Gods In The Elizabethan Era

Since the beginning of time humans have been enamored with the thought of destiny. Something that has been predetermined since the world began. The early people believed that their lives were in the hands of the gods and all they had to was believe and fulfill their own destinies. These gods wouldn’t only control the events of people’s lives but they would also control the weather and other unexplained happenings in the world. Those who worshiped their beings, would try to keep them please with materiel items, animals and temples in their name. Some of the most known gods, the Greek and Roman gods, inspired the art and literature of the Elizabethan Era. Shakespeare would include these gods in his works by creating the ‘oracle’ character: said

In Shakespeare’s play The Winter’s Tale characters torn asunder eventually reunite and reconcile due to a single person: who suffers the most but brings a source of hope for the desolate kingdom after she fulfilled the prophecy.
Perdita’s suffering is due to her mother’s past ‘offense’. “Poor wretch, that for thy mother’s fault art thus exposed to loss and what may follow” (3.3.48-50). The young princess would have grown up in her home, but because Leontes rejected Apollo’s judgement upon his wife, and the other involved in the matter, she must also suffer. When Antigonus is on the shores of Bohemia preparing to leave the child he tells her “heavens so dim by day” (3.3.55) and “the day frowns more and more”(3.3.53). The people of the world within this play revere the gods and listen to their oracles as if it was law. By saying that the heavens are dimming, Antigonus feels as if the

She goes through suffering as she is away. As stated by Antigonus, due to her mother’s offense she must suffer. She is forsaken by even the gods and the heavens dimmed each day. In the worst of conditions, being disinherited, forgotten and left in another land, she managed to persist and grow from seed to blossom to fruit. For it is in her destiny to return to Sicilia and bring hope to its people. She is the heir they have been waiting for since the death of the former crown prince. She, who has lived through the roughest of conditions and was time made enemy of the king of Bohemia, managed to grow into a strong young woman. The king would not have an heir until what was lost was found once more. The people relied heavily on the monarchy and prayed for an heir, so they would continue to have a leader and protector. With the death of Mamillius and Hermione, they lost hope for another heir and for their land. Perdita’s fate was to suffer in Bohemia and then come back to reunite the two kings, as well as bring hope back to the people of her land. Fulfilling what was foretold by the gods was beyond her knowledge, but that further proves that it was her fate to be returned to