Shakespeare A to Z | Social Classes
Elizabethan society was highly class conscious. Group distinctions based on occupation, wealth, and family history were fairly rigid and strictly observed. Elizabethans saw such differences as the natural reflection of a divine order, known as the Great Chain of Being, a vast hierarchy* that contained everything in the universe. People generally tried to live according to their “proper” station in life. Occasionally, however, an individual could rise in social status by gaining wealth and standing in the community.
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