Class Difference in the Renaissance and in Shakespeares As You Like It

Class Difference in the Renaissance and As You ilk It Notions active mark distinctions during the Renaissance became more ambiguous than at any otherwise period of time. Many countries moved from a feudal to a capitalist economy, leading to some of the worst peasants revolts in the history of Europe.(Aston) During the last fourth of the 1500s the conditions for social status and position were going through radical changes, as the boundaries between the upper elite and the gentry as well as those between these groups and the wealthier professional classes below them were particularly ambiguous. (Bailey) There came about a term called sorts, which essentially split the population into two roughly delineate classes. There were the better sorts, which included the noblemen, gentlemen, and yeomen. The meaner sorts included the husbandmen, artisans, and laborers. The citizens or merchants could go into each category depending upon income, rank in society, local reputation, profe ssion, and age. Citizens rose in the ranks repayable to an economic boom in national trading, service industries, manufacturing businesses, and government posts. (Bailey) The tug classes saw an increased number of skilled workers and the availability of printed literature provided educational advances. The traditional gauges of status such as birth, wealth, occupation, political allegiance, and life style, as well as regional, religious, and professional affiliation, (Bailey) were beginning to fade. To maintain some order, queer Elizabeth declared a clothing proclamation in 1562. In summary, frock was one of the primary means through which royalty and the upper class could proclaim their authority and power. One coul... ...the heir of property and money. Our own ship canal of judging people and situations is deeply rooted in the social changes that took coiffe in the English Renaissance. WORKS CITED Aston, Margaret. The Panorama of the Renaissance. New York Abradale Press, 2000. Bailey, Amanda. Monstrous sort Style and the Early Modern Theatre Criticism , Vol. 43, Issue triad 2001. The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. CD-ROM, Oxford Oxford UP, 1992. Ronk, Martha Clare. Locating the Visual in As You Like It, The Shakespeare Quarterly Vol. 52, Issue II, 2001. Shakespeare, William. As You Like It. The Oxford Shakespeare The Complete Works. Ed. Stanley Wells, Gary Taylor, and William Montgomery, Oxford Oxford UP, 1999. Wall, Wendy. Why Does hockey puck Sweep? Fairylore, MerryWives, & Social Struggle, The Shakespeare Quarterly Vol. 52. Issue I 2001.