Context Flashcards
What Age is Shakespeare’s work indicative of? How is it described?
Golden Age
Transcendental
What/Where was Shakespeare born? What monarch was in reign?
1564/Stratford
Elizabeth I
What age did Shakespeare get married? Who to?
18
Anne Hathaway
What theatre troupe did Shakespeare become a member of? Under what monarch did it become famous?
Lord Chamberlain’s Men
James I
What status did James I grant? Why did he?
The King’s Men
They performed privately in his court
When did Shakespeare die?
1616
What were the 3 types of plays Shakespeare wrote?
Comedies/Tragedies/Histories
When did Shakespeare start writing tragedies? What could have possibly inspired it?
End of 16th Century
Possibly inspired by child’s death in 1596
When did James I become king? When was Othello first performed?
1603
1604
What inspired dramatic tragedies?
Conflict of the Jacobean Era
Why is Shakespeare’s popularity continued today?
Ability to write transcendental literature
Where is Othello set geographically?
The Mediterranean
What themes Othello have a background of? What else does it examine?
War/Conflict
Identity
How were black people seen in Renaissance London?
Barbarous and uncivilised
What was the Renaissance a period of? What changes did this make to rules?
Period of change
Established and upturned
What is an example of the Renaissance in Othello?
Othello and Desdemona’s marriage
What does Othello show for individuals? Which character is this significant in?
The rise of people trying to break the established order
Iago
What does Emilia demonstrate?
Women trying to gain more power
How can love be described with the issues in Othello?
A strand that binds the issues together
What does critic L.P. Hartley assert? Why is this important to Othello?
“The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there?
The events and beliefs are important at the time of Shakespeare’s writing
Who were the two monarchs who reigned during Shakespeare’s life?
Elizabeth and James I
What other 2 ways are the Elizabethan Era known as?
Golden Age/Renaissance Era
What were the two issues derailing stability?
Political conflict from religion/poverty
Women had little rights
What religious division took place?
Catholic and Protestant
Who were at the top of society?
Nobility
What was still rampant for the labouring class?
Poverty
How did education differ for gender?
Boys (if they could afford it) would go to school
Girls learnt domestic skills
