What was London and Audiences like in the Elizabethan period of England?

What was London and Audiences like in the Elizabethan period of England?

London in the Elizabethan Period of England 

William Shakespeare worked in theatre in the city of Great London, however, most of his plays were performed outside of London instead in places like Bristol. William Shakespeare worked in London because it is known to be the biggest and richest city in England, therefore, this meant that William Shakespeare could advertises his work to more people than he could ever imagine. All the major Wealthy traders and manufactures and their workers all lived in London, therefore, it was a city that was booming with wealth and power because London was where all the money was, moreover, all the people from the outside of London, traveled to London everyday to work because there was money in London but not in the countryside and little villages like Stratford-upon-Avon, Shottery etc.All the Wealthy traders and manufacturers and their workers went to the Theatre because they could afford too and they had the money to go to the theatre and travel around and by 1600, London theatre attendance rose to around 20, 000 British people per weak.

London was the true home of the Royal family of Queen Elizabeth,her husband and her children and much of the nobility, therefore, it was considered to be a exciting and great place to be apart of , this is why many people of the countrysides enjoyed visiting England and observing its sites, Royal culture and architecture. The rich of England were the true leaders of the theatre companies of England, therefore, they were the people giving financial and legal support to the theatre and theatrical companies of England, Royalty were the true supporters of the theatre from 1603 to 1613.  William Shakespeare's theatre company played at the court of King James about 15 times per year because the Royalty and nobility of England loved the entertainment of England and its people.

The great city of London was just a bit city to live , it was a fast growing place to live and to work, this was a result of migrants from the countrysides of England and from all over Europe coming to London to look for jobs and to share in the wealth of the city. The city of London grew from 50,000 residents to over 200,000 residents, therefore, this resulted into houses needing to be built and the reduction of wildlife because inside the city's old medieval walls, every possible available space was being built on, therefore, This helped the ideas of the danger in the woods to fade as time went on. and the suburbs slowly drifted to becoming part of the countryside of England in places like where William Shakespeare was born and lived.

London bridge was the only bridge in the whole of London in the Elizabethan era, It was the bridge was of the Great City of London, on the north bank of the river Thames onto the Southwark on the south bank and this was were the famous Globe theatre was placed. This Great Bridge of London was around 800 feet long and supported by a pillar.

Audiences in the Elizabethan Period of England 

The Audiences of the Elizabethan Period of England were considered as all equals even though they didn't all sit in the same seats, as the seats were allocated by class and wealth ranged from £1 to £50, to a modern day audience this would have been seen to be cheap, however, at this time period the poor and lower upper class people of England would have had to save money for a while to be able to enjoy the privilege of going to the theatre to go and watch one of the world famous William Shakespeare's plays. The men of England came to the theatres more than the women of England, also it was more likely to see a poor person in the theatres instead of a rich person because poor people spent all their time there because since they were poor they didn't have much money to do things in and around London , therefore, when they got the chance to do something exciting they made the exciting times last for as long as they could.

The royalty of England truly loved watching plays by William Shakespeare, however, they believed that they were to high and noble to go to the theatre and be around the commoners of England so they didn't go to the public theatres, therefore, Royalty and nobility summoned companies of actors to perform at the courts of their homes and Queen Elizabeth I and King James I.

Some of the audiences came to be looked at and not for the theatre as they will dress in the best clothes they own to be admired by the hundreds and thousands of people that came from all over England to watch William Shakespeare's plays and work come to life right before their eyes. William Shakespeare got some of his stories through the stories of real stories that he encountered in his life , therefore, most of the people in London came to watch theses play because they wanted to see Shakespeare's rendition and ideas of these plays and how they turned out, In addition to this William Shakespeare was world famous for writing about Tragedies, therefore, most of his plays end up with the death of the main character, however, William Shakespeare made each main characters death unique and this made the audience what to see how each play was because they were all different, making them exciting. The audience made their opinions heared throughout the play, if they didn't like it they would throw food and drinks at the actors on stage and shout at the actors, moreover, There was no rules at the theatre as people were, drinking, eating, and fornicating throughout the performance went on.

Royalty of the Elizabethan period of Englamd

SHAKESPEARE THE MAN

Who is Shakespeare?

