Social Status in Shakespeare's Plays

Centuries ago in Elizabethan England there were many traditions about marriage and the treatment of women. One strong tradition of these times was the practice of marriage between races. Interracial marriages were considered extremely taboo. (High Beam). In this era marriages were arranged by the parents with strong help from the local church. The individuals had little choice as to who they would marry. (Elizabethan England Life). Yet another example of these traditions was the respectable treatment of women. While the husband was in charge of his wife, as was the father, the husband were expected to treat the women right (Elizbethi). In spurning all of these traditions, Shakespeare demonstrates a view of marriage far different from that

The social class for the Elizabethan Era was unique because of the different ways it was set up than from today. This social class has a very different type of hierarchy than any other social class that was ever made. Even though this social class was unique, it still needed the opportunity for improving the flaws. Certain levels of hierarchy needed a possibility for demotion for their class to move up in the rankings so they can get treated and respected better. The lower levels of the social classes didn’t have the best ways of living and suffered cruelty. The social class in the Elizabethan Era had a different type of hierarchy than we do today, the social class had the opportunity for improvement, and the possibility of demotion of the social class; therefore the social class could have had a revolution or change in the system.

During the Elizabethan era, the citizens of England held Queen Elizabeth in high regard, her time of rule was known as “the Golden Age”, so if Shakespeare were to make a connection to her rule and government it had to be positive. This is where we find a connection made to the economic values and perspectives of the audience. Towards the end of his speech, Prince Hamlet says “To be truly great doesn’t mean you’d only fight for a good reason. It means you’d fight over nothing if your honor was at stake” and “I watch twenty

The distinction between social classes appears prominently in Shakespeare’s plays as the nobility contrasts greatly with characters of base rank in their language and demeanor. Although the outward appearances of the different classes remain consistent with stereotypes of Shakespeare’s time, he contradicts the expected behaviors of these groups. Through the portrayal of leaders of society, Shakespeare reveals that despite their significant power and privilege, the members of the upper class lack the sensibility to rule successfully, and they rarely act in an honorable manner, only using their power to benefit themselves while neglecting the people they preside over. This uniformity throughout all of the leaders suggests that Shakespeare believes

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.

Henry V, Twelfth Night, and Macbeth cover the whole field of Shakespearean genres, but it is amazing how Shakespeare displays a theme and carries it through in any kind of play he wants to. Historic, comic, and tragic plays are about as different as you can get, yet when we take a closer look we see many similarities among them, especially in the area of social hierarchy. In all three of these plays, Shakespeare uses a similar theme, which he conveys and proves through his characters. Twelfth Night's Malvolio, and Macbeth's Macbeth, Henry V's Henry all hold social status, and they spread the social scale, one a servant, one a nobleman, and one a

my opinion Shakespeare uses the play to show the hypocrisy of the status quo that

In the class system of Shakespeare’s time, a noblewoman would generally not sully her reputation by marrying a man of lower social status.

It is true that the majority of women in the 17th century were housewives (Lambert). However, in Shakespeare’s eyes, this did not translate to inferiority of women. Instead, he believed that society’s flawed thinking was both unjust and dangerous. He saw women for what they were worth: humans capable of performing and becoming something everyone else could. Regardless of their genders, woman could be just as assiduous, shrewd, and vindictive as their male

The upper classes of society had strict guidelines for their marriages. In the play, Lady Bracknell had some specific requirements for a potential husband of her daughter. When Gwendolen told her mother, Lady Bracknell, she was engaged to Jack,

Shakespeare first challenged class and gender roles by showing how the man is the boss. In Shakespeare’s play, Baptista controls everything that happens within this family. For example in the play when Baptista finds a suitor for Kate he insists on meeting the father of the suitor because he thinks that Petruchio is just marrying for the money. “That is, not to bestow my youngest

Through this conversation, Miss Bingley is implying Elizabeth and her family have nothing to offer. They are not wealthy, or judges like Darcy’s great uncle or even on the same social level. She also suggests that if Elizabeth is noticed by a wealthy man, her sisters may get the impression that they have a chance with well to do men. The intertwinement of wealthy and unwealthy people will create relationships that are unimaginable. Needless to say, there are immense amounts of tension between classes indirectly and directly.

In the book Star of the Sea, written by author Joseph O’Connor, he states “They had far more in common than either realised. One was born Catholic, the other Protestant. One was born Irish, the other British. But neither was the greatest difference between them. One was born rich and the other poor.” O’Connor summarises the idea of social class that has been a recurring idea since the dawn of time. Social classes is basically the division of society that is based on social and economic status. The people who were at the top of the social classes were thought to be the prestigious and most worthy people and the further you go down the chain the more common people you began to see. Many people demonstrate the social class system in literature. Shakespeare, especially, offers a challenge to what everyone thought they knew of the social class system.

This paper critically analyses the theme of social mobility through marriage in Shakespeare’s play ‘Twelfth Night’. In addition, the paper highlights how different characters in the play got into higher social classes or desired to be in higher social classes through marriage. This paper holds that in a highly stratified society such as that presented in the Shakespeare’s play; marriage plays a significant role in in social class mobility. As opposed to some traditional society where marriage was only permitted along an individual’s class, Shakespeare presents a literally liberal society with marriage and other relationships permitted along all the classes within the society. In fact, marriage is more of a person choice, contrary to the perception in the tradition society.

Prior to Shakespeare’s ascendancy on the English stage, Bloom argues, there was no concept of the individual self, just types. These types persist in Shakespeare’s plays as residual stock characters displaying