Shakespeare's World

I. Brave New World

A. Maps

B. Architecture

C. Music

D. Art

E. Heaven and Hell

II. Alchemy, Astronomy, and Health

A. The Alchemist

B. Copernicus and the Planets

C. The Human Body

III. Links

Maps

Before the latter half of the 16th century voyages outside European waters were unusual. By looking at the routes taken by some of the greatest explorers and privateers, pupils may sense something of the excitement felt by the Elizabethan in this discovery of the new worlds. Exploration and discovery were not the only motives, for many of the expeditions were for plunder and riches. News of voyages soon became known and by 1590 there was at least one Encyclopedia of Travel. There are many references in Shakespeare's plays to sea travel and it's hazards, and to the strangeness and excitement of new lands.

Pupils can consider how much of the globe had been explored by the end of the sixteenth century and how accurate Elizabethans were in their map-making. Elizabethan map-makers aimed for accuracy but they had to guess at parts of the world that were still unexplored. As they wanted to encourage exploration they may have exaggerated the possiblility of sea routes to Asia or around north America. Good map-making and navigation required both mathematics and accurate instruments. Elizabethan sailors had to calculate their position by knowing about compass variations and using the positions of the sun and stars. Recent inventions - of accurate clocks and navigational equipment such as the astrolabe and compass - considerably helped explorers to navigate unfamiliar waters.

Architecture

The builidings of the time were a combination of native British styles and aspects of renaissance design taken from Italy and Northern France. The houses had to be magnificent and this was achieved through using features of classical architecture, large windows, great height and dramatic roof-lines. Most of these houses included a long gallery or a large room, similar to the one in the illustration, in which paintings and furniture would be displayed.

Music

Violins, cellos, and lutes illustrated the blossoming of music in Shakespeare's time. Songs, particularly madrigals, were very popular and were often used in dramas. Music played an essential part in masques and court celebrations.

Art

Elizabethans broke with the tradition of earlier centuries when most paintings were associated with religion. They adopted the Renaissance cult of the portrait which had previously been reserved largely for monarchs. Portraits were usually aristocratic and ranged from very large paintings to miniatures, with minute detail of dress, jewellery, and hair, such as is seen in the portrait of Queen Elizabeth.

Heaven and Hell

Hell was not just an abstract idea; it was seen in very real terms. The fear of fire, torture, and dreadful creatures was more real than a belief in paradise after death. The idea of sin and salvation were often more important than the story of the life of Christ. These views persisted in the Elizabethan period; the idea of severe punishment for sin occurs frequently in the language of Shakespeare's plays and in the actions and the behavior of characters.

The late 16th and early 17th centuries saw the birth of modern science. But, as with other aspects of the period, the old continued along with the new. Medieval ideas about the world were still strong and ocur frequently in Shakespeare's inagery. People had liked the idea of a well-ordered universe in which everything had its place.

The Alchemist

This sense of order applied to stars and planets, to the earth and to the human body. Central to this understanding of how things function was the idea of four elements of which all things were composed.

These elements could be mixed in infinite proportions influencing the character of a place or person. Alchemists thought that it was possible to remix the ingredients of base metal to change it to gold.

There were a number of important scientific thinkers who laid the basis for modern science. Dr. William Gilbert, one of the most eminent doctors in London and physician to the Queen in 1601, conducted many chemical experiments byt his most important work was on magnetism. He challenged the belief that the Earth was made up of the four elements and saw it instead as a pure magnetic substance which might account for its rotation and connection with the moon. By his work he probably laid the foundations for electrical science.

Francis bacon introduce new scientific methods of investigation. He believed that a scientist should collect as many facts as possible until one contradicted the general trend. These contradictory facts were the strongest. He also believed that science worked best when it was close to nature and that the purpose of science was to improve the human condition.

Copernicus and the Planets

Interest in stars and the movements of the planets was heightened by the supernova explosion of 1752 and the comet of 1577. New instruments greatly improved observation. The Elizabethans saw the universe as an enclosed sphere containing all the Heavens and Earth. Inside it, several concentric and crystalline spheres revolved, each occupied by one planet. From the center outwards they went in this order: Earth, Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and, at the outer edge, the Heavens and the stars. As the spheres moved and rubbed up against eachother they produced the "music of the spheres".

In 1543, the year of his death, Copernicus published his revolutionary views putting the sun, not the Earth, at the center and moving the Earth and its moon to a position between Venus and Mars. in 1610, just six years before Shakespeare's death, Galileo announced his discoveries with the astronomical telescope which he had developed. He had discovered the terrestrial nature of the moon, pin-pointed the difference between planets and stars and clearly identified the moons of Jupiter. All this did not prove the Copernican system but it challenged earlier ideas of permanent and unchanging order and movement.

The Human Body

Until the 15th century there were religious taboos on dissecting human bodies. In the 16th century the study of anatomy became increasingly important and surgeons and medical schools would have the bodies of four or five executed criminals a year for the purpose of dissection. However, there were still many mistaken ideas about how the body worked. The idea of the four humours still seemed the most sensible explanation of people's characters, illnesses, and disorders. There were many herbal remedies and a lot of common knowledge about them; with the explorationof new countries many strange plants were brought back as new medical cures. Tobacco, for example, was believed to be a cure for colds and catarrh.

There were trained doctors and surgeons as well as many amateurs and quacks. Poor public health gave rise to epidemics of the plague, small pox, and sexual diseases. There were no cures for many diseases and there was a widespread belief that doctors killed as often as they cured. In dramas of the period doctors and apothecaries are often presented as rogues or comic figures.

These pages contain information on everything from feudal life to the everyday life in Medieval times.

These pages are about the heath and the Bubonic Plague, one of the horrible diseases that devastated Europe.

The pages below are about art and music of Medieval England.