The Elizabethan World Picture
The World Picture: An ordered universe arranged in a fixed system of hierarchies The order can be altered by man’s sin and the hope of his redemption.
ORDER Everything had a place and an order in life, and everything played off other actions. Example: The sun, the king, primogeniture hang together; the war of the planets is echoed by the war of the elements and by civil war on earth…creation out of the confusion of chaos.
Order cont’d Cosmic order is one of the master themes of Elizabethan poetry, drama, and art. They were obsessed with keeping earthly order; terrified that it might be upset; and fearful of the chaos that might follow. What might happen if Providence relaxed? What if the laws of nature stopped functioning?
SIN How does one reach redemption… The scheme of salvation was pervasive in the Elizabethan age (think about the Crusades, the Pardoner and Chaucer’s other clergy members, and Everyman) English literature was permeated by Christian dogma How does one reach redemption…
SIN cont’d The universe was created after some “divine idea”: hence the universe was good …but the universe is a copy and thereby corrupted from perfection. BUT FEAR NOT! Man can rise above imperfections and reach towards heaven through poetry. Elizabethans felt that poetry was not only “more instructive than history or philosophy [but that] poetry was man’s effort to rise above his fallen self and to reach out towards perfection.”
The Chain of Being Imagine a chain (or ladder) being stretched from the foot of God’s throne to the most inanimate objects. Every speck of creation is a link in the chain. “hierarchy” of the Medieval Ages plays into the Elizabethan Age
Bath Cathedral
Angels climbing towards heaven
The Bottom of the Chain Mere Existence: Inanimate Class Elements, liquids, metals i. Differences in virtue: water is nobler than earth; the ruby than topaz, etc.
The Chain cont’d Existence & Life: Vegetable Class Plants i. The oak is nobler than the bramble, etc.
The Chain cont’d Existence, Life, & Feeling: The Sensitive Class (3 grades) Those that have touch but no memory or movement like the shellfish, moss, etc Those with touch, memory, and movement, but no hearing, like ants. Those with all faculties like horses and dogs, etc.
The Chain cont’d Existence, Life, Feeling, & Understanding: Man Linked to all levels below him; earthly levels Attempts to be linked to the levels above him; heavenly levels
The Chain cont’d Existence, Understanding, but Free from Attachment to the Lower Levels: Angels
The Chain cont’d This “chain” is more like a “ladder” because there is a possibility of change. There is a progression: the elements nourish the plants; the fruits nourish the beasts, and the flesh of the beasts nourish man. This is all done with one tendency… The tendency of man to move upwards toward God.
The Chain & Shakespeare Shakespeare was always concerned with man’s position on the chain between beast and angel.
Nature & Astrology in the Chain Nature: above man but below angels; an intellectual being? Elizabethan scholars think of Nature as nothing but a tool of God Think of Nature and “Fate,” as being both fickle and slightly unknowing
Nature & Astrology in the Chain cont’d Astrology: obeys God’s changeless order & are responsible for the vagaries of Fortune on earth Christianity was young and growing, but there was a general terror of the stars and the practice of astrology
Nature & Astrology in the Chain cont’d Three things play havoc in man’s lives: God, Nature, Stars (astrology) A belief that man has it in him to survive the blows of Fortune Fortune and Nature, as tools of God, help to educate man
How Man/Woman Fit into the Grand Scheme Reason & Understanding Does man always choose to use those things wisely?
We must never forget that the Elizabethan thoughts of understanding are in close relation to the fall of man. The natural thirst for knowledge and wisdom still survive, but the soul’s instruments have been impaired and often shirk or ignore the labor by which knowledge is obtained.