Features of Tudor dynasty

1. Tudor Despotism: Their rule was based on the people’s tacit consent and was
ultimately beneficial to them.
2. End of feudal privileges: Tudors took several measures to control the feudal
nobles. Henry VII passed some laws forbidding them to keep soldiers. He
established a special court to try and punish nobles. Discontinued the practice of
recruiting the chief officers from the nobles.
3. Rise and growth of new middle classes: The real strength of the Tudors depended
upon the new aristocracy and the middle classes which emerged during this time.
In the place of the old feudal nobility and villains, we see enlightened people
imbibing the spirit of the Renaissance. The Tudors suppressed the feudal nobility,
they pursued the policy of depriving the barons and the church of their land,
wealth, and power. Thus, the enormous wealth seized was deposited in the
treasury, and the land was distributed among some officials and the middle classes.
Thus a new gentry came into being. The trading class supported the king. They
also belonged to the middle classes. Most of them became landed gentry as they
bought the land. Thus the middle classes became aristocracy in due course of time.
The middle classes were the backbone of the English nation. They were made the
ministers of the king; they were given an active role in the administrative and
judicial matters of the country. Members of the Parliament were elected from the
new aristocracy which was thoroughly non-feudal. The Justice of Peace was
selected from the new aristocracy and the middle classes. The minoLater on,
Turkey Company Justices of Peace. Justify peace was a group of judges king
appointed them they traveled from one place to another. These justices controlled
local working conditions and supervised wage fixation. They had to take care of
the periodic repair of roads and prevent gambling. They controlled the guilds; they
supervised weights and measures; They had the power to the rioters and punish
them; they were responsible for enforcing the industrial laws; supplied relief at the
time of some calamity; they were in charge of the bridges, hospitals, jails and so
on. In short, they did all the work of the local government. Thus, the middle
classes and the aristocracy were always at the back of the crown to strengthen him
to take bold steps towards the progress of the country. Because of their support,
England could become a mighty power in Europe in the 16th century.
4. Reformation in England
Like other countries of Europe, during the 16thC the Catholic religion
was in vogue in England, and the rule of the Tudor dynasty was established in
England at the end of the 15th Century. The Tudor rulers had faith in nationalism
and their public did not like the practice of remitting tax to the Pope of Rome
because they considered the Pope a foreigner. Even then, Henry VIII did not
oppose the Pope in the beginning. He believed that the Pope was the representative
of God on earth. He also wrote a book in favor and support of the rights of the
Pope and submitted it to the Pope. It pleased the Pope and he awarded him the title
of Defender of the Faith. Henry VIII also severely punished the supporters of
Martin Luther.
The Protestantism which emerged in England was not motivated by religious
causes but was inspired by political and personal causes. The wife of Henry VIII
was the princess of Spain and the widow of his brother Arthur. This marriage was
performed due to political reasons. Henry’s father wanted to establish friendly
relations with Spain. Hence he married his son to Catherine. She was five yrs
senior to Henry VIII. Soon their relations grew tense. Catherine gave birth to some
children but none except a daughter could survive. Henry wanted a successor, so
he began to say that he had committed a religious crime by marrying the widow of
his brother, therefore, God was annoyed with him and he did not bless him with a
son. Besides, Henry VIII was in love with Anne Boleyn and wanted to marry her
but he could not do so without the permission of the Pope. He requested the Pope
for divorce through Wolsey in 1527 but he did not succeed in his mission because
Catherine was very close to Charles V and the Pope was afraid of him. As a result,
he dismissed Cardinal Wolsey( England) and confiscated his property. Now Henry
VIII wanted to keep both the political and religious power in his hands.
People of England already had bitter feelings against the Roman Catholic church
and the Pope’s corruption and, were greatly influenced by Luther’s work. Both the
king and the public considered sending money to the Pope harmful. So in 1532,
