Twelfth Night Context:Social Hierarchy

Social Hierarchy:

The social hierarchy in Shakespearean times went as follows:  

1.  The King and/or Queen were at the top of the social          hierarchy.    

2. The Clergy (priests, pope, monks etc.) due to their spiritual involvement.

3.  Nobility, people who were involved within the military and who owned land.

4. Third Estate – The citizens born in Britain and were quite poor.

5. The Outsiders – People who did not live in, or were not born in, Britain.

Many of Shakespeare’s plays followed ‘The Great Chain of Being’, following the idea that everything and everyone had a place in the Universe, and that to step out of one’s place would bring chaos and disorder to the rest of the world. It was also believed that God would punish the person who stepped out of the hierarchy, more punishment would fall upon you if you stepped further out of the social order.

Within Shakespeare, this is reflected in multiple plays, for example in Macbeth when the Macbeths kill King Duncan the Chain of Being is disturbed, and two people report that one horse ate another horse in the stables, and there was a great storm all as a result of Macbeth stepping out of his place. This didn’t just apply across social classes, it also applied within – if a daughter disobeyed her father then some people believed that the daughter would become ill.

   

 The role of women in Shakespeare’s time were often considered to be presented as possessions of their husbands and families, and they were socially restricted, unable to explore without a chaperone. They were often controlled by the men in their lives. Shakespeare allowed his characters more freedom in his plays, allowing them to explore both the world and their sexuality and identity. They were shown to be stronger and more independent than the stereotypical woman of the time (Lady Macbeth, Queen Tatiana etc.), but they are also treated with more distrust because of this and shown to be cunning and to have questionable morals.