How Did Shakespeare Affect The Jacobean Era

After the juxtaposing social upheaval of the preceeding eras, the Elizabethan Era (1558-1603), and part of the Jacobean Era (1603-1625) were relatively stable periods in time. In this 67 year timespan, a plethora of political reform took place. It was considered to be the "Golden Age" in English history as creative works in literature, poetry, and theatre began to flourish (C.S. Lewis, English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, page 1). This political reform helped in shaping what would come to be some of the most notable works in the history of literature, the works of William Shakespeare. First and foremost, it is important to understand the political ideals of William Shakespeare and how they go along with the time. "Shakespeare was a conservative, in the sense that he supported early modern England's status quo and established hierarchy, which meant defending the Crown's view of divine monarchical right and opposing the radicals, often Puritan, who questioned it" (Berlatsky, The Atlantic). One way in which Shakespeare's work is affected through the political lense of the time was how "It was a commonplace that order in the state duplicates the order of the macrocosm" (Tillyard, The

During the Elizabethan era, their world order was seen as being in a fixed position. And whenever this order was to be disrupted, chaos would ensue. Most notably, William Shakespeare's Macbeth illustrated this ideology of a set world order perfectly. In the play, the tragic hero Macbeth disrupts the flow of the set-in-stone world order by killing King Duncan in order to assume his kingship. Upon the assassination, chaos ensues, shown through daytime remaining dark and Duncan's horses becoming feral and eating each other. It is only when Macbeth is dethroned and the kingship is given rightfully to Malcolm that the world order will be restored (Macbeth, Act two, Scene