William Shakespeare was an English poet. writer, artist and actor,. He is known to be one of the most success, greatest and world famous influential artists of his generations and the Elizabethan period of England and in the world as a whole. William Shakespeare grew up with his family in Stafford upon-Avon and bought a little cottage to uses when he came back from working in London which was seen to be the centre of English Theatre at the time and As, A playwright, A actor and a partner in a leading acting company, William Shakespeare became both prosperous and well-known, even through the fans of Shakespeare didn't know that much about him, therefore, fans of William Shakespeare began to start imagining his life according to their own tastes and this made William look more mysterious and interesting  to the commoners and wealth of England.

Where was he born?

William Shakespeare was born in a small little village in Stratford upon haven in England in April 1564 in the 16th century. Stratford upon- Avon is known to be a famous medieval market town in England's west Midlands, in the middle of a village which only had a small population of about 1000 people. Stratford upon haven is a huge tourist attraction because of William Shakespeare, it receives an huge estimation of 4.9 Million visitors a year , people visit this area because of its great rich history and inspiration that a man who was seen as lower class man, obtained power and knowledge through the aspect of theatre and his passion for the arts. The date of April 1564 is known to be the date in which William Shakespeare was baptised in Stratford - upon Avon, it has been believed that he may of been born a few days before this, therefore, no one knows the actual day that William Shakespeare was born. Shakespeare was born in the time periods of a out break of plagues and illness , therefore, it would of been seen as impossible for him to survive in the time period that William Shakespeare lived in.

Who was his family ?

Shakespeare grew up in a family of six children and a prosperous mother and father. Shakespeare's parents was Mary Shakespeare and John Shakespeare, who were seen to be "middle upper class people" of  the Elizabethan period because William Shakespeare father was effectively the mayor of Stratford but through the art of their son grew to upper class people of England. William Shakespeare grew up with his six siblings, He was also married to Anne Hathaway between 1582 - 1616 in England. William Shakespeare is the oldest of the Seven children of Mary and John Shakespeare, he has so many siblings because in this time period, mother and father would try to have as main sons as they could , however after William Shakespeare was born he mother and father kept giving birth to daughter instead of sons , therefore, they tried and tried again until their sons were born. William Shakespeare was originally the 3rd child out of eight children , however, the two children before died as a very young age, A sister (died one year after birth) and brother (Only survived two months) , therefore, resulting into him being the oldest child, there is no record of Williams oldest siblings birthdays, only record kept was of their christenings.At the time of William Shakespeare being a baby in 1564, A terrible plague killed about 200 people in Stafford, it was recorded that 1 in 5 people of the population died, fortunately, William Shakespeare survived this terrible plague.

Six Siblings: 

Gilbert Shakespeare

Joan Shakespeare

Edmund Shakespeare

Margaret Shakespeare

Richard Shakespeare 

Anne Shakespeare.

What were his relationships?

William Shakespeare was married to a woman named Anne Hathaway between 1582- 1616. Anne Hathaway was married to William Shakespeare when she was 26 years of age , this was seen to be odd because woman were married by the age of 14 years old in this time period of the Elizabethan period, she also outlived William Shakespeare by 7 years before she died on August 6, 1623. Anne Hathaway gave birth to three children for William Shakespeare, Their first child was Susanna Shakespeare in May 1583, two years later Anne Hathaway then gave birth to two more children , the twins Hamnet and Judith Shakespeare. In this tie period the farther goes out to work while the mother stays at home and looking after the children, therefore, as William shakespeare went off to work in London as a actor, director, witter etc, his wife Anne Hathaway stayed behind in Stafford upon-Avon to look after their children alone in William shakespeare family home.

What was his professional work?

William Shakespeare's work reflected over all the things happening in his time period and how he believed that he could change all the things that were wrong in this time period and how he could turn them right. He believed that we were all part of one society working to make it great, this was shown a tiny bit in his play Romeo and Juliet in which two family's divided, this connects with the division between rich and poor in the Elizabethan Period of England.

Website :  folger shakespeare libiry.com

website: william shakespeare fact sheet @ globe website

What sense do you get of what life was like in the Elizabethan England

What sense do you get of what life was like in 

Elizabethan England?

