Elizabethan World Order

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Elizabethan World Order This theory, based on the Greek philosopher Aristotle’s concept of the universe, was of great importance to Shakespeare’s contemporaries and was used by him in developing events in his plays. According to this idea, everything in the world had its position fixed by God. The Earth was the centre of the universe and the stars moved around it in fixed routes. In Heaven God ruled over the archangels and angels. On earth there was order everywhere. Society reflected this order with its fixed classes from the highest to the lowest – kings, churchmen, nobles, merchants, and peasants. The animals had their own degrees too, the lion being the “king”. Plant life and minerals also reflected this order. Among the trees, the most superior was the oak; among flowers, it was the rose. Among the minerals, gold was the most superior. The Elizabethans called this hierarchical structure The Great Chain of Being. Any attempt to break the chain of being would upset the established order and bring about universal disorder. Thus when Julius Caesar is assassinated, there is chaos in the heavens as well as on earth. In Macbeth after Duncan is murdered we are told by the Old Man and Ross (Act 2, Scene 4) that the day became as dark as night, a falcon was killed by an owl and that Duncan’s horses turned wild and ate each other. Only when the rightful king (Malcolm) gains his throne at the culmination of the play is order and harmony to the world restored. You may ask why it should assume such enormous proportion. If you ponder over the idea as outlined above, you will see that the order was established by God. Thus the king was enjoying a God-ordained position which is known as the divine right of kings. Therefore, if the king’s position was violated, such as rebellion or assassination, it would bring strife and chaos to the world, simply because it

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