Love, Lust and Companionate Marriage

After learning about marriage during the time of Shakespeare I was interested to see how this was reflected in his work. I've always enjoyed that A Midsummer Night's Dream ended happily in marriage, but was taken aback this time around by the sorrow I felt for Helena. There is something disturbing and ironic about Helena and Demetrius' marriage and I think that Shakespeare had more to say about marriage in A Midsummer Night's Dream than any other of his plays. Shakespeare uses three examples in this play to show the driving forces of marriage during his time: love, lust, and companionate arrangement. 

Hermia & Lysander

Hermia & Lysander are examples of marrying for love. I think Shakespeare was quite the romantic and the new wave of marrying for love during his time was something he embraced. The relationship between these two characters is Shakespeare's ideal--defying the conventions of the times (fully aware of being punished with death by braking an arranged marriage), running off to be together (followed by the probable consequence of poverty), and motivated by love and the desire to be life-long companions. While no ones relationship is perfect (Lysander lusts after Helena at one point) together they stand the test of temptation and rejection. With Hermia and Lysander you feel a sense of commitment, romance, and excitement. Their relationship seems more sensible, real and complex--more human. 

Unrequited love

With Helena & Demetrius Shakespeare shows us that marrying for love can be dangerous, as love is often mistaken for lust. We can relate with this in our own day as choosing a spouse based heavily on love is more than prevalent. Shakespeare illustrates that love should not be the only factor in marriage, especially when love is so easily confused with the "spell" of infatuation.   You can't help but feel sorry for poor Helena the entire play, especially when she does end up marrying Demetrius!  How long will the spell on Demetrius last? How many marriages begin like that and after the infatuation has ended they find themselves stuck in the bonds of matrimony? Shakespeare must have faced the same problems in his world that we face today.

Theseus & Hippolyta are examples of the arranged marriage, but both of them seemed to have consented to it so that would make it fit better into the companionate marriage. 

The modern definition

The marriage seems to be driven by wealth, power, and lust. I believe this would be Shakespeare's illustration of marriage in aristocracy during the Elizabethan era. I also think this is the most disdainful marriage in the eyes of Shakespeare because of the following passage in the last act of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Theseus & Hippolyta wonder about the events in the forest that happened the night before. Theseus dismisses it but Hippolyta trails off with an interesting thought.

HIPPOLYTA: 'Tis strange, my Theseus, that these lovers speak of.

THESEUS: More strange than true. I never may believe

These antique fables nor these fairy toys.

Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,

Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend

More than cool reason ever comprehends.

The lunatic, the lover, and the poet

Are of imagination all compact.

One sees more devils than vast hell can hold—

That is the madman. The lover, all as frantic,

Sees Helen’s beauty in a brow of Egypt.

The poet’s eye, in fine frenzy rolling,

Doth glance from heaven to Earth, from Earth to heaven.

And as imagination bodies forth

The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen

Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing

A local habitation and a name.

Such tricks hath strong imagination,

That if it would but apprehend some joy,

It comprehends some bringer of that joy.

Or in the night, imagining some fear,

How easy is a bush supposed a bear!

HIPPOLYTA: And all their minds transfigured so together,

More witnesseth than fancy’s images

And grows to something of great constancy,

But, howsoever, strange and admirable.

I believe Hippolyta's last words came directly from the mouth of Shakespeare. He admits that love may be seen as crazy and exaggerated but it is not so irrational as it may seem. Actually, although, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, the lover's experiences with love range from rash & fantastical to pure & undeterred it's consistent with and spans across the vast human experience of love. And love, whether it ends with a committed marriage or sorrow is still more admirable than a safety net of a calculated marriage. 

Elizabethan Marriage

I've spent a lot of time learning about Shakespeare and establishing a basic understanding of his life as a play write and more specifically a son, husband, father, lover and active participant in a family-based society. This week I am focusing on the marriage & love aspect of familial Shakespeare. I turned to the book Family Life in the Age of Shakespeare by Bruce Young to research historical information about marriage in the Elizabethan era. I was surprised to find that what I previously thought about marriage in Shakespeare's time--female inferiority, arranged & teenage marriages--was, generally, incorrect.

Bruce Young introduces the topic of Elizabethan marriage with the finding that "Most historians conclude that love and friendship were essential elements of English marriages throughout the entire early modern period [Renaissance]" (44).

Men and women mingled with relative freedom and there wasn't usually a wide age gap between husbands and wives. Most brides & grooms were in their twenties, although the age of consent was 14 for boys and 12 for girls. The average age of marriage in aristocracy was 19-21 women, 24-26 for men, but for most classes is was higher. The average age of marriage in England through the 1500-1600s was 25-26 for women and 27-28 for men (41).



