Elizabethan Social Class

Imagine being born into the Elizabethan Era where your social class is already determined for you and you cannot switch classes ever. This is the case during the Shakespearean era. There were six total social classes of Elizabethan England. The social class system listed in order from highest to lowest is; Monarch, Nobility, Gentry, Merchants, Yeomanry, and Laborers. Depending on which class you were in this would affect your living conditions, authority, wealth, work, lifestyle and religion. There were also many cultural differences among the social classes during Elizabethan times.

In Shakespeare's time, the English lived with a strong sense of social class -- of belonging to a particular group because of occupation, wealth, and ancestry. Elizabethan Society had a very strict social code at the time that Shakespeare was writing his plays. Social class could determine all sorts of things, from what a person could wear to where he could live to what jobs his children could get. Some families moved from one class to another, but most people were born into a particular class and stayed there. There was a chance of being granted a title by the crown. This was uncommon at the time and a relatively new thing for Europe where ancestry always defined nobility.

The Elizabethan era, named for Queen Elizabeth who reigned from 1558-1603, was a very relaxed time in England because no wars or conflicts were happening at the time (Davis 231). Many people believe that all people lived wonderful lives in the Elizabethan era, yet most people were poor and lived hard lives. “Undeniably the span of life is shorter in the sixteenth century than it will be in subsequent ages” (Davis 162). Important parts of life in London during the Elizabethan era were social classes, living conditions, recreation, education, and gender inequality.

In the English colonies there were six social classes. From the richest to the poorest, these were the gentry, the middle Class, poor whites, indentured servants, free africans and slaves. The people that made up these classes ranged from the most powerful to those with the least amount of rights, if any.

The Elizabethan Era is noted as the golden age reigned by the Tudors more specifically, Queen Elizabeth I. Queen Elizabeth was the only person who historians are sure is at the top of the social hierarchy but there are different variations of the next upper, middle and lower classes. The basic outline of the social structure in the 15th and 16th century was the monarch, the nobility, gentry, merchants, yeomanry, and laborers. For each of these classes, there were very specific rules for what they were allowed to do and who they were allowed to treat as a lesser. Though the rules were very strict it seems that some of the common people had discourteous feeling towards the Queen, there were also cases where the

All in all, it is evident that the way the lower class had to work during the time of the Elizabethan Era was

Today world is so different from the Elizabethan Era even though that era has so much impact on the world today. The Elizabethan Era really show the difference between the rich and poor, and because of that many roles that was important in their life during this era is not so important today. This paper contains information about people everyday life in the Elizabethan Era.

The difference in class structures of Victorian England was dependent on the lifestyles and jobs of individuals. The Victorian era of England lasted from 1837 to 1901. The Victorian England hierarchy was divided into three different classes; the upper, middle, and lower class and was reliant of occupational differences. The hierarchy was very rigid and there was little social mobility, because of the fact that normally a person was born into their class and even their future career. In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens displays the model of class structure through the character Pip Pirrup. Pip struggles to find his place within the hierarchy. Throughout the novel, Dickens writes about the different classes in England. Pip belongs the working class due to his family and is set to be a blacksmith, but finds himself in the societal shift that occurred in England in the nineteenth century. Pip wants to achieve his great expectations and change the path that his life was going on. He wants create a better life for himself than what he would have had if he followed in the footsteps of his family. Dickens also creates various characters in the different classes to expose the relationship between each class. An individual’s class was a dominant factor in creating an identity. People of the upper classes thought very little of the people “below” them. Throughout his journey, Pip reveals information about how the different social classes lived and how members of each

As the British came over to America, many ideas and government laws and practices came along with the people. The British people came to America to create a new and better life therefore they desired to create an improved government. Laws and practices were brought over with the people but were adapted and amended in many ways. The Elizabethan Poor Law, a law that established a way for the government to assist the needy, had been in place for for over 250 years in England (p.11). The Poor Law of 1601 was the head start of the colonists initiative to nurture the needy.

During the colonial period, the Elizabethan poor laws were adopted to address the social issue of poverty. Residency was a main factor in determining who was eligible for aid. Categories "worthy" and "unworthy" were set to determine who would qualify for assitance. Unfortunately the individuals in the "unworthy" category were the very individuals more in need of assistance.

Over the years, society has created and recreated different ideas of what is considered socially acceptable and what customs to follow on a daily basis. These ideas are constantly changing and renewing themselves, making even last year’s behavioral habits seem crude. For instance, life in Elizabethan England contrasted with how life is now because people acted differently, dressed differently, spoke differently, and in a general, broader sense, they lived differently. Because people grow and change and learn from their previous mistakes, Elizabethan customs are practically obsolete due to their lack of effectiveness or rather the lack of need for them to continue.

Social class distinction remains a common theme throughout Shakespeare's plays. Shakespearean era society possessed a structured hierarchy of social class, based largely on wealth and nobility. This system influenced social interactions among the population and often guided marriage arrangements. Shakespeare’s commentary on social class, in his comedy Twelfth Night, exposes the divide humorously, by displaying ironic interactions between varying social classes. Twelfth Night places a variety of characters from different social classes in close quarters, causing inevitable conflict among classes.

Social classes play a major role in society and shape the roles of the people. Since the Elizabethan period began, the social classes were well structured with many influences, such as prestige or wealth. Many citizens found ways to elevate their status and become more successful citizens in the public. The social class structure in the Elizabethan Era was thought to be strict and very well organized, yet still had many opportunities and flaws which lead to changes in citizens’ lives.

Specifically, the six social classes during the 16th century in England were Monarchy, Nobility, Gentry,

The books of Dickens have a place completely with the philanthropic development of the Victorian Age, of which they are, in fact, in the circle of fiction, by a wide margin an essential item and expression. He was from first to last a writer for a reason. Dickens embarked to assault some particular mishandle or misuse existing towards youngsters and ladies amid the Victorian period. Amid the Modern Insurgency, the Victorian culture comprised of a hierarchical structure include the privileged, trailed by the white collar class, the average workers and the ruined underclass. These distinctive social classes could be recognized by disparities in territories, for example, legislative issues, specialist, riches, training, culture, working and living conditions. Individuals from the lower class were seen as nonsensical, juvenile, superstitious, ruthless, exorbitantly sexual and tarnished. Because of the feebleness of the lower class people, they were oppressed to misuse and treatment like that of creatures. In light of destitution, kids were constrained into youngster work and compelled to act as fireplace sweepers, and they could slither up the twelve by fourteen-inch stacks, some as little as seven inches square, with the goal that they would get out the yearly standard of forty gallons of sediment that was kept there. Some young men moved toward becoming rodent catchers, and they were required to utilize arsenic to harm the rats. However, as this could be costly, they could