the British Parliament passed an Act, according to which sending money to the
Pope was declared illegal. In 1532 sending of religious appeals to the Pope was
banned. Henry appointed Cranmer the Archbishop of Canterbury and he declared
the marriage of Henry and Catherine null and void and performed the marriage
ceremony of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Now it became essential for the Pope
to take action against Henry VIII. He declared Henry’s new marriage illegal and
excommunicated them. Henry also adopted a revengeful attitude towards the Pope
and removed his name from all religious books, prayers, and religious activities.
The reformation parliament passed the Act of Supremacy in 1534. According to
this Act, king Henry was made the Supreme Head of the English Church. Now
everyone had to take an oath that he would not act according to the command of
any foreign power in religious matters and they would follow all the acts passed
by the Parliament. Henry VIII confiscated the property of many churches in which
corruption was rampant. Sir Thomas Moore and Bishop John refused to obey the
Act of Supremacy and they were awarded capital punishment for their
impertinence. Some other priests and feudal lords were also executed for refusing
to accept the supremacy of the king in religious matters or for raising their heads
against King Henry VIII. After the death of Henry VIII, his s Edward VI came to
 power he made some reforms in the Protestant religion. Introduced a prayer book
(principles of Luther and Calvinism mingled). After him, Mary Tudor came to
power. Return to Papacy was her chief mission and to achieve this goal, she
resorted to two ways to execute her plan. First, she endeavored to crush the
Protestants and secondly she aimed at restoring Catholicism in England. Mary got
all the acts passed by Edward canceled through parliament. Besides, she married
Philip II, the emperor of Spain, who was a staunch Catholic. Mary Tudor
reappointed all the suspended Catholic priests and tormented the protestants so
much that she became Bloody Mary. She died in 1553. She was succeeded by
Elizabeth. She had faith in Protestantism but she did not want to offend Catholics,
hence she acted as a shrewd politician. She made some changes in the prayer book
of Edward. In 1558 she passed the Act of Uniformity which provided equal
religious rights to all.
Thus She could save England from religious conflict and the new religion
Anglican religion acts as midway between Catholicism and Protestantism.
5. Elizabethan Era / Golden age of England:
Queen Elizabeth, I was born on September 7, 1533, in Greenwich England. She
claimed the throne at the age of 25 and held it for 44 years, keeping England
governed through wars, and political and religious turmoil. She died in 1603. The
reign of Elizabeth(1558-1603) can be considered as one of the golden periods in
British history. She was the most popular of the Tudors. Religion was a vital
question when Elizabeth ascended the throne. She was not a religious fanatic like
her brother or sister. She avoided extremes. She had seen the English Reformation
pass through three stages/ religious settlement: the Anglo-Catholicism of Henry,
the radical Protestantism of Edward, and the return to Roman Catholicism under
Mary. Elizabeth chose to be Protestant and brought about the Anglican settlement.
She restored the Acts of supremacy and uniformity, but with alterations. . The
Queen now called herself the Supreme Governor of the Church and not the
Supreme Head. This change of title was a concession to Catholics. The new Act of
Uniformity introduced a modified prayer Book all over the nation. The Queen
made the transition to Protestantism with relative ease. The national religion of
England, which is Anglicanism, dates to the time of Queen Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s
church was attacked by a sect called the Puritans. They were English Protestants
who had fled England during Queen Mary’s reign. Living on the continent, they
were strongly influenced by John Calvin and returned to England as radicals
during Elizabeth’s reign. The Puritans disapproved of the compromise in
Elizabeth’s church. Elizabeth was highly irritated by the Puritans and appointed
John Whitgift as the Archbishop of Canterbury. He hated the Puritans and
managed to silence them through imprisonment and execution.
The English Reformation was complete during the reign of Queen Elizabeth in
the sense that the Church broke off from Rome and became Protestant. Under the
able guidance of Elizabeth, there was peace and prosperity in England.

