Shakespeare's Plays And The Aristocracy Culture Elements

Mainstream ideology dominated by the will of the rulers influences the value judgments of the whole society. It forms the ideal of a culture and infiltrates all levels of social structure. Since aristocracy culture came into being in Europe in the feudal times, it has been playing a significant role throughout history, and as a value and aesthetic conception, its influence is still being felt today. Britain is one of the most influenced countries by the western aristocracy culture, which can serve as an explanation of the British conservative character and gentlemanly manners. Shakespeare is the greatest British dramatist in the Renaissance period. His perfect works vividly reflect the cultural character of the British people. We can say that Shakespeare leads the mainstream consciousness of aristocracy culture. As the center of European classical culture, Shakespeare's works abound with aristocracy theme, showing a large number of aristocracy culture elements. The main content of this paper is to study the elements of the aristocracy culture in Shakespeare's plays.This thesis consists of two parts. The first part discusses the elements of English aristocracy culture; the second part deals with the relationship between these elements and Shakespeare's works. They are going to be discussed in the following sections:The introduction expounds the aristocracy culture elements from a historical and dialectical approach, including its unique contribution to Western civilization, its long history, its elitist features, and its close association with Shakespeare's plays. The significance of this study is also discussed in this part.The first chapter centers on the tradition of western aristocracy culture. First, after a brief introduction of Shakespeare studies, this part examines European especially English aristocracy and aristocracy culture tradition from three aspects: 1) the beginning, development and decline of the aristocracy culture; 2) the features of the aristocracy culture and its impact on the society; 3) the English political and cultural customs in Shakespeare's times.Chapter II focuses on Shakespeare'relationship with the nobility and the aristocracy culture from four aspects: Shakespeare's aristocracy complex; his contacts with the gentry; the theaters under the protection of the aristocracy; the aristocracy culture enhancing Shakespeare's works. In this part, the attention is turned from a general study of the aristocracy culture to an examination of the relationship between Shakespeare and the aristocracy culture.Chapter III presents the aristocracy culture elements in Shakespeare's comedies. The discussion of his comedies includes the generous gallant gentleman, the faithful and intelligent lady, chivalry of brave, just and romantic gentleman, humanistic elements of virtue, friendship and love. This part turns to the study of Shakespeare and puts an emphasis on the study of image and themes in his plays.Chapter IV analyses the aristocracy culture elements in Shakespeare's historical plays and tragedies from five aspects, still focusing on images and themes: 1) heroes or politicians, the dominant force to decide the fate of history; 2) trickery and strategy: the Machiavellian political wisdom; 3) thinkers, a case study of Hamlet; 4) doers, with Caesar and Brutus as examples.The conclusion part sums up the academic significance and innovative points of this research. The purpose of this paper is to amend or even to subvert the bias or prejudice against the aristocracy culture in traditional Shakespeare studies, and to offer or construct a new cultural value judgment in accord with historical materialism.