist’s literary work. Pericles, Cymbeline,
tempest, and winter’s tale belong to this period, the last two being the best
examples of this period. These plays of Shakespeare’s last period though
containing a lot of tragic matter have happy ending. They are neither true
tragedies nor true comedies. For want of better names they are called
“romances”. Their tone is calm and tranquil in marked contrast with the furious
violence of the great tragedies that proceed them. Their theme is forgiveness and
reconciliation. Like comedies the romances deal with love and end in a marriage.
However, to quote Shakespeare’s own words, “the course of true love did never
run smooth”. The young lovers have to undergo some sort of discipline before
they reach the sweet fruition of their amours. For example, Ferdinand in The
Tempest had to carry logs of word for Miranda. The Tempest commonly
supposed to have been the last play of Shakespeare and shoes some
autobiographical elements. But whether it was actually his last play or not it was
certainly intended to be his farewell to the stage. Prospero’s farewell to his magic
and his spirits leaves little doubt of this point.

The winter’s tale based on Greene’s romance Pondosto, is unforgettable for the
character of that charming rogue Autolycus, that snapper up of unconsidered
trifles, and for the famous song beginning with Daffodils…. Cymbeline is notable
for the character of Imogen, one of Shakespeare’s great heroines. The play
contains the beautiful funeral song: “fear no more the heat of the sun.”
Pericles is not entirely Shakespeare’s and was added t his plays in a later folio.

Shakespeare’s Tragedies

To quote A.C. bardley, Shakespeare had a “sense of tragedy”, not a philosophy of

it yet there are certain well-built principles which underline almost every
Shakespearean tragedy. In Shakespearean tragedy the hero is the pivotal figure
who stands as a colossus beside other characters. It is only in love tragedies,
Romeo and Juliet and Antony and Cleopatra, which some importance is given to
the ‘heroine’. In Shakespearean sense of tragedy always ends in suffering and
death. So Troilus and Cressida and Cymbeline cannot be classes as tragedies.

The suffering calamities which befall the hero are quite exceptional in their nature
and magnitude. Halet by his mental torture is virtually laid on the rack. Othello
experiences a tempest in his very soul, lear turns mad, and Macbeth loses all
interest in life and is obliged to characterize it as “a tale told by an idiot full of
sound and fury, Signifying nothing.” But the suffering is not limited to the hero
alone. May others too—like Cordelia, Desdemona, Ophelia and lady Macbeth
also suffers. The hero who undergoes the nerve-breaking ordeal of suffering
culminating in death is, in Shakespearean tragedy, always a man of outstanding
social status. For example, lear and Julius Caesar are Kings; Hamlet is a prince;
Macbeth and Brutus are nobles; Othello is a general. Bradley supports this
concept of Shakespearean hero: “the greater a man, the more stumping and
effective in his fall.”

Supernatural and chance happening do exert some influence on the hero’s

destiny. The ghost in Hamlet, the three witches in Macbeth, dropping the
handkerchief by Desdemona at the crucial moment, Romeo’s failure in getting the
Friar’s message about the potion and Juliet’s awakening from sleep a little earlier,
Edgar’s failure to reach the prison a little later than the hanging of Cordelia, a
chance attack of Hamlet’s ship by pirates contributes their part in the tragedy. Yet
the dictum :character is destiny” is fairly true of Shakespearean tragedy. Bradley
observes, “Lear’s tragedy is the tragedy of dotage and short sightedness, Othello’s
that of credulity, Hamlet’s that if indecision, Macbeth’s of ambition, and Antony’s
that of neglect of duty and so on.”

Shakespeare’s Historical Plays

Covering the period between 1200-15—pf the history England, Shakespeare

wrote some 10 plays as Richard III, the three parts of Henry VI, Richard II, two
parts of Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VIII, King John. They are worlds of art, like other
plays of Shakespeare, even though they are conceived within historical
framework. They were written between the period 1588-1598 when the patriotic
feelings were at the highest pitch.

Shakespeare borrowed the historical framework of all his historical plays almost
exclusively from the Chronicle of Holinshed—a mixed record of Truth hearsay,
legend, and every myth. Come of Shakespeare’s major aims in writing historical
plays was to make English Men proud of being Englishmen. To quote Hardian
Craige, England is the hero in these days. These plays inspired with the patriotic
spirit were also concluded to infuse patriotic spirit made a special appeal for
unity.