Elizabeth had developed a strong government and a powerful navy. Wanting to

bring expansion and wealth to her beloved country, she encouraged exploration of
new places and trade with foreign countries. Trade of such goods as silk, food,
and spices greatly helped England’s economy.
Why did the Queen Elizabeth I period is known as the Golden age of
England?
1. Overseas trade: England paid little or no attention to the development of sea
power till the Tudor period.It was only in the Tudor period that England
became a sea power. There were many factors responsible for maritime and
colonial activity.
(a) Influence of Renaissance: The Renaissance opened man’s eyes and
widened their outlook of the world around them. It infused in the
people a new spirit, life, and activity. It engendered a spirit of
adventure to undertake sea ventures.
(b) The need for the market/ Maritime activity: The Tudors encouraged
industry and within a few years there was a great output of
manufactured goods. The goods thus manufactured had to be sold
out in distant markets for the consumption of the people.
In the Tudor period, better attention was given to seafaring by
Henry VIIIwho is called the Father of the English Navy. in his time
navy was placed under a separate department and organised as a
standing force in the country. Much of the wealth he got from the
dissolution of monasteries was spent on developing the navy. The
Elizabethan era witnessed the fast development of the English navy.
Some of the famous Elizabethans began to take an active interest in
maritime exploration. Sir Walter Raleigh, sir john Hawkins and Sir
Francis Drake were the queen’s sea dogs. It is a period of Excellent
traders and seamen. Her period witnessed the development of trade
and industry . The most flourishing industry of Tudor England was
the wool industry. Owing to the political rivalry with France She was
forced to find out the overseas market for English cloth. The
 Britishers, therefore, established quite a several companies to carry
on their trade in the newly discovered parts of the world. Many
international trading companies were established to trade with
countries like Turkey, Russia, India, China, and so on. The London
merchants sent a man called William Harborne to Turkey to get
permission for trade. Thus the Turkey Company was set up. Later
on, Turkey Company joined Venice Company and came to be known
as Levant Company to trade with Venice. In 1553 Richard
Chancellor sailed to Moscow and formed a company called
Muscovy Company to trade with Russia. Two English Captains
George Raymond and James Lancaster sailed for the east in 1591,
Raymond’s ship sank in the storm and Lancaster reached East Indies
and also visited Ceylon. Consequently, the famous East India
Company was formed in 1600 to trade with India and the far east.
Thus a large number of companies carried out export trade, the
wealth and riches that they brought made the people prosperous. The
founding of commercial companies surely bettered the English
economy.

The Spanish Armada 1588.

The naval supremacy of England was exhibited only in 1588 when she defeated a huge
Spanish fleet called Spanish Armada. In the 16th century, England and Spain were
enemies on several grounds. Spain and England were different in religions. Spain was
profoundly Catholic under Philip II and England was Protestant. Spain sent many Jesuits
to England with the idea of converting Protestants back to the Catholic faith. England
reacted savagely against this movement and put to death many of those missionaries.
Elizabeth’s refusal to marry Philip II and the cruelty of English sailors to the Spaniards
also strained the relationship between the two. The Execution of Mary Stuart (Mother of
James VI of Scotland/James I of England) in 1587 by Elizabeth infuriated Philip II who
wanted to put her on the English throne as against Elizabeth. Finally, the Pope also
encouraged Philip II to fight against heretic England.
All these reasons accounted for the preparation of Armada to crush the Englishmen. The
Spanish fleet consisting of 130ships, 8000 seamen, and about 20000 soldiers started its
voyage through the English Channel heading toward England. Invincible Armada the
highly presumptuous name given to the ill-fated fleet was under the command of the
Duke of Medina Sidonia. The English fleet, having about the same number of ships, was
headed by veteran seamen like John Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake. In the ensuing
battle, the heavy and ponderous Spanish fleet was scattered all over the sea. Fierce
fighting took place throughout the day. Many ships were sunk, some damaged and their
men were wounded and dead, only a few returned home. After the defeat of the Spanish
Armada, England became the Mistress of the High seas.
The results
The defeat of the Armada had far-reaching effects. It destroyed the prestige of Spain on
the sea and laid the foundation of British naval supremacy. It opened the roads of the sea
to all the world and put an end to the era of Spanish monopoly. It made possible the great
colonising activities of the next era. It put an end to the fear of Spanish domination in
Europe and of the extirpation of Protestantism. It ensured the safety of both England and
the English church. It secured the independence of the Netherlands because it was now
impossible for Spain to use the sea route freely for the reinforcement of her armies. It
inspired other nations to fight against more powerful enemies such as the restarting of
Dutch rebellions against the Spanish. England herself became more confident in her
exploration of the sea, as her navy had been proved as a powerful fighting force. For
Spain however, the Armada ruined Spain financially. Some historians have seen the
Armada as starting point for the decline of Spain.

