Scientific And Cultural Influences Of The Elizabethan Age
Taliea Peterman
Mr. Lamphear
AP Literature and Composition
15 December 2014
An Essay on how Religious, Scientific, and Cultural Influences of the Elizabethan Age Impact the Writing of Hamlet by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare wrote and lived during the Elizabethan age, an age in which the changing aspects of English thought were in unrest due to both the Renaissance and the Reformation. It was a transformation of the intellectual landscape of Europe and invitation to new discoveries and original thoughts and ideas. Around 1600 to 1601 he wrote Hamlet, a tragic play. Hamlet was greatly influenced by the scientific, cultural, and religious beliefs of the Elizabethan age.
Shakespeare’s inclusions of astronomy, astrology, and cosmology reflect the scientific beliefs …show more content…
When the prince Hamlet is questioned about why he is still so dejected about the death of his father he states that he “is too much in the sun” (Hamlet 1.2.71) which may be a reference to the alignment of the planets. When his mother and Claudius request that Hamlet not return to Wittenberg they state that it is “most retrograde to our desire” (Alana M. Mahaffey), they refer to Hamlet’s retrograde motion to the seat of Copernican cosmology. The astronomical meaning of retrograde is moving backward or returning upon a previous course and fall upon the term opposition. Opposition is the time when the planets undergo retrograde motion. Claudius questions “Why should we in our peevish opposition / Take it to heart? Fie, ‘tis a fault to heaven” (Hamlet). Retrograde was a fault to nature or heaven to many geocentrists. Conjunction is the remaining alignment and by saying, “She is so conjunctive to my life and soul, / That as the star moves not but in his sphere, / I could not but by her,” (Hamlet) he concludes the
Mr. Lamphear
AP Literature and Composition
15 December 2014
An Essay on how Religious, Scientific, and Cultural Influences of the Elizabethan Age Impact the Writing of Hamlet by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare wrote and lived during the Elizabethan age, an age in which the changing aspects of English thought were in unrest due to both the Renaissance and the Reformation. It was a transformation of the intellectual landscape of Europe and invitation to new discoveries and original thoughts and ideas. Around 1600 to 1601 he wrote Hamlet, a tragic play. Hamlet was greatly influenced by the scientific, cultural, and religious beliefs of the Elizabethan age.
Shakespeare’s inclusions of astronomy, astrology, and cosmology reflect the scientific beliefs …show more content…
When the prince Hamlet is questioned about why he is still so dejected about the death of his father he states that he “is too much in the sun” (Hamlet 1.2.71) which may be a reference to the alignment of the planets. When his mother and Claudius request that Hamlet not return to Wittenberg they state that it is “most retrograde to our desire” (Alana M. Mahaffey), they refer to Hamlet’s retrograde motion to the seat of Copernican cosmology. The astronomical meaning of retrograde is moving backward or returning upon a previous course and fall upon the term opposition. Opposition is the time when the planets undergo retrograde motion. Claudius questions “Why should we in our peevish opposition / Take it to heart? Fie, ‘tis a fault to heaven” (Hamlet). Retrograde was a fault to nature or heaven to many geocentrists. Conjunction is the remaining alignment and by saying, “She is so conjunctive to my life and soul, / That as the star moves not but in his sphere, / I could not but by her,” (Hamlet) he concludes the