I believe that life in England in the time period of the Elizabethan period was a 

very patriarchal society in which men were seen as the greater sex and the heads of the house holds. The women of this era didn't have much freedom as they were the property of their fathers and when they were married they became the property of their husbands. Even though the rich was seen as better than the poor , poor men would have been seen greater than a woman of the up most of wealth because they were men and men were seen as a gift for the woman instead of the other way round. The women of the period were taught to cherish who they have been chosen to marry by their farther or by whoever wants to marry then , even if the woman didn't like the man at all , they were still forced to marry them and they couldn't really divorce the man because if a woman divorced her husband that was seen to be a bad, however, if it happened the other way round and the man wanted to divorce the wife , it would of been a acceptable thing to happen. I think that the rich people of Elizabethan England lived for today because they didn't have to worry about money and how they are going to live for the next week, therefore, the rich lived for today and enjoyed the moments of each and everyday compared to the poor of the land who were always working and worrying about "how am I going to live next week or the week after?" , They were constantly worrying about the future and how their lives shall be in the future.

The wild life in the Elizabethan period was seen to be a very dangerous places to be around because they believe in witches and people in the woods that tend to rob people and committed crimes in the woods because there was normally no one there to help people that are being attacked or robbed, this event usually occurred by the poor people of England as they were very low on money and resources. The rich tend to enter the woods with guards or some type of protection with them , expectantly noble men of the Elizabethan period.

I get an understanding that life for the poor was quite boring because without money there was nothing really that they could do , in addition to this , since the technology of the time was very limited , the poor spent lots of their time outside because their houses were constantly dark because they had no electricity in that time period and candles were very expensive and mostly only used by the rich.

Queen Elizabeth quotes on the rich

"Though the sex to which I belong is considered weak you will nevertheless find a rock that bends to no wind "

England was very divided during this period as it was mostly the rich vs the poor, there wasn't really a in between, you were either rich or poor in Elizabethan England.  The poor people of England tend to live in complete darkness and coldness throughout the night because candle were very expensive , therefore , it was mostly only used for the upper class rich people of the time period. The darkness of the house resulted into people of the low class tending to always spend most of their day outside instead of inside their house because it was a dark and dull place to be in that time period. The aspect of the poor having a minimum of a supply to heat and light meant that the poor of the Elizabethan period in England only lived to around 40 years old because if they didn't die from lack of warmth, they would end up dying from disease and illness because there was no antibiotics or any other key medicines at this time period. The poor died and the rich lived because the rich could afford to see the doctor or buy medicine something that the poor had to save up to afford such privileges as medicine or light/heat. England was low populated because it had such a high illness rate, moreover, this helped keep the poor , poor and rich , rich because there was not a population in which one side was big than the others. In this time period you had to pay to see the doctor and then if you had to have a operation, you would have to pay again to receive treatment, this is what England was like before the NHS was created and used all over England.

William Shakespeare believed that if the poor is poor and are happy, they are truly rich enough and as rich as the rich people are. Shakespeare made his art for not only the rich but for the  poor as well and the theatre is somewhere that the rich and poor can both come together watch something and no longer be rich and poor but just people of one nation (Britain) and watch a piece of entertainment and enjoy themselves , no matter their class or differences. Shakespeare is a man that was part of the poor people and became part of the rich upper class, however, he didn't forget where he came from as fame and fortune came his way.

The Rich people's clothing 

The rich people of England were very self centered at this time period because they thought that since they had money and power this meant that they were the greater British people and they deserved to be served, hand and foot by the poor lower people of England.They did not pay their works by truly far amounts because they found away to make profit from the workers by using them for entertainment. The rich of England wore a lot of velvet, satin, fur, lace, silk and cotton materials because they could afford such privileges such as theses, compared to the poor of England that had to steal or past down materials because of their low aspect of money.

The poor people's clothing 

The poor couldn't afford to be buying new clothes for when they have out grown their clothes, therefore, clothes were pasted on from generation to generation, for example, you may be wearing clothes that your grandfather may have worn when he was a young boy around your age. Even through they were poor and were seen as lower people by the upper class , the poor had a greater sense of family orientation compared to the rich people because the rich hired nannies to look after their children so that they could "enjoy life" more , however , this resulted to a generation of rich children being resentful towards their parents. The money of England was possessed mostly by the rich, resulting to them having more money than they needed to live , reducing the poor's life span.