Elizabethan society/ Tudor society

The Elizabethan age was filled with enthusiasm and a zest for life. A broad view of the
society in the age of Queen Elizabeth reveals a young and vigorous people emerging
from the middle ages into the intense life of the Renaissance. They were uninhibited,
proud, and self-confident. They revelled in a sense of success and achievement arising
from good government. The Elizabethans were filled with a sense of patriotism due to the
defeat of the Spanish Armada.

The Elizabethans were eager not only to climb the social ladder but also to
respond to intellectual and artistic impulses. It was an age of superb writing in prose and
verse. The upper classes were better educated than they had ever been before. The
introduction of the printing press was vastly responsible for the growing interest in
literature.

Some of the men of that period were highly versatile. For example, Sir Walter Raleigh
was a courtier, soldier, sailor, discoverer, coloniser, poet, and writer of prose. Sir Francis
Drake was another outstanding personality of the age. He successfully navigated around
the world from 1577 to 1580.
 The Elizabethans were more interested in the pursuit of physical pleasure like wealth,
knowledge, and adventure than in the spiritual. They had a childlike joy in possessing
fine clothes and trinkets. They dressed in bright colours and loved shows, parades, and
plays. Dancing around the maypole(a painted pole, decorated with flowers, round which
people traditionally dance on May Day, holding long ribbons that are attached to the top
of the pole.) and singing were the other popular activities of that age. Bear baiting,
cockfighting, and hunting were the hobbies of the men.

There were several reasons for the vitality and exuberance of the Elizabethans. The full
impact of the Renaissance was felt in England at that time. The earlier part of the
sixteenth century was devoted to the new learning and theological debates. As the century
progressed, intellectuals began focusing on humanism which was the study of ancient
Greek and Roman literature. The humanist’s view of life was in stark contrast to that of
the medieval thinker. According to the medieval scholar, life on earth was something to
be ashamed of and despised. They viewed man as a sinful creature who should devote his
entire life to trying to attain heaven after death. The humanists, on the other hand,
rejected this view completely. They celebrated the human body and life on this earth.

Tudor society was a hierarchical society. English society was made up of the nobility, the
gentry, and the yeomen. The nobility consisted of eminent and wealthy people with an
ancient lineage. A nobleman could be asked to perform high public functions without
remuneration. They owned townhouses in London and added splendour to the court.
They lived in a grand style with elaborate households, fine furniture, and exquisite
clothes.

Next to the nobility came the gentry. The gentry, as a class, played a more vital role than
the nobles in the Elizabethan period. These country gentlemen were becoming powerful
and wealthy due to the land of the monasteries. They acted as Justices of Peace and
controlled the rural administration of England. They were very friendly with the lawyers
and merchants of the town. They formed a part of the House of Commons and generally
set the pattern of social behaviour. The gentry was a very fluid class.

Below them were the common people the farmers, labourers, and beggars. The farmers
led a peaceful and contented life although they were hit hard by the enclosure system. So
many acres of arable land were consolidated into bigger units and consequently converted
into pastures for the purpose of sheep breeding. The wool industry was the most
flourishing business in the Tudor period and it went by leaps and bounds.

