Shakespeare: Context (AQA GCSE English Literature)

Context

There are only a maximum of six marks available in the Shakespeare question for context. This may not seem like a lot, but six marks can be the difference between two entire grades at GCSE. Furthermore, if you understand how to effectively incorporate contextual understanding of your studied play into your essay, it can even boost your mark in AO1 too, and help you create a more sophisticated and conceptualised response.

Shakespearean England

Below is some general context related to England in which Shakespeare wrote his plays. It should be stressed once again that it is not necessary, or even useful, to memorise all of this historical information, but that the notes below give a general sense of the behaviours and attitudes of Shakespeare’s time. Remember, you should only revise those contextual factors that are relevant to the ideas and themes of the play you are studying.

Christianity

• The vast majority of people in Elizabethan and Jacobean England would have been Christian

• They would have believed in the literal word of the Bible:

  • Therefore, they would have believed in God, Heaven and Hell

  • They also believed in the Devil and demons

• Therefore, characters in Shakespeare’s plays would have been wary of defying God and the Church’s teachings:

  • They would have respected the authority of God and the Church

  • They would have understood the grave consequences of committing sins

• Shakespearean audiences would also have believed in the Great Chain of Being:

• The Great Chain of Being was a belief in an order of things in the universe

• It represented a hierarchy of all things that asserted God’s authority at the top of the chain

• In essence, the Great Chain of Being was God’s plan for the world

• In Shakespeare's plays, anything trying to disrupt this order is presented as evil

• This order, and therefore God’s authority, is almost always restored at the end of a Shakespeare play

Supernatural

• Many Shakespeare plays include elements of the supernatural:

  • This can be in the form of evil (for example the witches in Macbeth)

  • Or the fantastical and magical (for example in The Tempest)

• Audiences would have believed all magic was the work of the Devil

• Shakespeare’s audiences would have been equally afraid, and intrigued by the supernatural:

  • They believed supernatural events did really occur

  • They believed in the existence of witches and evil spells

  • Despite the fact that magic and witches were associated with the Devil, it was still exciting to see on stage

  • James I – the king when Shakespeare wrote Macbeth – was fascinated by witches:

    • Shakespeare potentially included them in the play to please the king

• Magic and the supernatural represent challenges to the established order:

• They disrupt the stability of the worlds in Shakespeare’s plays

• They must be overcome to restore order:

  • For example, Prospero must give up his magic before the resolution of The Tempest

Royal assent

• Shakespeare's plays were written under the reign of two monarchs: Queen Elizabeth I (until 1603) and James I (from 1603 onwards)

• It was useful for Shakespeare to remain in the favour of the sitting monarch:

  • There would be financial benefits for remaining in favour

  • It would also impact his reputation positively

• Therefore, many of Shakespeare’s plays can be seen as propaganda for the sitting monarch:

  • Many of Shakespeare’s plays written under Elizabeth I indirectly criticised her enemies or historical rivals

  • Macbeth, written under James I, seeks to legimitise his reign

• Shakespeare’s audiences believed in the Divine Right of Kings:

  • The Divine Right of Kings was a belief that kings and queens are chosen by God

  • These rulers are, therefore, representatives of God on Earth

  • This would mean there would be religious consequences for anyone attempting to overthrow a king

  • Shakespeare repeatedly presents the overthrow of a rightful king as having disastrous consequences:

    • This can be seen as another way he flattered his royal audience

Audience

• Shakespeare's plays were written to be performed in front of an audience

• The audience would have comprised a wide range of social classes

• It is, therefore, useful to think of what their attitudes and behaviours would have been in general:

  • What were the societal norms of the time?

  • How might these audiences have thought about topics like:

    • Love?

    • Honour?

    • Power?

    • Leadership?

    • Revenge?

    • Religion?

    • Social status?

    • Race?

    • Gender?

  • These topics should relate to the play you have studied

Is Shakespeare using his characters, or events in his plays, to reflect or challenge these societal norms?

What not to do when exploring context

• Do not “bolt on” irrelevant biographical or historical facts to your paragraphs

• Do not see context as history:

  • It is better understood as ideas and perspectives

• Do not explore contextual factors in your essay if they are not:

• Relevant to the ideas and themes of the play in general

• Relevant to the question you have been set

• Relevant to the central thesis of your own argument 

• Do not only add context at the end of paragraphs, or in some set paragraph structure that includes context:

  • It is much better to incorporate contextual understanding into your argument, or into your analysis of Shakespeare’s methods

• Do not include the formulation “An Elizabethan audience would think… whereas a modern audience would think”:

  • This takes you away from your own ideas and from answering the question directly

• Do not include analysis of adaptations of the play (for example a film version):

  • This will affect your focus on answering the question

• Do not include interpretations of the text based on literary theory (for example Marxist, feminist, Freudian and Nietzschean theories):

  • These do not contribute to your own interpretation of the text!

What to do when exploring context

• Ensure all your exploration of context is linked to:

  • The themes and ideas Shakespeare is exploring in the play

  • The question you have been set

  • Your own argument

• Understanding that context is about understanding ideas and perspectives:

  • Think: what were the particular attitudes and behaviours of Shakespeare’s time that give a greater understanding of a theme or character?

  • Do these societal norms help explain a character’s actions, or development, over the course of the play?

  • Is there a reason Shakespeare is exploring a theme? Does he want to reflect or challenge his society’s attitudes on a particular issue?

• Some of these ideas are universal, which means that we don’t just need to think from the perspective of Elizabethan or Jacobean attitudes and behaviours:

  • Your own understanding of the following ideas is valid and useful to explore:

    • Love

    • Conflict

    • Revenge

    • Power

  • Exploration of universal ideas and perspectives is equally valid and awarded marks for context in the same way