There were formal courting standards of getting the approval of a woman's parents before trying to "woo" her, but dating was also much like it is today--meeting through friends, getting acquainted over dinner, going out to social gatherings. Falling in love was a "common precursor to marriage". Women weren't always passive about it either. Dr. Young states that both men and women were active in choosing a spouse. Wealth was a factor but "virtue, shared belief and a capacity for harmony and love were supposed to be given greater weight" (38)

The engagement or "betrothal" was taken almost as seriously as marriage. There were ceremonies of betrothal much like the marriage ceremonies of our days: taking each other by the hand, making promises and even sometimes exchanging rings. Marriage was religiously based--as most aspects in life were during this time--so divorce was non-existent. Even broken engagements were looked down upon and sometimes they would even prevent future marriage (40).

Arranged marriages were rare and legally invalid if either the bride or groom did not give consent (35).

Besides this law, most parents were very involved with "helping" to choose the spouse of their child because their view of "kinship" at the time actively involved both sides of the family. In Elizabethan era "marrying the family" really was the case (36). Although there was no marrying within the family, or at least no close relatives. 

Elizabethan wedding dress

A typical marriage ceremony included the exchange of wedding bands, as today. During the ceremony the priest would state 3 reasons for marriage: "the procreation of children to be brought up in the fear and nurture of the Lord", "to avoid fornication", "for the mutual society, help and comfort" of the couple (40). We can see in these three reasons that marriage wasn't just a love affair, nor was it just a business affair. Marriage was a duty, a religious commitment, a comfort & joy and also held high importance to society. Family was central to the Elizabethan society as their identity rested upon community not individuality (29). I wonder if growing up in such a close knit community was the reason Shakespeare was so adept to the universal nature of humans?

Marriage was monogamous and romantically seen as a way to connect an individual to the past and future. Also, around this time surnames were fully established, which is an important addition to marriage. I wonder if we would feel as united, and committed as couples without having the same last name? Maybe that is just my romantic side coming through, but I think there is weight to surnames being established during this point in time. It must've had some effect on marriage.

What I enjoyed reading most about marriage was that while the idea of man as the domineering head of the house was prominent, there were many also many beliefs of men and women as "complementary", "partners", and essentially equal (42). I believe this is something that gave root to romance and love-based-marriages during the time. Of course, there is also evidence of what is called "companionate marriage"--a marriage that is more "calculated" than driven by love (44). I think there is evidence in Shakespeare's plays of all the different types of marriage in his time--companionate, lustful, and a sincere loving marriage. My next post will be on A Midsummer Night's Dream and how Shakespeare illustrates these three types of marriage, their benefits & their follies.

For All Time

The final post--Part IV of the PBS series "In Search of Shakespeare." Check out Part I, Part II, and Part III and why I am interested in learning about the life of William Shakespeare.

doublet & breeches

When Queen Elizabeth died, King James of Scotland stepped up to take the throne. He was known as a philosopher prince, surrounding himself with the arts. Consequently, Shakespeare's company was made the King's men. Michael Wood shows a document stating that Shakespeare and some of the men of his company were issued with a 4 yard roll of scarlet cloth. This amount of cloth was sufficient to make a doublet and breeches for the King's coronation. During the coronation of King James Shakespeare was one of the ushers that carried the canopy over the King. Needless to say Shakespeare was well favored among all the classes of his time.

The Christmas holiday meant providing entertainment for the royals for 2 long weeks. While reading a record about the Christmas holiday, Wood found a document with another funny spelling of Shakespeare: "Shaxberd." Maybe that's why we don't know much about Shakespeare's life...no one could spell his name right!

In this PBS series, the Royal Shakespeare Company follows Michael Wood on his tour through the life of Shakespeare. The company explained that during a normal season the RSC puts on 151 performances of 5 plays. During the same amount of time Shakespeare's company also performed around 150 times but they put on 38 plays, 21 of which were NEW. As Max explained in class, no wonder the term "winging it" came from play performances in the Elizabethan era.

Once again, political turmoil springs in November of 1609. Wood calls it the "Jacobian 9/11" when terrorists tried to blow up the royal family and Parliament. King James hunted the terrorists, which consequently purged England of catholics, since these were times of religious unrest. On the stage in London plays reflected the political atmosphere. It was at this time when Shakespeare wrote Macbeth--the murder of a Scottish king.

The Duty of a Poet

Part III of the PBS series "In Search of Shakespeare." You can read Part I, and Part II if you're interested in Shakespeare's earlier years. These interesting facts and finds presented by Michael Wood in "In Search of Shakespeare" are information I will refer back to as I focus on the familial aspect of Shakespeare. Of course Shakespeare's own experience as a son, husband and father is something that enriches, taints and shapes his literature.

The last episode ended with Shakespeare earning a living to support his family back in Stratford. In 1593 the plague strikes and the playhouses are closed so Shakespeare has to look elsewhere to find money. He then focuses on poetry and comes out with his first published work "Venus & Adonis." He dedicated this book to Henry Earl of Southampton (who just inherited a fortune) hoping to get patronage, prestige, and money.

