Death & Nature Flashcards
What was the life expectancy in the Jacobean period?
35-40
what percentage of the population died before adulthood?
40%
Why was 1552 a major ‘faultline’ of English Renaissance history?
prior to that point, the dead and the living were seen to inhabit the same community.
What was purgatory?
The layer between Earth and the Afterlife
How did the community interact with people in purgatory prior to 1552?
People would pray for the dead to help them get to Heaven.
What immediate changes do we see after 1552?
No Saint Days, no Purgatory.
Who were Calvanists?
People who believed in predestination: everything is God’s plan.
What impact did the rise in Calvinism have on society?
There was no need to pray for the dead because their fate was already pre-determined.
No community with the dead
How did this effect drama and theatre at this time?
People didn’t like this change. Plays of the time echo a community witth the dead eg. Hamlet, The White Devil.
Which Critic Says: “the visibility of the ghost is reduced to an echo from the Duchess’ grave as Webster conforms more fully to the dominant Protestant orthodoxy”
Tom Rist
Finish this Tom Rist quote: “the visibility if the ghost is reduced to an echo from the Duchess’ grave…”
“as Webster conforms more fully to the dominant Protestant orthodoxy.”
What is the meaning of the term ‘eco-critical?’
When literature reflects the environmental concerns of the time period in which it is set.
What pollutants were present in Jacobean times?
Coal dust, tanneries using poo and urine to die leather, lack of sanitation, excrement polluting the river.
What natural disasters occurred during the Jacobean period?
The Plague, spread via rats.
What examples do we have of improper land use during the Jacobean period?
London was ever expanding: deforestation.
