If you consider the world picture to be a system of viewing the world (and the universe), there is, in fact, a common Elizabethan world picture. It is a general model of the world, and serves the Elizabethans as a frame of order and a system of communication. As a frame of order it can be invested with details of his/her own personal knowledge by every individual. This universal order being all-embracing is generally accepted. All material and spiritual entities are embedded in it, and therefore all fields of human thought root in it.
The Elizabethan World Picture
If you consider the world picture to be a system of viewing the world (and the universe), there is, in fact, a common Elizabethan world picture. It is a general model of the world, and serves the Elizabethans as a frame of order and a system of communication. As a frame of order it can be invested with details of his/her own personal knowledge by every individual. This universal order being all-embracing is generally accepted. All material and spiritual entities are embedded in it, and therefore all fields of human thought root in it.
The main source and instrument of transmission of this world picture is the language, conceptional and metaphorical. For instance, Shakespeare’s language can hardly be understood unless being familiar with the generally accepted concepts in Elizabethan times.
There are three aspects which are all-important in understanding the Elizabethan world picture. First of all it is universal, every phenomenon past or present is comprised in it.
Secondly, it is founded on theology. God is the source of the unity of the universe, and it is the task of all human beings to recognize and enjoy the divine order.
Thirdly, God ordained a hierarchical order of the universe in which every creature, from the lowest (minerals) to the highest (arch angels), has a distinctive place, according to its degree. There is always an individual species of being of lower and one of higher rank next to it, and one partakes from the other, while the higher ranks have more authority over the lower.
The Elizabethan world picture comprises two parts: the sublunar or elemental world and the macrocosm. The first undergoes change and decay, being composed of the four elements fire, air, water and earth, while the second, starting from the moon, contains the planetary system and heaven itself and is not subject to the physical limitations of time. It cannot be grasped by the human mind.
The sublunar world is usually shown as a stair, a ladder, a scale of degree or a chain of being, whereas the macrocosm is represented as a system of concentric circles or spheres.
First turning to the elemental world in the Elizabethan world picture, there are four levels to be discerned: the first and lowest level is assigned to the minerals (characterized through existence), the second to the “Vegetable Kingdom” (characterized through existence and life), the third to the “Animal Kingdom” (charactarized through existence, life, feeling and movement). The highest level belongs to the human race and is charactarized by reason and soul in addition to all the above-mentioned attributes. Besides theses levels being arranged in a hierarchical order, there is also a hierarchy of the different beings within these levels, which implies a certain degree of authority and of responsibility to the rest. If each being knows its place and does its duty, all will be well.
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- Quote paper
- Kathrin Ehlen (Author), 2005, The Elizabethan World Picture, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/173799
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