According or Dowden, Shakespearean kings can be divided into two classes—King

John, Richard II and and Henry VI embody the weakness of English King, whereas,
Richard III, Henry IV and Henry V are studies of English Kingly strength.
Shakespeare’s historical plays are, to borrow the words of Schelegel, “Mirroe for
kings.” The mirror unable the English king to discovers his real identity and to
correct himself. To conclude, “in his historical plays Shakespeare revised dead
princes and heroes and set them in action on a stage crowded with life and
manner,” (Walter Raleigh)

Shakespeare’s Roman Plays

Shakespeare always moved with the current, and was sensitive even to slide
change in the mood, tastes and temper of his audiences. In the early years of 17th
C. Italian themes and Mediterranean were getting popular. People craved for
novelty and their craving was being satisfied in various ways. Shakespeare to,
responded to this desire by dramatizing Roman history in three of his finest plays
—Julius Caesar, Coriolanus, Antonio and Cleopatra. In Julius Caesar Shakespeare
has combined Roman history with the interpretation of Brutus’ tragic character. It
may be considered the prelude to Shakespeare’s great tragedies. It’s style, grave
and majestic in keeping with the theme of the tragedy. It presents the defeat of
democracy by dictatorship. Coriolanus, though inferior to the great tragedies is
true to type and depicts the tragedy of excessive pride. Antonio and Cleopatra
stands apart, for in none of the other tragedies have love being given such a part
in the plot, or woman such a place amid the (dramatic personae.) Critics have
often condemned the plays as being to diffuse but the two central characters
particularly Cleopatra, are among the best observed and most realistic in
Shakespeare. These roman plays may not have historical accuracy, there might be
a few anachronisms, but the Bard of Avon succeeded in capturing in them the
very spirit of these remote times.

Shakespeare’s Early Comedies

Shakespeare started his dramatic career with three experimental comedies

produced in 1591-92. All the three are boisterous and farcical comedies bearing
the marks of Shakespeare’s prentice work. Love’s labor lost is a social satire. Two
gentleman of Verona mixes romances and rather broad humor. Comedy of errors
is highly farcical. That the dramatist’s comic range was widening was proved by
the plays which followed.

In Merchant of Venice (1595) comedy is barely saved from getting converted into
tragedy. It is a rich mixture of several plots and is one of the most popular. A
midsummer Night’s dream blends light fancy with romance and humor. It
introduces us to the world of fairies and their king and queen and a roguish imp of
folklore Puck. The farce of Bottom, one of the greatest comic creations of
Shakespeare, unconscious of his donkey’s ears, in the arms of Titania is
heightened by poetry of rare delicacy. In the Taming of the Shrew (1595) romance
and farcical elements come together. This comedy along with the comedy Merry
Wives of Windsor are the middle class comedies. And the latter along worth all is
well that ends well are rather pathetic romances.

Shakespeare, it is said, wrote merry wives of Windsor at the behest of Queen

Elizabeth who desired to see Falstaff in love. Falstaff is over reached by the merry
wives, is humbled and accepts defeat. Next follow the comedies like Much ado
about nothing, As you like it and Twelfth night which belong to the period of
maturity. But most of the Shakespearean comedies present us with a picture of
life in its sunnier aspects—in its sparkling and vivacious moods. They mostly
bubble and sparkle with humor of all types—humor of situation, humor of
character and humor created by wit, dialogue and language. The comedy of Errors
is a comedy of situation and a character while taming of the shrew is one of
situation and character. Midsummer Night’s dream has the excesses of language
all lined down. Shakespearean early comedy exhibit in lesser or greater degree all
characteristic of Shakespearean comedy—love, predominant female role, humor,
music mingling of realism and romance, complex moods and subtle characters.

Shakespeare’s Four Great Tragedies

Dr. Dowden calls the period 1600-06 of Shakespeare as out of the depths. It is
period of gloom and depression which works the full maturity of his powers. His
great tragedies Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, King Lear and Julius Caesar belong to
this period. These tragedies transport the reader to the dark underworld of crime
and punishment, passion and temptation, terror, madness and remorse. “Each of
these tragedies”, to quote E.K. Chambers, “is the temperament at war with
destiny00the brute is man, trampling upon the god.” The central figures in the
tragedies are exceptional and calamity of tragedies mainly proceeds from actions
of the person concerned. They give us a scene of justice by showing that evil is
self-destroying, but poetic justice is not found in these plays. Nevertheless
Shakespeare’s tragedies are not affirmations of moral pessimism. As curtain
down, we are depressed by the spectacle of Desdemona strangled or Cordelia
hanged. We are uplifted by the victory of human spirit that clings to good in the
face of the dire face. The hero’s downfall is brought about by a fatal weakness in
his own character. In Hamlet, it is excessive refinement of sensibility, in Othello it
is excessive with suppleness of Mind, in King Lear it is excessive with egoism
temper, in Macbeth it is inordinate ambitions. To conclude, with Walter Raleigh
Shakespeare’s tragedies “deal with greater things than men.”

