Elizabethan Stage Condition

Abstract

Although the first researches into the conditions under which Shakespeare worked were motivated more by antiquarian interest than by literary considerations, it is now universally realised that some knowledge of those conditions is indispensable for a fuller understanding of his plays. The student of Shakespeare should know something about the structure of the Elizabethan stage, about the manner in which the plays were acted and the general likes and predilections, reactions and expectations of the audience that attended their performance. Being a successful dramatist, