Shakespeare’s Cosmology
“No man is an island,
entirely by itself;
every man is a piece of the continent,
a part of the main.”
John Donne, Meditation 17
Cosmology
cosmos- = the universe / -logy = the study of
A person’s cosmology is how they view the universe.
The way a person understands the beginning, growth,
extent, and eventual fate of the universe effects they way
they view people in the present tense.
Why does the world run the way it does?
How do all its pieces, including humankind, fit together?
P.S. We can only judge it after we understand it ... One question to consider: Is hierarchy inherently bad?
Hierarchy is one key to understanding
Shakespeare’s cosmology.
There is one basic division, which then becomes the foundation
for other, smaller divisions.
But God above
Deal between thee and me!
(Malcolm) Act IV, Scene 3
Foul whisperings are abroad, unnatural deeds
Do breed unnatural troubles;
God
- Doctor (Act 5, Scene 1)
King
Human
If any one of these becomes
disordered, everything below
falls to pieces.
Nature
The service and the loyalty I owe,
In doing it, pays itself. Your highness’ part
Is to receive our duties; and our duties
Are to your throne and state,
- Macbeth (Act 1, Scene 4)
Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-fill
Of direst cruelty.
- Lady Macbeth (Act 1, Scene 5)
He’s here in double trust
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject
Strong both against the deed
- Macbeth (Act 1, Scene 7)
‘Tis unnatural
Even like the deed that’s done. On Tuesday last,
A falcon towering in her pride of place
Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed.
- Old Man (Act 2, Scene 4)