Shakespeare Quest

1. Who was Queen of England during the time Shakespeare began to write?  Who ruled after her? 

A) Queen Elizabeth I was Queen of England when Shakespeare began to write. After her came King James I. 

2. Give the approximate dates of the Elizabethan period. 

A) 1558-1603 was the time period known as the Elizabethan period.

3. Identify the social classes during Shakespeare's time.

A) At the top was the nobility, which was comprised of royalty. Below that came The Gentry, which was comprised of knights and squires. Then came the Yeomanry, which was like our middle class. If something tragic came, they would fall into poverty. Lastly, came the poor, which was mostly made up of the sick, the disabled, the old, and soldiers with wounds who are unable to work

4. Describe the status of women.  How would a young woman respond to a request from her father?

A) A woman's life was pretty private. They were tutored at home, and couldn't be in the navy. Also, they couldn't be a doctor or a lawyer. They couldn't vote, and couldn't be in plays. Women were known to obey a man's orders. If a father asked his daughter something, she would be expected to do that favor immediately.

5. What is primogeniture?

A) The primogeniture is the first born child. They would inherit everything from estate, to the ownership of their younger siblings. 

6. What was the Bubonic Plague and how did it affect society during Shakespeare's time?

A) The Bubonic Plague, also known as the "Black Death," was caused by a bacteria formed by fleas, who bit rats, and rats made contact with humans through their irrigation system. The effects are decreased appetite, abdominal pain, dehydration, fever, headache, chills, diarrhea, vomiting, tiny broken blood vessels called petechiae, and buboes, which is the swelling of the lymph nodes in the armpits, the groin, or the neck. 

7. Describe these aspects of Elizabethan life:

food- meat was a sign of wealth. Most common foods were fruit, sugar, bread, and honey. They often fasted. 

socialization- went to church, shopping, drinking, gossiping, flirting, tennis, bowling, badminton, archery, billards, hunting, riding horses, wrestling, polotics, and theater. 

city life- shopping, there were often whore houses or stews in the city and gambling.  

hygiene-  the upper classes bathed every few weeks, as the lower class bathed a few times a year. The water they used was fairly dirty as well to make things worse. The hair was washed more often than taking a bath with a form of soap. For going to the bathroom, people would use clumps of grass or hay for cleaning. Places in England, especially London, were very over crowded (by dirty people). This is what caused the bubonic plague.

crime- Torture was used as the main punishment for crime, to intimidate a group, confess, and to get information. The most common types of torture are stretching, pulling, burning, beating, and drowning/ suffocating with water. Treason was the worst crime you could commit. Torture was only used for high levels of treason, manslaughter  rape, and robbery. For poisoning someone, you were boiled. Cutting off the right hand, plucking out the eyes with hot tweezers, and tearing off fingers was used to steal, and branding and mutilation were used for standard uses of torture. If a women was accused of adultery, they would be drowned to death, but very slowly through a dunking booth. If someone stole, raped, or killed, they would be trapped in a cage in the city, and people would harras them. They would be taken down when they were dead. 

an elizabethan home

homes- They look like tudor homes. Black and white colored. High chimneys. You could see the floor on top of you. Thatched roofs, and leaded windows. 

clothing- there were actually laws regarding what color clothes and the type of clothes you could wear. Also, pesants couldn't dress like the upper class. Upper class women wore victorian style dresses made of velvet, exotic silk, and satin. The poor wore clothes made of English cotton, wool, and leather. The dresses were tight at the top, and a big bubble at the bottom and a collar.  Dyes were expensive. Men wore tights with pouffy shorts for their bottoms, and short-sleeved shirt, also pouffy. Some men wore dresses with longs sleeves, that look like night gowns, with a cape/coat, also having long sleeves.