Shakespeare's Audience

[hardblue]

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Shakespeare’s audience lived in what was in many respects a more intellectually tidied-up world than ours. Practically nobody believed, or had even heard of the notion, that the earth was a planet revolving around the sun: the earth was the center of the whole cosmos, and nature was intimately related to man. Friar Laurence in

Comments

[cinnamontoast]

I thought Copernicus had dissed the geo-centric universe out of fashion by the time Elizabeth rolled around. I could be wrong - I'm really fuzzy on dates, but I know that Copernicus was before Lizzie and Liz ruled the roost during Shakespeare's life.

Astrology and the stars play a large part in the worlds of his characters. The stars are metaphors. The path of their lives are set in motion from the moment of birth, driven by fate and the consequences of their actions are inevitable.

It's very easy to forget how long ago Shakespeare lived because he wrote about human foibles that are evident in humans in any age. I have seen productions of King Lear set in times contemporary to Shakespeare, WWII, the American West and (most recently) during a modern military dictatorship. This is the latest:
Friar Laurence killed Romeo and Juliet. His knowledge was flawed because he lacked insight into human nature and forgot the impetuousness of youth

[hardblue]

Oh, man, now I'm dying to see that "Lear". I went to the site, but I couldn't get far with it. Is this streaming somewhere?

As for the Corpernican revolution, I suppose it might have taken some time for it to settle into the popular consciousness. Knowledge traveled slower then than it does now, I venture to say.

[cinnamontoast]

If you can find it, let me know, cuz I'd love to watch it again. It was AWESOME.

Hamlet is coming up in October with Benedict Cumberbatch playing the overemoting prince. I expect he'll be quite good.

I'm dreaming of going back to Stratford (Canada) someday to see more of that wonderful stuff on stage. It's one of the most pleasant vacations in the world. Or go see The Globe Theatre.

I suppose it would take time, but still, I think that news like that travels sort of fast. It's the deeply held convictions of the followers that would require a smack up side of the head with Thor's hammer to accept it as the correct answer in the question of geo-centrism.