Shakespeare and His World
by (author unknown)
The Renaissance
William Shakespeare
lived during a time referred to as the Renaissance. The Renaissance (meaning
rebirth) is a term used to describe the rich development of Western civilization
that occurred after the Middle Ages and reached its height in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries.
It started in Italy and spread throughout Europe
and England. A greater understanding of anatomy allowed Italian artists to begin
painting people more realistically. Artists also developed a new awareness
of perspective (the appearance of distant objects being smaller than nearby
objects) and an appreciation for the effects of color.
The enthusiasm for art and learning during this
time period meant that the boy Shakespeare, like other well-to-do boys,
attended school. There he learned Latin and Greek and studied classic
literature as well as the history of England. Many of Shakespeare's plays
are based on events in English history that Shakespeare learned as a boy.
Age of Exploration
Other
dramatic changes in Shakespeare's world were the result of the explosion of
exploration that followed Christopher Columbus's "discovery" of America. From
the middle of the fifteenth century, explorers had traveled from Europe to all
corners of the world, sometimes to engage in trade and sometimes to promote
religious ideals. They brought back with them goods, maps, and new ideas
and information from the places they had visited. Shakespeare would have heard
about these voyages, and indeed, used the device of a shipwreck in his play
Twelfth Night.
The discoveries of explorers changed the way Europeans
viewed the world in which they lived. The discoveries of scientists forced
people to change the way they viewed the universe. Before 1543, most
people believed that the Sun and the planets revolved around the Earth, the
center of the universe. The Polish astronomer Copernicus discovered that
the planets, including Earth, revolve around the Sun. Although this seems normal
to people of today, to people in Elizabethan England, the idea was an almost
unimaginable concept.
The Globe Theatre
Although not as sensational as the other changes in
Shakespeare's world, a significant change occurred in the way people watched
plays. In 1576, the first permanent theatre was built outside the London
gates by James Burbage, who called it, simply, The Theatre. Until that time,
actors had traveled around the country, performing in the halls of great manor
houses and colleges, and on platforms set up in crowded inn-yards.
In 1599, during the last years of Queen Elizabeth's reign,
The Theatre was replaced with a new theatre called the Globe. A circular,
wooden-framed building, the Globe was built in the classical style of the stone
and marble amphitheaters of Rome and Ancient Greece, making it highly
distinctive. Audiences could see and hear better in the round theatre than they
could in the earlier square or rectangular halls and inn-yards used for
theatrical performances.
Shakespeare's plays, many of which were first performed at
the Globe, are performed at theaters around the world today.