• The Elizabethan/Jacobean world view
• The Divine Right to Rule
• The state of England under Elizabeth I and James I
• Shakespeare’s education and additional plays
• The Divine Right to Rule

The divine right to rule

The divine right to rule is the doctrine that the king, queen and the rest of the royal family have the god given right that allows them to rule without restraint

The Elizabethan/Jacobean world view

Elizabethan 1558-1603 – the great chain of being – they believed that all life on earth was lined together in hierarchical order and that if someone were to change its place in this order, they would upset the gods. the gravest sin to a elizabethan was to rebel against their status. as stepping out of place “would” upset the natural order. in the Elizabethan view women were meant to be silent, obedient and had to wait till marriage for sex. Ghosts also had a large aspect in the Elizabethan view. people believed that ghost existed and that they look like they did at the point of their death, they weren’t able to appear during the day or during a holy season and that ghosts couldn’t speak until spoken to

Jacobean era – 1567-1625 the jacobean era marks the beginning of the king james I reign. he ruled over the united kingdom. jacobean society structure was similar to the structure of elizabethan social structure as they both were very hierarchical. during king james reign the structure didn’t change but slowly the middle class from nascent industry gained money