Bradley Stein

Prof. Benjamin Gillespie

Theatre History
25 September 2016
Leading up to Shakespeares Legacy
Shakespeare has always been a divisive figure in my life. I grew up in a family that
completely idolized Shakespeare, always highlighting the positive and ignoring the negative of
his writings. To this day I have a skewed outlook on Shakespeares works; I feel I must like
them but my opinions on his actual work ranges vastly from play to play. One reason I want
Shakespeare to be the topic of my research paper is to develop a more concrete understanding of
why he is such a singularly lauded and idealized playwright. By researching how he impacted
theatre and his community within the context of the 15-1600s I will hopefully realize why his
works were substantial enough to warrant such an enduring legacy.
According to the textbook Living Theatre Shakespeares career in theatre began around
1590 and ended after his retirement in 1613 (Goldfarb, Wilson 163). In order to learn more
about his influence, I will focus my studies solely to what was happening in the U.K.
Additionally, I will need to learn about what the theatre practices in England were like before
Shakespeare started his career, in order to know what he had an influence in. This will include
areas such as the technical side of theatre, the staging of shows, theatre audiences, and changes
in writing style.
Obviously, with the limited technology available in the 1500s the sets and stagings of
Renaissance plays would look very different from mainstream plays look like today.
Unfortunately, it will be hard to find out some of this information since the are no records for

what the Globe theatre looked like (Goldfarb, Wilson 169). Hopefully, I can use the speculation
of historians to deduct what changes occurred.
The term Groundling originated in 1600s referencing those too poor to pay for seats who
had to stand in front of the stage for the whole play. Researching the different kinds of people
who attended Shakespeares shows could give insight into how the community was affected by
theatre. A poor groundling would probably have a very different view of Hamlet then a wealthy
socialite.
Possibly the most important theatre element to research the changing in writing style.
For example, what changed between Christopher Marlow and Shakespeare? Shakespeares
stories were not original in their plot, most people at the time already knew these stories, but the
reason he is showered with praise is because of his writing. This could be the key to finding out
why Shakespeare was so popular.