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Professional Development Programs for Teachers
The Newberry Library, 60 West Walton Street, Chicago, IL 60610
(312) 255-3569 | www.newberry.org/teacherprograms
The Newberry Digital Collections for the Classroom project is generously funded by The Grainger Foundation.
Marriage and Familyin Shakespeares England
Newberry Digital Collect ions for the Classroom
King Lear. Act I. Scene I.
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Marriage and Family inShakespeares EnglandNewberry Digital Collections for Classroom Use
Introduction
What is the matter with Shakespeares families? Why do so many of his tragic plays involve injuries and
betrayals committed between parents and children, husbands and wives, sisters and brothers? How do these
plays respond to changes in the understanding and organization of the family during the English Renaissance?
Historians such as Lawrence Stone have identified the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries as a crucial
period in the history of the family in Britain. At the beginning of this period, most marriages were arranged,
not by the two people getting married, but by their parents and other relatives. The primary purpose of
marriage, especially among the upper class, was to transfer property and forge alliances between extended
family networks, or kin groups. A marriage might provide a way of combining adjacent estates or ofconcluding a peace treaty. In fact, people used the termfamilyto refer to all of the people living in one house,
under one head, including servants as well as parents, children, and other blood relations. Gradually, during
these centuries, these understandings of marriage and family changed. The conjugal (or marrying) couple
became more important and, increasingly, people came to think of the family as centered on parents and their
childrenwhat we refer to as the nuclear family.
Historians attribute these changes, in part, to the Protestant Reformation. Protestant religious leaders rejected
the Catholic Churchs policy that clergy could not marry. Instead, Protestants developed the idea of holy
matrimony and wrote extensively about the spiritual and political as well as personal significance of marriage.
As literary critic Mary Beth Rose explains, Protestant writers equate[d] spiritual, public, and private realms by
analogizing the husband to God and the king, the wife to the church and the kingdom. These Protestant
writings provided religious support for changes in family structure that were also due to wider socioeconomic
changes, such as population growth, urbanization, increasing mobility, and greater trade.
While historians might look to this period for the emergence of the modern family, it is important to note
some distinctly pre-modern legal and social conventions which lasted into the nineteenth century. Under the
English system ofcoverture, a womans identity was covered by her husbands when she married. A married
couple was regarded by the law as a single entity and that entity followed the will of the husband. Mothers
had no legal rights over the guardianship of their children and any property that a woman possessed at the
time of marriage came under the husbands control. Numerous married women may have found ways to
work around the law and to exercise legal and economic power, but these conventions had a significant
impact on womens status, rights, and opportunities.
The social and cultural transformation of the family took place gradually and unevenly. Works by Shakespeare
and other Renaissance writers rarely provide a straightforward expression of either older or newer beliefs
about the family and marriage. What their texts can show us, instead, are the conflicts and contradictions that
emerged as writers examined family relationships during this period. The following collection of documents
provides some historical context for Shakespeares plays. The documents include advice manuals and crime
literature as well as Biblical family trees, all of which shed light on the many ways that Renaissance people
thought about and participated in the family.
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Please consider the following questions as you review the documents
How did Renaissance writers define the family? Which relationships seem to them the mostimportant? What makes these relationships important? To what extent do writers seem concerned
with emotions like love or happiness and to what extent do they seem more interested in ideas of
duty, property, lineage, or Christian faith?
What are the obligations of family members to one another, according to these documents? How dothe writers expect husbands, wives, parents, children, and siblings to behave toward one another?What differences or contradictions appear between these writers?
What are the perceived threats to the family? How should these threats be addressed? What does writing on the family tell us about the history of gender, or the expectations and
experiences of women and men during the English Renaissance?
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Document 1: Biblical Genealogies
The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New: Newly
Translated Out of the Originall Tongues ... by His Maiesties Speciall
Comandement. 1611. Title page, pp. 1 and 10.
Newberry Call No. VAULT Case folio C 223 .611
The Protestant Reformation fueled efforts to translate the Bible into modern, vernacular (or spoken),
European languages from its original Hebrew, ancient Greek, and Latin. Only the clergy and a small elite
knew how to read ancient languages. The lack of modern translations reinforced the Catholic Churchs
hierarchical structure, which Reformation leaders opposed. Protestants believed it was important for
laypeople (or church members)including womento be able to read Gods word themselves. In 1604 King
James directed a group of nearly 50 scholars to undertake a new translation of the Bible into English. It was
not the first English translation of the Bibletwo others had appeared in the previous centurybut it was
the first designed specifically to conform to the teachings of the Church of England. Their translation,
eventually known as the King James Bible, was published in 1611. By the next century, it had become the
standard translation used in Anglican and Protestant churches. The edition presented here opens with 34pages of Biblical genealogyfamily trees which trace an unbroken line of descent from God, Adam, and Eve
on the first page to Joseph, Mary, and Jesus on the last.
