Shakespeare s England :: Hausaufgaben / Referate => abi-pur.de

Shakespeare s England

Schlagwörter:
Elizabeth s England, Elizabeth, The Tavern, Merry Old England, Holiday and Festivals, Plague and Death, Referat, Hausaufgabe, Shakespeare s England
Themengleiche Dokumente anzeigen

häufige Suchphrasen:
referat- the superstition, romeo and juliet, elizabeth i, shakespeare england, a midsummer- night s dream- referat

Referat

Shakespeare‘s England

Facts about Elizabeth‘s England (1558 – 1603)

Ø At the time of Elizabeth I > about 5 million inhabitants

Ø Four fifths of them lived in country as farmers

Ø Land mainly consisted of forest, grass and fields

Ø Wool had become main product

Ø Country was rich in fruit of all kinds

Ø Full of wild animals

Ø Main food: meat and bread

The English inns

Ø The best ones in Europe

Ø Service > excellent; clean beds; heated rooms

Ø People could order whatever kitchen and cellar might offer

Ø à great security

Ø Travel in Shakespeare‘s time was an adventure

à Included In Shakespeare‘s Henry IV, Part I

The Tavern

Ø especially numerous in London

Ø Place of recreation for townspeople (Englishmen’s club)

Ø Mermaid` was the most famous of all London traverns (actors, poets, etc .. )

à Shakespeare mentioned the tavern in his sonnets / dramas

”Merry Old England”

Ø Dancing, music, poetry, theatres, sports and travels > expressions of joy people had

Ø A lot of balls

à Romeo and Juliet met there for the first time

Ø Most excellent music in Elizabeth’s England

à Shakespeare’s plays are full of lovely songs and many allusions to the Elizabethans´ love of music (‘Twelfth Night‘)

à Today there are revival records of Elizabethan music

Holiday and Festivals

Ø Christmas is the merriest, maddest time of the year

Ø From December 25th until January 6th the population was in carnival mood

Ø Carol – singers went from door to door

Bear – baiting

Ø Popular amusement in England for many centuries

Ø Bears were used for fights in arenas

Ø Many people came to see the unbelievable cruelty

Ø bears had to suffer a lot

Ø Shakespeare refers to bear – baiting when Macbeth exclaims:

Ø =>„They have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly,

But, bear – like, I must fight the course.“

Plague and Death

Ø Death was no stranger to the Elizabethans

Ø They got used to public executions

Ø During the plague in 1593 / 1594 more than 10.000 persons died of it

Ø Heaviest damage to human life was done by the plague

Ø In the visitations of the plague the Elizabethans saw the working of an unknown power

Superstition

Ø Played a big role in the lives of the simple people

Ø They believed in the existence of witches and ghosts as in the Middle Ages

à Their appearance in Shakespeare´s works was quite natural (example: Richard III and Hamlet‘s father)

à Macbeth: „They look not like the inhabitants of the earth.

And yet are on‘t.“

Ø Also believed in fairies and elves

à Lovely creatures in human shape (Romeo & Juliet / A Midsummer Night‘s Dream)

Conclusion

Ø Shakespeare’s conception of fairyland, though it is not quite the same as that of popular belief, has become traditional in English poetry

Ø A life in Elizabeth‘s England was a life in many ways so different from our own

Ø This life is reflected in his plays

à These conditions influenced Shakespeare´s work as a dramatist

Folgende Referate könnten Dich ebenfalls interessieren:

Die nachfolgenden Dokumente passen thematisch zu dem von Dir aufgerufenen Referat:

Details abrufen

weitere Referate

Bewerte das Referat mit Schulnoten

zur Übersicht

Referat melden!

Ab ins Forum!

Referat hochladen

Zurück