The Elizabethan World View
What they believed about:
The Universe
Ghosts and the
supernatural
The social
position
of women
The Elizabethan World View
•
The Great Chain of Being
All creation linked together in hierarchical
order
Important to keep one’s place, or one could upset
all creation
The chain was linked from the lowest creature on
earth up to God
The gravest sin to an Elizabethan was rebellion:
stepping out of one’s place was upsetting the natural
order
Theory of the Four Humours
Order must be maintained within the human personality too.
Social Imperatives for Elizabethan
Women
Silence
 Obedience
 Chastity ( or fidelity if
married)

In Elsinore the Toilet
Seats are Always Left
Up

Elsinore is a
man’s world
Irony of Shakespearean Women

Whether they try to conform to their societal
role or whether they try to break it, they end up
dead.
Ghosts and the Supernatural in Elizabethan
England

A ‘hot’ issue during
Elizabethan and Jacobean
England (late 1500’s to the
16oo’s). Belief in
supernatural is mainstream

King James I authored a
scholarly text about ghosts
Not Just For Crazies…

Learned studies conducted using psychology,
science and religion

Beliefs cross class and education boundaries

Your opinion depended on your
political/religious beliefs.
Some Elizabethan Beliefs About Ghosts





They would look like they did at the point of death
Not everyone could see a ghost
A ghost would not appear during the day or during a holy
season
A ghost could not speak until spoken to
It should be addressed in Latin.
Ghosts and Religion

Under the rule of Mary I, Catholicism was the only
religion allowed to be practiced.

In 1517, reformists began to reject the doctrine,
leadership and structure of the Roman Catholic
Church, and created the Protestant Church as a
response.

Protestants were forced to flee, as they were
persecuted and executed under Mary’s Rule.
Evidence of the Elizabethan belief
in the supernatural

“That there happen straunge wonders and
prognostications, and that sodeyn noises and
cracks and suchlike, are hearde before the death
of men, before battaile, and before some
notable alterations and chaunges.”

when men lye sicke of some deadly disease,
there is some thing heard going on their
chamber,


“…[T]here are some great stirrings or noises
heard. sometimes we thinke the house will fall
on our heads, or that some massie and waightie
thing falleth downe throughout all the house,
rendering and making a disordered noise: and
shortlie within fewe months after, we
vnderstande that those things happened, the
verysame houre that our friends departed in
Source: Lewes Lavater’s Of Ghostes and Spirites Walking by Nyght, 1572
Elizabethan and Jacobean Era

Elizabeth I – 1558-1603

James I- 1603-1625

Both of these rulers were Protestant
 Catholics
on
ghosts:

“Ghosts are the
spirits of the dearly
departed returned
from the grave for
some unfinished
business. They roam
the earth looking for
help from the living
to release them.
These spirits are
trapped in purgatory
until their business is
complete. “
 Protestants
on
ghosts:

“Ghosts are NOT the
spirits of the dearly
departed. They are
demons/devils who
merely LOOK LIKE
those we once knew so
they can mess with us.
It’s best to stay away
from ghosts. Never
listen to what a ghost
says.”
King James I on Ghosts:

“We ought, not without greate cause, to
suspecte all Spirites, and other apparitions.”

“Enter into no communication with suche
spirites, neither aske them what thou must giue,
or what thou must doo, or what shal happen
hereafter. Aske them not who they are, or why
they haue presented them selues to bee seene
or hearde. For if they be good, they will lyke it
well that thou wilte heare nothing but the
woorde of God: but yf they be wicked, they wyll
endeuour to deceyue thee with lying.”
What to consider while reading
Hamlet:

How do we, as a 21st century audience, respond to the
ghost? How would Shakespeare’s audience respond to
the ghost?

How does the Catholic vs. Protestant view of ghosts
influence our reading of Hamlet? How does it influence
our attitude toward the titular character?

How does King James I’s advice about interacting with
ghosts influence our reading of Hamlet?

How would Hamlet, as part of the world of the play,
interpret The Ghost?