The labourers, both agricultural and industrial were the target of exploitation. They were
not given reasonable wages and often had to work long duration of time.
 The beggars were in a very pitiable condition during the Tudor period and their number
had considerably increased due to the dissolution of monasteries, enclosure system, and
overpopulation. There were both able-bodied and disabled beggars and to look after them
was really a burden to the state. In order to mitigate this social evil, many attempts were
made in the previous years by the government, but most of them were failures. The most
successful attempt was made in 1601 during the reign of Elizabeth when she passed the
Poor Law Act which provided relief to the poor and the disabled. Accordingly, each
Parish was entrusted with the duty of looking after its poor and the disabled. In order to
meet the expense, they had to levy a poor rate from the people. Relief was given to the
poor from the common fund, their children were taught and were trained in various crafts
and arts. The able-bodied beggars were work in parish workshops. If no work was found,
they also were given relief from the Parish fund. The Justices of peace were in charge of
the Poor Laws.

Education: The Tudor had imbibed the spirit of Renaissance and the New learning. They
were an enlightened class. The task of education was taken up by philanthropists and
governmental agencies who established a large number of Grammar schools to impart
secondary education. Some of the Grammar Schools were public schools. The Public
Schools at Eton, Harrow, and Rugby were very famous. Many Colleges were also started
of which Trinity College at Oxford is held in esteem. Most of these schools were started
by either Protestants or Puritans which dismantled the edifice of the Catholic-ridden
system of education. But it is to be noted that there were no fixed courses or syllabi for
the Grammar schools and even for Colleges. As regards the social habits of the people it
must be said that the Elizabethans were fond of many sports, like bullfighting,
bear-baiting, and cockfighting. Music and poetry captivated the mind of the people.
Hunting and horse racing were the favourite sports of the upper classes. They wore costly
clothes made of silk, satin, velvet, and wool. High heels were common and it was used
simply because the roads were dirty and wet and not as a fashion.

Elizabethan Literature:

Elizabethan age is the golden age of English poetry and especially drama. There were a
number of poets and dramatists who produced excellent works of art with perennial value
and lasting interest. Beaumont, Fletcher, Ben Johnson, Webster, Marlowe, Spenser,
Sidney, Peele, Lodge, Nashe, and Donne are the literary luminaries of this age besides
Shakespeare and they enriched English literature by various forms of writing.

Poetry

Elizabethan England was a nest of singing birds. The people revelled in music and
dancing. After Chaucer English poetry suffered a setback. There was no poet of any note
n the 15th century. The first part of the 16th century also was as barren as the 15th
century.

Edmund Spenser:

Edmund Spencer’s fame rests chiefly on his the Fairy Queen a work consisting of six
books each celebrating a moral virtue and vice. His original intention was to write twelve
books celebrating twelve private moral values. He took twenty years to complete the
book. All the books are allegorical in nature, moral virtues and virtues are personified
through the characters of different knights. The whole book is symbolic, representing life
as a struggle between good and evil and a pilgrimage toward the celestial city. In every
book, there appears a chief knight representing a moral virtue, and his journeys and
adventurers are planned in such a way as to avenge the wrong and deliver the oppressed.

His another Poem is The Shepheard‘s Calendar published in 1579. It consists of twelve
pastoral poems, one for each month of the year. Some poems are satires on the clergy;
one is an allegory; one flatters Elizabeth and others are pure fables touched with the
puritan spirits. Astrophel is an elegy on the death of Sidney, Amoretti is a collection of
sonnets dedicated to his sweetheart Elizabeth, an Irish girl. Spenser was designated by
Charles Lamb as the Poets poet Milton describes him as our sage and serious Spenser,
Wordsworth calls him sweet Spenser, Brother, Englishman, and Friend. Spenser’s great
contribution to English versification is his Spenserian stanza, consisting of nine lines,
the first lines have ten syllables each and each line is in iambic pentameter. The last line
is an iambic hexameter and it is called an Alexandrine.

Drama

The most important literary art in the medieval period was drama. Drama owes its origin
to the church in these centuries. It was the church that brought back drama to England.
The rituals of the church itself had something dramatic about it. During Christmas and
Easter celebrations the priests chanted the whole life of Christ standing on two sides. The
whole prayer was in Latin; they presented in the church important events of christ
through words and actions. For example, they acted the visit of the three women to the
Empty tomb or the visits of the shepherds to the Infant Christ and so on. The drama was
born out of liturgies. Everything was done in the Church, the actors were Priests and the
audience very patiently listened to them.

