WEEK 1 - SETTING THE SCENE – LIFE IN ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND

What Sense Do You Get Of What Life was like in Elizabethan England?

Video Link-http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01d4279

The Population/Society

• The Population/Society was strictly divided according to and as a result of the "Social Class" in which you were born into. A book written by a clergyman named William Harrison in 1577, gave a detailed description of Elizabethan England's social structure. Harrison gave an example of the three types of people that you would most likely meet while travelling the road or in a village Ale House. He stated that most countrymen fall into one of three different categories: a "Yeoman" may possibly own or rent his farm and then employ his own workers called "Laborers". A "Husbandman" rents the land that he works on.  Finally "Laborers" work on other people's farms.
• As a person of a lower social class, your best chance to sustain an adequate quality of life was to find work as a Laborer on a Yeoman's or possibly even a Husbandman's farm. This may result in you receiving work on a casual basis and you may have to sleep in a barn.

Religion/Superstition

• New Elizabethan superstitions arose due to the fear of witchcraft and the persecution of witches. Women were those most often accused of being witches. There were 270 Elizabethan witch trials of 247 were women and only 23 were men.
• During the Elizabethan era people blamed unexplainable events as the work of witches - the Bubonic Plague, unexplained deaths or unpleasant illnesses, bad harvests or crop failures, the death of animals and unexplained fires. 
• Those accused of witchcraft, or being a witch, were generally Old, Poor and Unprotected Single women, widows or 'wise women' (many kept pets for company - their 'familiars'). 
• Saying "God Bless You" following a sneeze - Elizabethans believed that the devil could enter your body when you opened your mouth to sneeze - the blessing warded off the Devil
• The 'seventh son of a seventh son' was believed to possess supernatural powers
• Not to walk under ladders - considered bad luck as ladders are associated with the gallows and executions
• Spilling Salt or pepper - Seen as bad luck - the cost of these spices were extremely expensive during the Elizabethan era

Medicine

• Physicians: Medicine in this era was very basic. Physicians had no idea to what was causing everyone to become sick. They based their beliefs on the teachings of the philosophers Aristotle and Hippocrates, and astrology. Because they had no idea to what the cause was, they couldn't cure their patients properly. The best they could do for someone who was ill was to bleed them, or to give them a mixture of herbs. Physicians were covered in clothing from head to toe to protect them for coming down with a serious illness. They work long, dark robes with pointed hoods, leather gloves and boots, and a mask with a long beak that contained special oils that allowed them to breath the same air as the patient without becoming sick. They even had rituals to protect them from illnesses. They would wear amulets of dried blood and dried toads around their waists as well as douse themselves in vinegar and chew angelica. As weird as their customs seem today, they actually worked in protecting against the sickness.
• The different types of doctors: Surgeon-Inferior to the physician and belonged to the Company of the Barber Surgeons. Barbers-Only allowed to pull teeth or give blood. Apothecary-similar to the modern day pharmacist.Church-could only provide spiritual comfort.Wise Woman-doctor for the poor. Housewife-concocted potions and medicines.
• Medicine: In order to treat some of the illnesses of the time, the physicians had some unusual medicines. Examples are listed below. Bubonic Plague was treated by lancing the buboes and applying a warm poultice of butter, onion and garlic. Other treatments involved tobacco, arsenic, lily root, and dried toad. Head pains were treated with herbs such as rose, lavender, sage, and bay.Stomach pains were treated with wormwood, mint, and balm. Lung illnesses were treated with liquorice and comfrey. Open wounds were flushed with vinegar as it was believed that vinegar killed disease.

Theatre 

• Acting was not a highly paid or highly respected profession.  Actors were seen as vagrant troublemakers who promoted hard living and sin.
• In the 16th century, actors traveled from town to town on a cart, looking for audiences to pay to watch them perform.  Playhouses were not constructed in London until 1576. 
• Because acting was not a respected profession, women were not allowed to act until after 1660.  Teenage boys who hadn't gone through puberty would play the roles of women,  
• Going to the theater was not considered to be a fancy affair.  Plays were often crude (by modern standards).  Theaters would compete with other entertainment such as bear baiting (which involved watching and betting on bears killing dogs. 
• Poor people called the groundlings, or penny knaves, were famous their love of plays.  They would pay one penny to stand in front of the stage in an area called the open yard.                                   
• Going to a play was a lively event.  Groundlings would frequently talk, yell, and even throw things (think rotten produce, etc.) during the play. If the audience liked or did not like the play or the actors, the groundlings would let everyone in the theater know it. Rich people would even sit on stage and make comments to the audience during the play.
• The most expensive seats in a theater were the in the top row of the theater, farthest from the audience.  The cheap seats were directly in front of the stage, although people in this area stood. Rich people would want to have the most segregated and exclusive seats in the theater, away from the rowdy, poor people.
• People expected to see a new play everyday in theaters.  This meant many actors and playwrights were employed to meet the demands of audiences.                                     
• Most plays were seen at two o'clock in the afternoon.     

Theatrical Conventions:

• Soliloquy: Hamlet’s “To be or not to be…” is one of literature’s most famous soliloquy. This Elizabethan convention is a literary/dramatic technique in which a single character talks aloud inner thoughts to him or herself, but not within the hearing of another character. Generally, a soliloquy is lengthy with a dramatic tone.
• Aside:The aside existed in Shakespeare’s times, but happily continued into the melodramas of the 19th century many years later. An aside is a convention that usually involves one character addressing the audience “on the side”, offering them valuable information in relation to the plot or characters that only the audience is privy to. The audience now feels empowered, knowing more about the events on stage than most of the characters do.   
• Boys performing Roles: Acting in Elizabethan England were frowned upon by many in society as a profession unsuitable for women, as it was rough and rowdy. As a result, women were not legally permitted to act on the English stage until King Charles II became king in the year 1660 (even though women were already acting in various European countries in Commedia dell’Arte plays for some years). Shakespeare and his contemporaries therefore had no choice but to cast young boys in the roles of women, while the men played all the male roles on stage.
• Masque:Existing before Elizabethan England and also continuing onwards from it, the masque was normally performed indoors at the King or Queen’s court. Spoken in verse, a masque involved beautiful costumes and an intellectual element appropriate for the mostly educated upper class. Masques were  stories about an event or person involving the three main performing arts (acting,singing,dancing). Characters wore masks to hide their faces.