GCSE History Elizabethan Age, 1558-1603 Revision and exam ...
Elizabethan Age
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Transcript of Elizabethan Age
Elizabethan Age
1558-1603
London in the E.A.• Largest city in
Europe• Center of trade and
social life because of the Thames
• So many migrants, jobs were scarce
Negative Aspects of London
High Drinking Rate• Beer was cheap, so
people drank a lot of it to escape their problems
• Many deaths by drunkenness
Sickness and Disease3 Main Diseases:• Bubonic Plague• Small pox• Tuberculosis
Lack of Personal and Public Hygiene
• Neither rich nor poor bathed very often
• Common to have bad breath, rotting teeth, constant stomach disorders, and scabs or sores
Pollution• City ditches were used as
toilets• Butchers threw dead
carcasses in the street• Garbage was thrown in
river• Mass graves for the poor
Lack of Medical Knowledge
• Believed in the four humours, the four chief fluids of the human body: black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, blood
• They made no connection between illness and the horrible living conditions
Some Major Differences Between the Elizabethan Age
and Now
Schools• Were expensive, so most students
were upper class boys. • Only girls were from the very high
aristocracy• School Day: 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. and
1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Six days a week!
Schools (Cont.)• Taught Latin
grammar and classical literature
Clothing• Clothing Acts:
laws that said who could wear what
• People had to dress their social class
Women• No vote, few legal rights, and limited
educational and job opportunities• Girls who could afford education were
given a domestic education instead of an academic one—spinning, cooking, preserving fruit, weaving, and anything that could make the home life more pleasant
Women (Cont.)• Married women lost all control
of their property, even clothing, to their husbands
• When a husband died, the most the woman could inherit was 1/3 of his property
Death• Average life expectancy = 40 years• 1/5 of children died before the age
of 10—too many hazards in their life
Marriage• Age of marriage: males = 28-29Females = 25-26• Reasons for the wait:1. Wanted smaller families2. Wanted to make sure they were
financially ready for a family• Average marriage only lasted about 20
years
Superstitions• Elizabethans were very
superstitious; many had charms and such in their houses
• They relied heavily on astrology and the stars
Elizabethan Ghosts1. Were gruesome—usually
looked as they did when they died
2. Visible only to person they are haunting
3. Came back for a specific mission: proper burial, revenge, or a warning
Entertainment• Would be considered brutal by
today’s standards:1. Bear baiting2. Cockfighting 3. Public executions
Elizabethan Theater
“The Theater”1. First public theater2. Opened in 15763. Opened by James Burbage4. Provided an alternate form of entertainment5. Established a regular audience6. Gave rise to better props7. Opened the market for actors and
playwrights (therefore creating much needed jobs)
Caused controversy
with:1. Religious groups (morally)
2. City officials (danger of mob)
3. Business owners (competition)
Acting Group in “The Theater”
• Lord Chamberlain’s Men, later The King’s Men
• Shakespeare was a member and became the principal playwright
External structure of
Elizabethan theaters• Circular
• Open-air• Awning over
gallery seating• Larger theaters
seated approx. 2,000 – 3,000 spectators
Internal structure of
Elizabethan theaters• Stage protruded out
into the audience• The large dressing
area behind the stage was called the tiring house
Internal structure of
Elizabethan theaters• The wealthy patrons
sat on benches in the gallery
• The common people stood around the stage in “the pit”; they were called groundlings
Internal structure of
Elizabethan theaters• The area above the
stage housed machines that could lower people onto the stage – called “heaven”
• A trap door in the stage allowed actors to come up from below – called “hell”
Internal structure of
Elizabethan theaters
Tiring house
gallery
The “pit” & groundlings
stage
“heaven”
The Globe
The Globe• The theaters were closed in the
1590’s because of a plague outbreak. In 1598, the ground landlord of “The Theater” wouldn’t renew the lease because he disapproved of theatrical productions.
• He planned to pull down the Theatre and sell the building materials.
The Globe (Cont.)• The Chamberlain’s Men found a clause in
their former lease giving them the rights to the Theater (the building itself) and the actors dismantled the building themselves, transporting the materials to the other side of the Thames River.
• The new playhouse was called The Globe and became the most famous of London theaters!
Characteristics of Drama in the
Elizabethan Age1. Sets were not elaborate. 2. Clothing was fancy Elizabethan
period dress3. All male actors4. Did use some special effects—
sounds, banners, musicians
Characteristics of Drama in the
Elizabethan Age5. Plays were typically performed in
the early afternoon (around 2pm)6. Flags were raised at the theater on
the day of the play7. Flyers were distributed to
advertise plays
The End