As time passed, the audience increased and therefore the church could not
accommodate them all. They had to find a wider place. So the drama moved from the
church to the outside world. By this, drama became secularised, meaning the religious
element became weak. The actors were no more Priests, Latin was not used, and the
members of the guilds were the actors. They prepared plays and they were performed in
different parts of the town. These touring dramatic companies prepared groups of plays
and there were such groups of plays as Chester, York, Wakefield, and Commentary. All
these groups of plays were based on biblical themes and each play was mounted on a
platform filled with wheels. These early plays are called Miracle plays or Mystery Plays.
They dealt with the story from Creation to the Day of judgment, Creation of Man, Fall of
Man, scenes from the life Christ-like Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension, and so on.
There is a distinction between Miracle plays and Mysteries, the former dealt with the
lives of saints, and the latter was based on scriptural events. The best known of the
Moralities is a play called Everyman. The subject of the play is the summoning of every
man by death and the moral is nothing can take away the terror of the inevitable summon
but an honest life and the comfort of religion.

Towards the close of the 15th century another type called interludes came into
existence. Probably it meant a play in the midst of some festivities, banquet, or
entertainments. Elizabethan drama differs from the Mysteries and Moralities in form and
content and how that change came about is a matter of speculation. Unlike Moralities, the
English drama dealt with human life as it is, and it had a well-defined plot, divided into
acts and scenes.

Christopher Marlowe:

When we trace the history of English drama, we find two schools of drama, one school
observing the classical ideal, and the other school disregarding the classical dramatic
unities. The University Wits (The University Wits is a phrase used to name a group of
late 16th-century English playwrights and pamphleteers who were educated at the
universities (Oxford or Cambridge) and who became popular secular writers.)
disregarded the dramatic unities and endeavored to present life as it is. Of the University
Wits, the most popular one is Christopher Marlowe. Born in Canterbury he was the son of
a poor shoemaker. He was a playwright very much influenced by the ideals of the
Renaissance. He wrote four plays each revolving around one central personality who is
consumed by the lust of power. His first play Tamburlaine the great is filled with
Renaissance enthusiasm, lust for power, and glory. It is the story of a simple shepherd
Timur whose unending ambition enables him to defeat many kings and finally fight
against the gods and overthrew them as he has overthrown earthly rulers. Dr. Faustus is
the best of Marlowe’s work. The story is that of a scholar who longs for infinite
knowledge and turns from theology, philosophy medicine, and law to the study of magic.
In order to study magic, he sells to the devil on a condition that he shall have twenty-four
years of absolute power and knowledge. The Jew of Malta is a study of the lust for
wealth that centers on Barabas, a terrible old moneylender. Edward II is a tragic study of
a King’s weakness and misery, a predecessor of Shakespeare’s Richard II. In order to
create diversity, he used blank verse; he grouped lines according to the ideas not
according to the sound. All his works are famous for its splendid imagination, poetic
beauty, humour, delineation of character , and delicate fancy.

Shakespeare :

William Shakespeare was born on 23rd April 1564 at Stratford upon Avon;
Warwickshire. His father was a wool merchant. He might have attended the local
Grammar school. According to Ben Johnson, he knew Small Latin and less greek
However he was a man of wide learning and was fully equipped by nature’s bounty and
his own industry for a successful literary career. He holds the foremost place in the
world’s literature.

It is generally accepted that Shakespeare wrote 37 plays. These plays corresponding

with the growth and experience of the poet’s life may be classified into four different
periods.

In the period of experimentation 1590-95, he wrote Venus and Adonis, Rape of Lucrece,
Henry vi(3parts) Love’s Labour’s Lost, Comedy of errors, Richard III, Richard II, King
John. In the period of growth and development, he wrote Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer
Night’s Dream, Merchant of Venice, Henry IV, As you like it, and Henry V. In the period
of maturity and gloom he wrote the sonnets, Twelfth Night, Julius Caesar, Hamlet,
Othello, Macbeth, Antony, and Cleopatra. In the period of serenity, Winter’s Tale, The
Tempest, Henry VIII.

