Love, Family, And Marriages In The Elizabethan Times

Introduction

The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603), often referred to as the Golden Age in English History which represented the apogee of the English Renaissance and saw the flowering of poetry, music and literature.

Love affair

The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603), often referred to as the Golden Age in English History which represented the apogee of the English Renaissance and saw the flowering of poetry, music and literature. Love, was and still is a very imp part of people’s life. Without love there is no life. The reason behind it being the subject of the Elizabethan lyrics as an artificial piece of work.

During the Elizabethan era, there were mostly arranged marriages keeping wealth and reputation into consideration. Marriages at that time were just done on the basis of gain. For instance, families of landowners were expected to marry just to attain land possession. Marriage, a bond where two people are expected to come soulfully together were defined by mere monetary gains. Money, class or alliance governed the marriage. Time and again in Shakespeare’s play we get to see the conflict between the primitive order in which the fathers choose husband for their daughters and the modern order in which daughters wished to choose their own mates based on affection in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ opens with Eques demanding that his daughter Hernia either marry Demetrius, the husband he has selected for her or be put to death. While Hernia remains steadfastly committed to Lysander, the prospective husband that she has choose.

“The course of true love never did run smooth” (Act 1 Scene 1 A Midsummer Night’s Dream) Indeed, the process for getting married was very complex. A couple wishing to marry had to first obtain the blessing of the church, either by obtaining a licence to marry or by having a ‘banns’ read that is announcing, the couple’s names and their intent to marry on three successive Sundays from a church pulpits in the home parishes of both parties. Couples who paid for a license and testified that there were no obstacles to their own still had to wait one month before they could be married. The phrase “rule of thumb” was long thought to derive from an early English law that allowed men to discipline their wives so long as they used a stick no greater than a thumbs breadth. This is very much applicable in ‘The Taming of the Shrew’. The titular character Katherina, can certainly be read as an example of the stock character of a shrew who later becomes a ‘tamed’ as an obvious one.

Interestingly, Shakespeare oeuvre includes few instances of actual infidelity. In ‘A Winter’s Tale’, a jealous King Leontes suspects his wife Hermione of having an affair with his best friend Polixenes. Thus, practically in every romantic relationship in Shakespeare’s world, courtship, seductions, marriages, infidelities stand out as somehow unique, somehow innovative.

Society during Elizabethan era

Elizabethan society was class based, society divided into a strict social order that included six classes: the monarchy (or the Queen herself), the nobility, the gentry, the merchant class, the Yeoman class (tradesmen) and laborers. Elizabethan laws even dictated what kind of colour of clothes such as class could wear so that they could be immediately identified.

The Welfare System

By 1569 some sort of welfare system was in place in the city of London, an example followed nationally by a general Act of 1572 which formed the basis of the national Poor Law until 1834. Its aim was to separate the ‘poor, aged and impotent people, whom the state could and should help, from the thriftless and work- shy, whom the state would not help. The system became more and more complicated, but it functioned, in its own way. The poor were not, in theory at least, left to starve.

Culture

Just as today a woman’s wedding is one of the most important day of her life. The major difference to Elizabethan wedding customs to a modern-day Western marriage is that the woman had very little, if any, choice in who her husband might be. An Elizabethan wedding custom for the wealthy was to present a miniature picture to the man to give some indication of what his prospective wife might look like. This custom was followed prior to the betrothal of King Henry and Anne of Cleves. The particular example of an Elizabethan wedding custom totally back fired.

During this era women were very much ‘Second class citizens’. Regardless of their social standing they were expected to marry. Single women were thought to be witches by their neighbours. Elizabethan marriages were sometimes arranged immediately following a baby’s birth via a formal betrothal. With parental permission it was legal for boys to marry at the age of 14 and girls at 12. Although it was not usual or traditional for marriages at such a young age. The age of Consent was 21 and boys would generally not marry until this age.

Role Women in renaissance periods

'Renaissance period' the age when women practiced no legal power, the only vocation was to marry, which costed them property, even the clothes they wore were dictated by her social class, women belonged to their husbands during 'Renaissance '. Joan Kelly Gadol published article 'did women have renaissance?' Women faced a restriction and lived under male dominance. Women of upper classes only had two choices on life, that is marriage or cloister. That is marry a man or Jesus. Whereas lower classes women worked in fields and where also forced into prostitution, women primarily had three 4 phases in her life that A daughter where she is expected to stay virgin and untouched, A wife where she sacrifices herself to her husband, she has no right over herself, A mother where she is expected to take care of her child, A widow where she sacrifices life necessities of her life after her husband's death. The concept of 'wet nurse' was introduced during that period, a wet nurse was frequently a lower class woman whose own baby died or who had recently weaned her infant and breast fed the baby of the upper class woman in return of money. In spite of buds of feminism that rose during this period like Italian writers Christrine de Pinan and cases like lady Anne who lives 1590 to 1676 who fought an infamous legal battle to gain control over her family's vast estate, eventually at 53 she won control of some properties which included 5 castles. Yet women during 'renaissance' were considered weak, emotional creatures dependent on the goodness and competence of men.

Family Life

Elizabethan Family Life was extremely close-knit. Many of the major elements of Elizabethan family life were determined by whether the family was poor and belonging to the lower classes or whether the family was wealthy. The main exception to this was religion, whether rich or poor, young or old, everyone in the family was expected to attend a Protestant Church Service every Sunday. Elizabethan family life was determined by the many laws of the land which dictated not only religion but also the types of clothes members of the family were allowed to wear.

The Elizabethan family life for women was dominated by the men in the family. Elizabethan women were seen as inferior to men. They were subservient to the men in the family all of their lives and expected to obey the men in all aspects of their life. Disobedience was seen as a crime against their religion. Marriages were arranged to suit the family. Elizabethan women were expected to marry to increase the wealth and position of the family and then to produce children - preferably male heirs. There were no careers for women - and there were no schools for girls, so the majority were illiterate. Family and Home life depended on the skills of the women in relation to good housekeeping and the health of the family was determined by the ability of Elizabethan women to produce medicines from the herbs available to them.

The Elizabethan family life for men was one of power. The men made the decisions and the women were expected to obey them. The men were expected to support the family from a whole variety of occupations. And they were expected to improve the positions of all members of the family through influence and patronage from wealthier people and families than their own.

Children were subservient to the adults in the family. They were raised to respect and obey their parents. Infant mortality was high during the Elizabethan era so the children of the family were cherished. They were given toys to play with - dolls, toy soldiers, hobby horses and the like. Wealthy children were taught good manners and would be punished, boys and girls, for any forms of bad behaviour.

Elizabethan Family Life - Marriage and Betrothal customs

Elizabethan Betrothal and Marriage customs were an important feature of Elizabethan family life. Elizabethan women were expected to marry to increase the wealth and position of the family and then to produce children - preferably male heirs. Elizabethan women were expected to bring a dowry to the marriage. A dowry was an amount of money, goods, and property that the bride would bring to the marriage.

Conclusion

Marriage in Elizabethan times appeared to be similar to the marriages of today, in that some of the traditions have remained constant, however, a closer look reveals many key differences. For example, it was considered foolish to marry for love, and strangely enough, those who were of lower classes were more likely to have a choice in husbands. Marriages were considered more of a business arrangement between the families than a relationship between man and women. Single women were considered witches. So, in conclusion during Elizabethan era love was given no importance as it was considered akin to sin and marriages were usually a business arrangement.