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Marat Uzbekov

Chris Hilgeman

Writing

22 February 2018

Shakespeare in Elizabethan England

William Shakespeare, being the greatest dramatic of all time, was born around the 23rd of

April in 1564 in England. He was a playwright, an actor, and a poet. (William Shakespeare).

With countless of written works, Shakespeare is still discussed in modern literature, truly

showing mastery of his talent.

Due to lack of records, there is not much about Shakespeare’s early life. According to

Amanda Mabillard, there is a high chance that Shakespeare began his education when he was six

years old and was homeschooled by his father, who held a high position in social ranking

(Mabillard). Although Shakespeare learned his basic reading and writing skills from a hornbook,

education from the school he attended to also greatly aided him (Mabillard). For example,

“Although Shakespeare likely had some lessons in English, Latin composition and the study of

Latin authors like Seneca, Cicero, Ovid, Virgil, and Horace would have been the focus of his

literary training” (Mabillard). To note, in The Merry Wives of Windsor, there is a scene where the

teacher tests the knowledge of her student, who surprisingly is named William, probably

referring to Shakespeare’s early years as a student (Mabillard).

Although Shakespeare did take influence from the Latin authors he studied, he also took

influence of the play writers that came before and even during his time. For example, in the play

Romeo and Juliet, according to Riley Winters, Shakespeare took wide influence from Masuccio

Salernitano (1410-1475) and Matteo Bandello (1480-1562), who also were poets and playwrights
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(Winters). For example, “Published a year after his death, Salernitano's 33rd chapter of his Il

Novellino tells of Mariotto and Giannoza, a pair of lovers who come from the feuding families of

Maganelli and Saraceni respectively” (Winters). Salernitano’s piece shows wide resemblance to

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, both pieces having two lovers who have secret love affairs that

are unapproved by their families, and both stories end in tragedies where both lovers die by

suicide. In Salernitano’s piece, the story takes place in Siena, Italy, rather than in Verona like

Shakespeare’s (Winters). Shakespeare probably took themes of disapproving families, unallowed

love, and mutual deaths from Salernitano’s, and took more precise elements from Bandello. In

Bandello’s piece, the two families named Montague and Capulet take direct place in

Shakespeare’s piece, as well as the point where the female lover kills herself with a dagger,

unlike in Salernitano’s version where the female lover wastes herself (Winters). Also,

Shakespeare, according to many Shakespearean scholars, took many elements included in the

play from his own life; his patron, Henry Wriothesley, being a model for Romeo, and a woman

named Elizabeth Vernon being a model for Juliet (Winters). In addition, Shakespeare took some

influence from Marlowe, who probably was the closest one in mastery to him. It is believed that

Shakespeare studied Marlowe’s work to learn writing drama, which would explain the

resemblance of Shakespeare’s early works to Marlowe’s (What Shakespeare Scholars Say About

Marlowe). It is also clear that Shakespeare copied or parodied some of Marlowe’s lines, as if sort

of competing with Marlowe, which would end up in widely influencing Shakespeare works and

making Marlowe his most influential teacher (What Shakespeare Scholars Say About Marlowe).

To emphasize on just how much Marlowe had influenced Shakespeare, “[Marlowe] first, and he

alone, guided Shakespeare into the right way of work… Before him there was neither genuine
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blank verse, nor genuine tragedy in our language. After his arrival, the way was prepared; the

paths were made straight, for Shakespeare” (What Shakespeare Scholars Say About Marlowe).

Another thing that influenced Shakespeare’s plays was the Elizabethan culture. For

example, “The streets were narrow, cobbled, slippery with the slime of refuse. Houses were

crammed together, and there were a lot of furtive alleys. Chamber pots, or jordans, were emptied

out of windows. There was no drainage. Fleet Ditch stank to make a man throw up his gorge”

(Secara). During the Elizabethan culture, one side of a street was disgustingly dirty, stinking with

all kinds of fumes. This led to people of the higher class walk closer to the wall, which would be

further from the stench, and people of the lower class would walk right on the street. A quote

directly from Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, “A dog of that house shall move me to

stand: I will take the wall of any man or maid of Montague's (Shakespeare). Without doubt this

is an example of the Elizabethan culture, since in Verona, Italy, where the play takes place, this

was not a thing. This was probably done to create a connection with the people present at the

globe theatre, where the play would be played in front of an audience. In addition to this, since

the globe theatre was divided into two classes (the rich and the poor), Shakespeare had to write

plays that would suit both. For example, “Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads; take

it in what sense thou wilt” (Shakespeare). He would often come down to sexual jokes and

violence to entertain the poor, while the witty usage of words and the emotional drama would

entertain the higher class.

The globe theatre actually shows quite some differences when compared to a modern

theatre. Unlike a modern theatre, the globe theatre was designed in a sort of spherical shape and

could fit in thousands of people (Ross). The pit in front of the stage was crowded by poor people

and had nothing to sit on; unlike the high seats, which were the furthest away from the stage. The
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high seats were used by the rich because the strong fumes coming from the pit were unable to

reach them (Morgan). Another difference between a modern theatre and the globe theatre was

the actors. The globe theatre had no actresses, and female roles were usually played by young

boys (Morgan). Also, the plays in the globe theatre were performed in the afternoon since it was

the only source of light, and since the theatre was made out of wood, candles would burn up the

place (Ross).

Apart from Shakespeare’s poetic life, Shakespeare had a wife named Anne Hathaway and

3 children, one of which died when he was 11 (William Shakespeare). He died on his 52nd

birthday on April 23rd in 1616 (William Shakespeare). Although Shakespeare is long gone in his

grave, his mastery and works will live on, teaching literature for decades to pass.
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Works Cited

“What Shakespeare Scholars Say About Marlowe.” The International Marlowe-Shakespeare

Society, marloweshakespeare.info/Marlowe_Scholarship.html.

“William Shakespeare.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 5 Aug. 2017,

www.biography.com/people/william-shakespeare-9480323.

Mabillard, Amanda. “Shakespeares Education and Childhood.” Shakespeare Online, 12 Sept.

2000, www.shakespeare-online.com/biography/shakespeareeducation.html.

Morgan, Emily. “Differences Between Elizabethan Theatre and Modern Theatre.” Prezi.com, 20

June 2013,

prezi.com/zmsb3mos5ufk/differences-between-elizabethan-theatre-and-modern-theatre/.

Ross, David. “Elizabethan Theatre.” Britain Express,

www.britainexpress.com/History/elizabethan-theatre.htm.

Secara, Maggie. “The City of London.” Life in Elizabethan England: A Compendium of Common

Knowledge, www.elizabethan.org/compendium/home.html.

Shakespeare, William. “Romeo and Juliet.” The Complete Works of William Shakespeare,

shakespeare.mit.edu/romeo_juliet/full.html.

Winters, Riley. “Romeo and Juliet: Not a Shakespearean Tale After All.” Ancient Origins, 1 June

2015,

www.ancient-origins.net/history/romeo-and-juliet-not-shakespearean-tale-after-all-00315

5.