Shakespeare wrote nine English history plays which may be reduced to six. King John
Richard II and Henry VI are studies of King’s weakness, Henry IV, Henry V, Richard III
are studies of king’s strength. Besides he also wrote three Roman history play Julius
Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus. In these history plays he writes primarily
as an artist and not as a historian, avoiding the religious and political problems of the
Tudor period. He also made certain changes in historical plays to make the play
interesting.

Shakespeare is a poet and playwright par excellence. He wrote plays for contemporary
theatre, answered its needs, enlightening audiences of all kinds and times.

Ben Johnson is the most outstanding post-Shakespearean dramatist and for twenty
years he was the literary dictator of London. His ambition was to restore the classic form
of the drama and to keep the stage from its downward course. Apparently, he failed,
nevertheless, his influence resulted in the so-called classicism of the 18th century. His
first comedy Every man in his humour is a key to all his dramas. The word Humour in his
age stood for some characteristic whim or quality of society or individual. He gives to his
leading character some prominent humour, exaggerations it in such a way that all other
qualities are lost sight of. The best-known comedies of Ben Johnson are Volpone, The
Alchemist, and The silent woman. Volpone is an analysis of man governed by an
overwhelming love of money for its own sake. The Alchemist is a study of man’s
quackery. An Alchemist is a person who practices the methods of changing base metals
into gold and finding a universal solvent and an elixir of life. Elixir is an alcoholic
preparation supposed to be capable of transmuting baser metals into gold or prolonging
life. The play tells us the story of dupers and the duped, of those who make money by
trading on human credulity and those who let themselves be cheated by the hope of
sudden riches. The silent woman tells the story of a man whose humour cannot tolerate
the slightest noise.

Elizabethan Theatre: The early part of the Elizabethan era was a period of strolling
players, they moved from place to place and improvised theatre anywhere. It was a time
when the actors had to go to the audience instead of the audience coming to the actors.
One reason for this was that there were no permanent theatres in England. The first
permanent theatre was built in 1576 by James Burbage and it was called The Theatre.
Soon other theatres were built, the famous Rose was built in 1587, The Globe, and The
Fortune in 1600. Most of these theatres were small as they aimed to accommodate only a
few people. Structurally, speaking these theatres were opened to the sky; they had no
roof. The audience witnessed the play from three sides. The backstage and the galleries
surrounding the yard were roofed.

The plays were performed during the day as there was no provision for artificial lighting.
But later on, towards the end of Shakespeare’s career, the plays were acted during the
night with the help of candlelight and therefore more stage effects were possible. Those
who could pay well were seated in the galleries, some of the most privileged persons sat
on stools on the stage. The groundlings who paid just a penny stood on the ground and
watched the play.

There were no painted curtains as we see them today to indicate the change of place and
time. Its absence necessitated the playwright to supply in words the change of location of
the action. Shakespeare considered such device very unrealistic and therefore, tried to
convey the change of scene through dialogue between the characters. In Twelfth Night
Act 1 scene 2 the idea of place is communicated through a conversation between Viola
and the Sea Captain. Viola asks,

‘what country, a friend is this ? and the captain replies.” This is Illyria, Lady’.

Another feature of the Elizabethan stage is that there were no female actors. It was only
in the restoration period professional actresses became an accepted part of the English
theatre. Women’s part was, therefore, played by young boys trained from childhood for
the purpose. That is why there are very few women characters in Shakespeare’s play.

The audience of the Elizabethan age consisted of a small crowd, drawn from all sections
of society differing in tastes, education, and wealth. Most of them were highly
superstitious believing in ghosts, witches, and witchcraft, and fond of witnessing scenes
of violence like brutal fights and bear-baiting. A playwright of the period had taken pains
to please the people of such diverse interests and Shakespeare has succeeded immensely
in this respect.