Anachronism in Shakespeare’s plays

The word “anachronism comes from the Greek root word “anachronisms” from
Ana-back: backward and chromos time. In other words it indicated an error in
chronology or placing an event in its wrong historical time. In spite of his
universality of appeal as the greatest dramatist of Elizabethan Era, critics have
examined Shakespeare thread bare and pointed out a number of errors in his
references to certain animals and events. In As You Like It he refers to “the
venomoustood” which has a diamond or precious stone throwing light on the
surroundings. Probably Shakespeare has mistaken the “toad” for a serpent
believed to have a precious stone on his hood. In Richard Ii the king on the prison
scene calls for a mirror on order to see himself. This is directly an anachronism.
Mirrors were not known during the period of Richard II. Again he orders to bring
pen and paper which were not known during his period.

In Julius Caesar Brutus says to Cassius “Peace” “count the clock”. Cassius replies
“the clock had stricken three” clocks were not known to the Romans, and striking
clocks were not invented until some fourteen hundred years after the death of
Caesar. G.B. Shaw makes delicate use of anachronism in St. John. The use of
anachronism, as a defect, does not in any way cloud the artistic genius of the
dramatist. In fact poets and dramatists have what is called the “poetic license”
which cannot be questioned by a critic of any magnitude.

Shakespeare’s Sonnets

“No longer mourn for me when I an dead

Then you shall hear the surely sullen bell

Give warning to the world than I am fled

From this wile world, with vilest worms to dwell’

Sonnet 67

In Elizabethan Age, Shakespeare stands out as the supreme sonneteer, which

produced a string of 154 sonnets which were published in 1609 by Thomas
Thorpe who refers to him “our ever loving poet” in the introductory note.
Scholars have divided these sonnets into two unequal parts: the first 126 sonnets
form the first series wherein Shakespeare presents his young friend as an
exceptionally handsome and lovable person

I shall compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.” (XVII)

The second series is an apostrophe to a woman whom the poet paints in the dark
color. My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips’ red

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun

If hairs be wires, black wired grow on her head.”

The young man is the source of his delight whereas the dark lady is the cause of
his despair:

“The better angel is a man right fair,

The worser spirit a woman coloured ill” (144)

The chief theme that run through this sequence: (I) nature of love; (ii) glorification
of friendship; (iii) frailty of womankind; (iv) destructive powers of time (v) eternal
nature if the poet’s verse.

The rhyme scheme of Shakespeare sonnets abab, cdcd, efef, gh. Shakespeare
employs highly metaphorical and figurative style by using conceits, puns, allusions
and similes in these sonnets. Walter Raleigh calls this sequence “a cave of
mystery” whereas Wordsworth maintains there Shakespeare “unlocks his heart.”
Just observe how Shakespeare defines the power of love in the last line of last
sonnet:“loves fire heat water, water cools not love.”

Shakespeare’s Hero in tragedy

The most famous tragedies of Shakespeare like Othello, King Lear, Macbeth and
Hamlet are basically the tragedies of the hero, who must die towards the end of
the play—not a sudden death but the culmination a series of incidents which have
their seeds almost in the very beginning, generally in the opening scene. The hero
in Shakespeare is not an average man: Lear is a king, Hamlet is a prince; Othello is
a general and Macbeth belongs to the class of nobility. In this respect,
Shakespearean tragedy is closer to Aristotle’s conception wherein a tragedy must
pertain to a man in a high state of prosperous life from where he falls into a state
of misery and destruction—a concept even borne out by Chaucer in his
Canterbury Tales.

The role of villains, as for instance, Iago in Othello or Casco in Julius Caesar,
cannot be dismisses summarily. In Macbeth’s case lady Macbeth was there to
incite and abet him on the path of evil. Hence, it may be a sort of justice to blame
Macbeth solely for his misfortune. In Hamlet’s case, the ghost was there to
beckon him on to persuade him to follow a certain path. A Shakespearean
tragedy is a masterpiece of highly artistic conflict which only the genius of
Shakespeare could manage. Needless to say those in a tragedy, the hero and his
people are confronted with others who are explicitly antagonistic to them in a
dynamically active manner. The minor conflict depicted by Shakespeare in the
mind of the great tragic heroes, frequently in their soliloquies and asides and
elsewhere for instance, that of Hamlet, Brutus, etc. is unmatched anywhere else
in world literature.

Shakespeare’s outlook being universal, he cannot be stigmatized with any narrow

provincial prejudges, this way or that way, on any racial, communal or even
national plane though he cannot certainly be charged with neglecting the female
role in the tragedies, but it was perhaps fair on his part to grant beauty, charm
and initiative to women in his humorous comedies but diminish their role in his
tragedies. Though some way still in the modern age deem Shakespeare’s terming
of woman as “frailty” as unjust if not wicked.