You have no idea how much I’ve been looking forward to this!! My favourite part of the year is teaching Shakespeare!! Today we got as far as Act I, Scene III. I’ll review what we read, but first some preliminary stuff. You need the foundation to understand anything.
Given: Every time period has a different way of understanding life and living life. If you look at the mindset of the world we live in, there are basic beliefs common in North America: Success is important, money is important, how you look is important, getting ahead is important. I’m not saying I agree with those beliefs, just that they are beliefs. Drop an alien into Walnut Grove with a notebook and see what he writes down. He might add “having a nice house is important.” Drop him down at WGSS and he’ll add “basketball is important.”
In Shakespeare’s time, there were givens, too. These givens were called the Elizabethan World View or the Elizabethan World Order. I will give you more detail on my Macbeth blog, but here are some basics:
a) Given #1: The Great Chain of Being: The universe is ordered by God. In Heaven, God rules over archangels and angels; on earth, there is order everywhere based on a hierarchical system. Everything in society has its place with fixed classes from highest to lowest. There is even a fixed order for plants, animals, and minerals. The key thing is order.
Any time someone attempts to break The Great Chain of Being, there is universal disorder. We’ll see this in Macbeth over and over. When the chain of being is broken you can immediately tell because the weather will go wonky and the animals will go wonky. It’s like a domino effect. Only when the chain of being is restored will the universe go back to normal.
b) Given #2: The Divine Right of Kings: I’m going to put a really interesting video on the Macbeth blog, the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Every once in a while, someone in the British press will suggest that Prince Charles should step down, or even that Queen Elizabeth should step down, so that Prince William can be king. This is based completely on the idea that Prince William is young and cute and Prince Charles is old and not cute. It’s not going to happen. This is an example of opposing world views. The British Monarchy is based on the Divine Right of Kings.
When you become King or Queen it is because God placed you there and there is no option of quitting. You are placed in the role by God and you know your job is over when you die. Period. If Queen Elizabeth II believes this, imagine how much more Queen Elizabeth I believed it. In fact, everyone in her realm believed it, especially Shakespeare. We’re reading Macbeth, but you can also see it in Julius Caesar. Attack a king and just watch the world go insane. In the Elizabethan World View, to attack a king is to attack God and if you attack God, you will lose.
c) Given #3: The Music of the Spheres: I remember when I first heard of this at university. I am as musical as a rock, but it captured my imagination. Here the idea is that the universe is made up of a series of spheres or concentric circles; they all exist inside each other. They are all created out of a clear crystal substance called aether. The farthest sphere is called the firmament and that’s where the stars are; inside the big sphere is a small sphere, containing the sun, the moon, and the planets; at the centre is the earth. When the spheres move, they make a musical sound that shows the harmonious working together of creation. This is the Music of the Spheres.
d) Given #4: The Signs of the Zodiac: If you’ve noticed absolutely everything in the Elizabethan World View is about order, you’re right. Here’s another example. Our word for the signs of the zodiac is horoscopes, or astrology. Elizabethans believed in astrology. That means your life would be determined by the place and date of your birth. If you’re born under a certain sign, you will act like a person born under that sign and your life has a certain measure of predestination. You can’t fight it. A bit fatalistic, no? Yes.
e) Given #5: The Four Humours: This belief is really interesting. If you pay attention, every once in a while someone tries to resurrect it. It’s the belief that won’t go away. So here it is: Every single thing under the moon is made up of four elements: fire, air, water, and earth. Those four elements have their counterparts within the human body. Those human elements are called humours. Here are the correspondences: earth: melancholy; water: phlegm; air: blood; fire: choler. Any time one of these elements is predominant or strongest in the body, you see that reflected in a person’s mood. If all four elements are balanced, you are have good humour; if they are unbalanced, they have ill humour.
This is one of those beliefs that has sifted into every day English. We might say a person has a sanguine personality, that is they’re cheerful or optimistic; that is because they have the humour of blood, relating to air. If a person is choleric, they’re easily irritated and cranky; in Elizabethan terms, their temperament comes from choler (black bile), which is related to fire. A phlegmatic person is unemotional and not easily excited, not easily moved. Think phlegm! Melancholy you know: sad. That one comes from yellow bile and the earth. With this one, make the association with depression. When you are melancholy, your thoughts don’t soar, they are down to earth.
f) Given #6: The Wheel of Fortune: This belief is a bit fatalistic, like the beliefs in the Zodiac and Humours. Here’s the idea: Life is like a great big wheel. The wheel is called Fate or Fortune. Everyone is “on” the wheel. Kings and noblemen are at the top of the wheel and peasants are at the bottom of the wheel. You can’t decide where to be; your place is determined at birth and there you stay. In life, the wheel moves from a high position to a low position. Sometimes a king will fall to a lower position as the wheel moves and sometimes a peasant will rise to a higher position, but there is no way of knowing what will happen or controlling what will happen. Sometimes Fate is called Lady Luck. Nowadays, you might hear gamblers talking about Lady Luck. That’s Elizabethan! Shakespeare is constantly talking about Dame Fortune and Fate in his plays. It’s all the same thing: just the Wheel of Fortune personified.
Here’s the important thing: Don’t carry 21st Century thinking into your reading of Shakespeare. You can’t. It doesn’t work and you won’t understand Shakespeare. We have ideas that came from Shakespeare’s time or reference Shakespeare’s time but the thinking is completely different. Very few people nowadays think they are absolutely powerless to change their lives from the moment of birth. Just go to a graduation ceremony and listen to the speeches. Your whole life, you’ve been told you can create your life if only you do a), b), and c). This is the exact opposite of what an Elizabethan believed.
Go here! The Oxford Project.
WatsonWork 