The History and Language Behind Shakespeare

       I won't lie, I did not find the essays we read for class as engaging as everyone else seems to have. I did however love reading about the history of the time. I love history and both essays gave a little window into the world Shakespeare inhabited. During his lifetime, the world moved from the Dark Ages into the Renaissance. There were all sorts of revolutions going on; religious, scientific, literature, music and so much more. All of these had effects on Shakespeare's and his contemporaries writings.
      Both Shakespeare and Marlowe were a big part of the Renaissance movement. Plays had generally been about the bible or the goings on in the time. These two men introduced the idea of the drama. The drama might not have been as successful in England at this time had it not been for the "violent revolutionary war" (Hughes pg. 6) between the Protestants and the Catholics at the time. The land was strife with religious contention. The Queen had outlawed Catholicism and anyone found practicing it would be killed. Then the Puritans emerged and caused even more contention.
      One thing about the Puritans that stuck out to me was that they disapproved of theater. They managed to close down quite a few theaters putting people like Shakespeare out of business. I knew they were rather stuck up and too strict for anyone's own good but to do away with theater? That's inhuman to me. Try to imagine our world without theater. No drama classes, no television, no movies, no plays, no actors, no film makers, nothing. Life would be dull. It's a good thing Shakespeare and others were able to appeal to the aristocracy. The aristocrats were very much attracted to theater and everything about it. And of course because the aristocrats loved theater many commoners would mimic them and choose to enjoy theater too.
     Thus comes the use of his creativeness. The aristocrats at the time were very much in the want for expanding their vocabulary. Shakespeare obliged. Of course with the introduction of new words, how does he explain it to those (mostly commoners) who did not know the words? Easy, Shakespeare simply created a new way of speaking. We even use this method today though most of us do not know this. An example of his method is : To act her earthy and abhorred commands. Everyone new what earthy meant so when he used abhorred no one would misunderstand what it meant. Using synonyms or words with similar meanings to define another word is a common practice today. Really pay attention to what you say the next time you explain something and see how you use this method.