Elizabethan Age Society – Shakespeare Literature

Shakespeare’s dramas mainly written over royal society of Elizabethan age. Shakespeare did not deal with peasants, potters, and people who lived in the ‘edges of the life’. He did not deal with the people who live by serving to Royal section of England.

There may be few dramas written over about ordinary people. But what are the dramas are famous and prescribed to schools and colleges are dealing with the plots of kings and lords of england.

For Example: King Lear, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet , Hamlet and etc are having the main characters from royal sections.

The feelings and emotions dealt might be common to all the people. But the characters who express the feelings are Kings and Lords.

A society compromises all sort of people, and living standard. The main society includes sub-systems and sub-societies. Literature can not record all the sections of a society where it was written.

Through Shakespeare literature, we can study royal society of Elizabethan age. Other sub-systems/sections of the Elizabethan age are not covered in Shakespeare’s literary contributions.

Not only Shakespeare, until the 19th century or beginning of Industrial revolution all the literature dealt with kings and lords and high society. It is natural that literature or media deal with popular individuals, individuals in power, individuals with wealth, and individuals who has the attention of common public.

Life of the common man was started recorded in literature during western colonization was questioned. T.S. Eliot, John Osborn(Look Back in Anger), Earnest Hamingway are the beginning of new stage where kings and lords were completely forgotten by Literature. Moreover during their period there were no kingdoms and kings.

Things changed when patrons of literature changed.

Literature is written for its patron. When kings and lords were the patron, literature was written for them. When common public become the patron, literature,is written for the common public. The plots of literature changed when its patrons are changed.

Even today, see what is the most discussed items in News Media including TV, Internet and Dailies and weeklies. Individuals who are able to have their impact on the common public in anyway are the target of Media. This is by and large. There are few exceptions too.