Macbeth Research Report: Shakespeare’s World
May 12, 2015
Social: Roles of men and women:
Women and men had completely different roles in society. Men were the heads of the families; they supported the family and were expected to be obeyed by women. On the other hand, all Elizabethan women were expected to be married and to give birth, and they had to depend on their husbands. Noble women were usually tutored at home from the age of 5 or younger to learn Latin, Greek, French, music, and dance. However, they were not allowed to go to universities. The middle class and low class women were not that fortunate; they were not allowed education and they had to learn house duties. Unmarried women were often suspected to be witches.

Political: Roles of the church and state:
There were 2 main religions in England, Catholicism and Protestantism. The monarchs decided the legal religion, and everyone had to believe in that religion; if not, people could be punished, tortured, and executed. People generally believed in Catholic in the early 1500s, but during the Renaissance period, Protestantism was widely spread. Queen Elizabeth’s father, Henry VIII, was opposed to Roman Catholic because he wasn’t allowed to divorce his wife, Catherine of Aragon. In 1534, he passed an act which made him the Supreme Head of the Church of England and required all the priests to be loyal to the monarch, not Rome. Queen Elizabeth’s sister, Queen Mary I, believed in Catholic. She ordered the burning and prosecution of many Protestants. Queen Elizabeth was a Protestant, but unlike her sister, she allowed people practicing Catholic without being punished. However, many Catholics wanted to replace Queen Elizabeth with her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots, which led to the execution of Mary. Under this social environment, Shakespeare was also a Protestant.

Superstitions:
People in the Elizabethan