Questions to Consider
1. Examine these two pages from the King James Bibles genealogiesthe first portrays God, Adam,Eve, and their immediate descendants, the second portrays Jacob and his immediate descendants.
How is the information on each page organized? What does the organization suggest about family
structure?
2. Why do you think these family trees were included? Why might Jesus lineage matter to RenaissanceChristian scholars and laypeople?
3. What do the family trees suggest about how people thought about the family and lineage during theRenaissance?
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Document 2: Queen Elizabeth I
Francis Delaram. Elizabeth I. In William Camden.Annales: The True and
Royal History, of the Famous Empresse Elizabeth, Queene of England,
France and Ireland, &c. 1625. Frontispiece.
Newberry Call No. Case F 4549 .137
Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603 at the age of 70 after 44 years on the throne. Then and now, writers give
Elizabeth much of the credit for Englands remarkable prosperity, stability, and cultural achievement during
her reign. She shielded the country from the religious wars then tearing apart Europe, and she defeated the
Spanish Armada, a great fleet of ships poised to invade England, in 1588. Above all, she was an
extraordinarily skillful politician who effectively ruled England in the face of considerable resistance to the
idea of a female monarch. Elizabeth did not promote other women to positions of authority or encourage the
extension of greater rights to women. But, she provided a powerful model of female independence and self-
determination. She carefully crafted her public image, whether as the Virgin Queen devoted to England or as
the military commander leading her troops into battle, in ways that provide an important context for
Shakespeares representations of women and the family. I know I have the body but of a weak and feeblewoman, Elizabeth famously declared, but I have the heart and stomach of a king.
Questions to Consider
1. How does the frontispiece of William CamdensAnnalesportray Elizabeth? In what ways does theimage indicate her power? What other attributes does it convey?
2. Examine the poem from the frontispiece detail. According to the text, what were Elizabeths primaryaccomplishments and virtues? What role, if any, does her gender play in this tribute?
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Documents 3, 4, and 5: Advice to Husbands, Wives, Parents, and Children
William Gouge. Of Domesticall Dvties: Eight Treatises. 1622. Title page,
duties and aberrations tables, pp. 428 and 452.
Newberry Call No. Case B 68 .36
Dorothy Leigh. The Mothers Blessing: Or, the Godly Counsell of a Gentle-
Woman. 1636. Title page and pp. 5255.
Newberry Call No. Case miniature C 696 .495
The Advice of a Father: Or, Counsel to a Child: Directing Him How to
Demean Himself in the Most Important Passages of This Life. 1688. Title
page, pp. 3033, and 3637.
Newberry Call No. Case B 692 .007
During the Renaissance, as now, advice books were very popular. Following the Protestant Reformation,
many of these books (often called conduct manuals) addressed the subject of marriage and the duties of
husbands, wives, parents, and children to one another. Some of the most popular are excerpted here. William
Gouge was a prominent English Puritan pastor. He explains in the preface to Of Domesticall Dutiesthat the
book was based on a series of sermons he delivered to his congregation. He adds, somewhat defensively, that
the sermons were criticized as being too harsh on women and seeks to explain his positions at greater length
here. Dorothy Leighs The Mothers Blessingwas originally published in 1616 and went through at least 20
editions. The book is addressed to Leighs sons from her deathbed, which made the books publication more
acceptable at the time. It was considered improper for women to publish their writing or to offer moral and
religious instruction. Finally, The Advice of a Fatherwas published anonymously later in the seventeenth
century. Like Leighs book, the author explicitly addresses his son, but offers plenty of evidence that he had a
wider audience in mind.
Questions to Consider
1. What are the duties of wives and husbands according to the table that Gouge provides at thebeginning of his book? What are the aberrations, or deviations, from those duties? Why is
ambition the primary quality that undermines the wifes primary duty of subjection? Do
husbands have unlimited power over wives according to Gouges model?
2. What is the childs duty to the parent, according to Gouge? Why should the child both fear and lovehis parents? Why do you think Gouge places so much importance on parental approval of a childs
marriage?3. What is Leighs advice to her sons concerning marriage? How does she support that advice with
evidence from the Bible? Why do you think she places so much emphasis on a husbands obligation
to love his wife? Does her advice on marriage challenge or support Gouges?
4. What is the authors critique of the institution of marriage inAdvice of a Father? What does he argue isthe basis of happiness in marriage? Why does the author caution against having children? In what
ways does his advice challenge Gouges and Leighs?