August 11, 1596 Shakespeare's only son Hamlet died at the age of 11. He may have been buried even before Shakespeare got the news. Michael Wood said Shakespeare reacted in these ways:

Rise to Fame

I've decided to tweak my focused learning plan a bit (already?!) and spend this week posting about the rest of the PBS series "In Search of Shakespeare". It's providing an excellent foundation of Shakespeare's life upon which I can further my focus of the familial aspect in Shakespeare's works. By learning more about Shakespeare's personal life, I can glean out important information that may parallel with his view and attitude towards the family and how it is reflected in his works. I ended my last post, part one of the series, with Shakespeare as a husband and father at the very young age of 19 years-old.

In order to support his new family, William Shakespeare lived and worked in the Lancaster countryside as a teacher under the alias of William Shakeshaft. February 2, 1585 was the baptism of Shakespeare's twins. Now Shakespeare's family included his two girls, one boy and his wife Anne. In other family matters, John Shakespeare, William's father, continued to make a bad name for the family when he was booted out of politics, again, when William was 22 years old.

There was a group called "The Queen's Men" who traveled all around Great Britain. They were a popular attraction and a humorous group, but their main purpose was a propaganda tour for Queen Elizabeth. This was during the time of the Spanish Armada when the Protestant Winds conquered Spain. One of the famous players in the Queen's Men was William Nell. He was murdered and so the company was short one actor. Michael Wood believes that this was when Shakespeare joined the Queen's Men and left his family behind to tour with the company. They were one of the first to portray the villainous character of Richard III. They also put on the old play of King Lear.

In 1588 the Queens Men arrived in London and Shakespeare left them to be out on his own. Seen in tax records, we find Shakespeare's first address in London is Bishop's Gate. He lived among the middle class and worked in Shoreditch where he began to write plays.

A Familial Focused Learning Plan

I've been having a difficult time staying motivated and when I sit down to write a post I'm just not sure where to start. I was inspired by Brooke R to make a the-rest-of-the-semester schedule, and also a little freaked out that we only have 5 weeks left. Where did time go? My focus for the rest of the term is the familial aspect of Shakespeare, which I decided is a little too broad to do singular posts about but it will ultimately be the main idea of my hub post. I still want to focus on the family and do so by writing about the different subjects that make up the family. My schedule will go as follows:

Week One (14-18) Love & Marriage
Mon: Part II of "The Search for Shakespeare" 

Week Two (21-25) Tragedy in the Family
Mon: Part III of "The Search for Shakespeare" 

Week Three (28-1) The Extended Family
Mon: Part IV of "The Search for Shakespeare" 

Week Four (4-8) Parent-child Relationships 

Week Five (11-15) So what? Shakespearean Family vs. Modern Family

Any help as to what plays would best fit into those weekly focuses? Please comment if you have any ideas, I'd really appreciate some suggestions. Thank you!

Not Your Average 19 year old

I thought the best place to start my familial focus of Shakespeare's works would be to go to the roots of Shakespeare's life. I came across the PBS series "In Search of Shakespeare" earlier this semester. It's a four part series that follows Shakespeare's life from the cradle to the grave:

"...the core of the series is a biography. The story of one Elizabethan, his life, family and friendships, his triumphs and disasters, his loves and his losses....it is the first time that a full-scale life of William Shakespeare has been attempted on TV. Presenter-led, mixing travel, adventure, interviews and specially shot documentary and live action sequences with the RSC on the road..." 

see PBS's website "In Search of Shakespeare" 

I know we've all heard how mysterious Shakespeare's life is and that there isn't much out there, but this series fills in some of the missing pieces with the back round of other family members and the history of the time. Most of the information recorded during Shakespeare's early life is by "informants" or royal spies that were all over the country, as well as government and religious records. 

Flash Mob

I joined many of our classmates in the "Flash Mob" this weekend at the Provo Town Center mall. I'm sure I'll be able to attach the video to this post soon, but in the mean time I'll blog about my experience.To grab the attention of our "audience" at the food court we had a man dressed like Juliet (women's clothings, wig and all) stand on top of a chair and yell "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" Then each of us proceeded to make our way towards Juliet as we said our lines. My line was "Who is already sick and pale with grief". I, too, like Jennifer P. was a far away so I sprinted toward Juliet and yelled my line as loud as I could although the music playing sorted drowned me out. I'm not sure I even want to see what I looked like in the video...but hey, at least I've got the Performance requirement over with, right?

I AM SHY so this was nerve-racking to say the least, but in the end I had a lot of fun. I thought if I was ever part of a flash mob it would be the dancing type, like my favorite in Liverpool. I brought my husband along with me to help calm the jitters. Here's what he thought about it:

"I think it was a fun idea that made people laugh and entertained people for a minute of their lives. Even though it was short and hard to hear over the music playing in the Food Court, I'm glad I was there to see it."

I think Shakespeare would've loved performances like this because he was all about entertaining the masses. Surprising a random group of people during the drone of everyday life with some meaningful words and a bit of entertainment gets the spirit of Shakespeare out there, and I'm happy to have participated in that. Thanks to Max and Whitney for putting this together!

UPDATE: Click here to watch the video.

Soon!

I have been sick with the stomach flu this week and hope to be able to get caught up with this blog tomorrow. Just FYI I have not dropped off the face of the earth.