The Elizabethan era was a great time of exploration and finding new lands,for example , America, India , Africa  and Great Ancient Egypt. England was slowly building its empire bit by bit from Europe to Asia to even to the African nations, like great Ancient Egypt. This event of finding new lands then later resulted into information being spread all around the world. Life in Elizabethan period was a life of making Britain into a great empire that is known all over the world from its art to music to knowledge to even its theatre , this is where William Shakespeare came into place, through his main plays and poems that were shown all over the world, through the British empire. As Britain found america , this was then known as the new world, however, the British didn't know that the Indians were the controllers over theses lands.

The Elizabethan era was a time of New religion, protestant came around and the priest of England was then known to be the bridge way between God and the people of England/the Earth. The monarchy was also seen to be the bridge way between God and humans, therefore, the queen was known to be the head of the church and that has remained the same from the Elizabethan England to now modern day England. The Monarchy of England was seen as the head of the church as well as the head of the Church Of England.

The land of the country was occupied by different people, therefore, there was a waste of land all throughout England, whilst the poor had no where to live and some slept on the streets. The rich had yards of land that they didn't even use and instead of giving it to the poor of the land, for them to build homes on the wasted land of Elizabethan England , the rich kept thinking of themselves instead of England as a whole and this resulted into up risings of rich vs poor in England and peoples human rights being exploited. 

Family life in this time period had a sense of respect and obedience to the father because he i s the head of the house hold and he should be obtained, for example, the father normal chose who his children will marry or what they will do for a job etc. The job of the father was to make the money "bring in the bacon" and the mothers job was to look after the house, children and husband and respect the husband even when she believes he is wrong.

Social Mobility was happen in the lives of people in the Elizabethan English period but it was happening slowly all over England, Will Shakespeare is one of the English men that turned from being from the middle class people of England to becoming one of the richest upper class individuals of the Elizabethan era, he accomplished this through the art of his theatre and the world known plays that we now know today, play such as , Romeo and Juliet, Much to do about nothing, Anthony and Cleopatra etc. Even through social Mobility was happening it didn't really happen for the lower class people of England. Society in the Elizabethan era was mostly divided by class more than anything else (religion).

The land of England was used for food , nutrients and resources and was seen as a treasure to have possessed it by the English people, it was seen as a treasure to the rich mostly because they had most of the land of Elizabethan England. The money of England was in short supply therefore, the Rich decided to keep it from the poor by not paying them true and far wages from the work that they did for the rich of the land , jobs such as , drivers, dresser, maids, Butler, House keeper, Valet, 1st & 2nd footmen. etc 

Plan/notes to help answer the question

• the families live in darkness because candles were expensive , therefore, poor families didn't have heat or light at all.
• poor people are dead by the age of 40 
• there was no distractions around people, they were really tuned into the aspect of nature because technology was very minimum 
•  The area was very low populated but by the time he died , it was beginning to grown 
• people were outside for most of the day because there was nothing to do in the house, it was dark and boring 
• the woods were a dangerous place to walk around at the time , compared to our time in which we see the woods as a safe place to live and be 
• there was huge areas of waste of land , it would of been just compliantly woods and forest 
• life was very family orientated 
• there was a big dived between rich and poor , no in between unless you were upper class poor 
• poor died and rich lived for longer , people coundn't afford clothes so clothes were past down through generations to generations
• social mobility was happen -  Shakespeare went from middle class to rich upper class through his aspect of theatre
• people were living off the land and if you had no land then you would die and not eat
• church being ruled by royalty , royalty becoming the head of the church (Look for the differnt times of christaons and information on them).

 

Try to include information on:All seen in Shakespeare play

1. add images = done 

1. add quotes = done

1. add detail = done

1. add opinions - yours, shakespeare and other people =done

1. talk about change, not a safe time to live (research)= done - Plagues, Travel, Famine, Childbirth, Bad weather, Violence, Hunting , Early or sudden death 

1. The population=done

1. entertainment=done

1. religion - protesten, new way of thinking, martin luther preist (German monk)= done 

1. superstition, =

1. money =done 

1. jobs =

1. medicine =  done 

1. theatre.=done

1. printing pres =

1. finding new people, indians , africans , eypgts = done

1. information is shared throughout the world =done