5. What differences do you notice in the advice given by Gouge, Leigh, and the anonymous father?How do these differences between the books shed light on the different experiences and concerns
that men and women may have had at this time? Do they suggest areas of conflict or change in the
prevailing expectations of women and men?
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Documents 6 and 7: Crimes against the Family
The Life and Death of John Atherton. 1641. Title page, frontispiece, and p. 1.
Newberry Call No. Case E 5 .A86
A Full Account of a Most Tragycal and Inhuman Murther. 1699.
Newberry Call No. Case 6A 161 no. 33
Seventeenth-century executions were elaborate public rituals attended by hundreds, or even thousands, of
spectators. Public officials approached executions as an opportunity to vividly demonstrate the importance of
obeying the law. At the moment of death, the condemned criminal was held up as an example of the
consequences of crime. Printers increasingly took these events as opportunities to sell inexpensive pamphlets
recounting the convicts life. Like the executions themselves, these publications had a specific, instructional
purpose, but also contained sensational elements that could overshadow the intended lesson.
The Life and Death of John Athertonis a pamphlet published several months after Athertons execution. Atherton
had been a Protestant bishop in the Church of Ireland which was affiliated with the Church of England.Atherton was executed for buggery, or sexual acts with another man, a church official who was also hanged.
However, the pamphlet devotes little attention to this crime, emphasizing instead a lifetime of various
misdeeds. (Note: Aprelateis a high-ranking cleric, or church official. A beneficeis financial support provided to
a member of the clergy.)A Full Account of a Most Tragycal and Inhuman Murtherdescribes the case from Holland
of Claes Wells, who was convicted of murdering his entire family.
Questions to Consider
1. What does the writer of the pamphlet accuse Atherton of? Why do you think the writer includes somany different examples of unacceptable behavior? What are the relationships between Athertons
lesser transgressions and the crime for which he is executed? Why does the writer also describe
Athertons education and clerical positions?2. What does the pamphlet tell us, by negative example, about the expectations for how people should
conduct their family and other personal relationships? What kind of behavior is frowned on, but
permitted? Why?
3. Why do you think London printers found Claes Wells case worth publishing, even though itoccurred relatively far away, in Holland?
4. Based on your reading of the narrative, why do you think Wells committed the murders? Whatlessons does the writer of the broadside draw?
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Documents 8 and 9: Lears Family
William Shakespeare. M. William Shake-Speare, His True Chronicle History of
the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. 1619. Title page.
Newberry Call No. VAULT Case 3A 896
Henry Fuseli and Richard Earlom. King Lear. Act 1. Scene 1. InA Collection
of Prints, from Pictures Painted for the Purpose of Illustrating the Dramatic
Works of Shakspeare. John Boydell, ed. Vol. 2. 1803. Plate XVIII.
Newberry Call No. Case oversize YS 65 .11
Shakespeares King Learremains one of the darkest and most compelling explorations of family relationships
in English literature. The play opens with the aging King Lear offering to divide his kingdom between his
three daughters according to how persuasively each can express her love for him. Two of his daughters,
Goneril and Regan, lavishly proclaim their devotion. But the youngest, Cordelia, refuses to participate in the
competition and Lear disowns her. Terrible events unfold as Goneril and Regan betray Lear, he descends intomadness, and Cordelia, the daughter who does truly love him, is imprisoned and executed.
The documents presented here include the title page of a 1619 edition of the play (inaccurately identified as
1608 on the title page) as well as an illustration of the first scene, created almost 200 years later. In the late
eighteenth century, the London printer and engraver, John Boydell, commissioned artists to create paintings
illustrating the works of Shakespeare. He then produced engravings based on their paintings and published
them together with Shakespeares plays. This plate is based on a work by the Swiss-born Romantic painter
Henry Fuseli. The caption quotes Lears famous lines to Cordelia:
Thy truth then be thy dower! ...
Here I disclaim all my paternal care,
Propinquity and property of blood,And as a stranger to my heart and me
Hold thee from this for ever.
Questions to Consider
1. Read the title page, a text which may have been used to advertise the play itself. What details aboutthe family drama are included in this early title? What does the title tell us about what this printer
thought was most important about the play or would be most useful in selling it?
2. Examine each of the figures in the engraving of Act 1, Scene 1. Describe the postures, gestures, andfacial expressions of Lear, Cordelia, and others. How does the engraving convey the importance and
meaning of Lears condemnation of Cordelia? How does Cordelia appear to respond?
3. What relationship does the play as a whole have to the instructions included in the advice books andcrime literature presented earlier in this collection?
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