But Shakespeare does not try to render Republican Rome in faithful and accurate historical detail. "Peace! count the clock," says Brutus (2.1) although the play is ostensibly set during ancient times, and the practice of bear-baiting is referred to when Octavius says "We are at the stake / And bayed about by many enemies" (4.1)The entertainment of bear-baiting, a reminder of the brutality of the Elizabethan age, was even enjoyed by the queen and often took place near the Globe theater where Julius Caesar was first performed: "The bear was tethered to a stake in the middle of the ring, able to move only a short distance before being drawn up sharply when it got to the end of its tether. That's where the phrase 'at the end of my tether' comes from - the frustration and agony of not being able to go any further. Dogs would be released to taunt the bear, and the excitement came from the tension between the bear and the dogs. The most agile dogs would be able to spring away, out of the bear's range, but any mistakes would be fatal: a bear would kill several dogs before itself occasionally becoming the victim. The crowd would roar its encouragement to the bear" (Entertainment at Shakespeare's Globe Theater, No Sweat Shakespeare, 2004.). This common practice shows the acceptance of cruelty in Shakespeare's life, but also Shakespeare's skillful use of ordinary activities in the metaphors of his works to make analogies between Elizabethan's lives and the citizens of Rome. This sense of an analogy between drama and life is explicitly alluded to during the assassination. As Cassius says: "How many ages hence / Shall this our lofty scene be acted over / In states unborn and accents yet unknown!" (3.1). Cassius states what is actually occurring -- this real historical event has become the subject of popular drama. This also implies that current Elizabethan history and its crises of legitimacy and succession will someday become the subject of drama. Elizabethan "social and political taste" for elaborate displays in the actions of leaders is transposed back to Rome (Greenblatt 192). Especially in these moments, Cassius and Brutus are more Elizabethan than Roman. Self-conscious dramatization of political affairs,...
Cassius and Brutus believe they will be praised -- of course, the opposite is true after Mark Anthony engages in his own political spectacle during his funeral oration. But showing how quickly politics could change, Shakespeare creates a bond between his contemporary audience, reveals and questions the spectacles of history and authority they witnessed in their daily lives, and draws parallels between their own and ancient Roman's complex negotiations regarding the nature of kinship.
"Studies in Philology 99.2 (2002): 123-151. Platinum Periodicals. ProQuest. 4 Apr. 2009 http://www.proquest.com/ An examination how Marlowe's plays often use religion as a theme, but contain irreligious implications, reflective of the strains of atheism, mysticism, and even heretical Christian sects during the time, referring to "the heated religious milieu of mid-seventeenth-century London…many people claimed to be visited by God and instructed to accomplish some religious sign or undertaking" (Moore 123). Websites Alchin,
He "almost" despises himself but still seems not to think that his actions were absolutely wrong. Furthermore, the narrator of the Shakespeare Sonnet finds solace and comfort in thinking of his lover. By thinking of the one he loves, a human being, the narrator feels absolved of any wrongdoing. The narrator of the Shakespeare Sonnet is more concerned with the consequences of his actions, such as being an outcast,
Theatre was not only popular for itself, then, but also for the opportunities it afforded the audience for social interaction and establishing hierarchy and dominance in a world where such social, economic, and political identities were in a state of massive flux. From base to cultured, rich to poor, art to ostentation, it is the various contradictions inherent to Elizabethan theatre that made it such a popular form of entertainment
A hut on top of the 'Tiring House' was there for apparatus and machines. Flag above the hut was there to indicate concert day. Musicians' veranda was beneath the hut at the third level and spectators would have to sit on 2nd level. (the Elizabethan Theatre: Introduction to Theatre Online Course) The performance sites are also original. First managed in suitable public places like inn courtyards, in the fashion of
The fear of "disorder" "had significant political ramifications. The proscription against trying to rise beyond one's place was of course useful to political rulers, for it helped to reinforce their authority. The implication was that civil rebellion caused the chain to be broken, and according to the doctrine of correspondences, this would have dire consequences in other realms," whether the king was good or bad ("The Great Chain of
Renaissance Art An Analysis of Love in the Renaissance Art of Sidney, Shakespeare, Hilliard and Holbein If the purpose of art, as Aristotle states in the Poetics, is to imitate an action (whether in poetry or in painting), Renaissance art reflects an obsession with a particular action -- specifically, love and its many manifestations, whether eros, agape or philia. Love as a theme in 16th and 17th century poetry and art
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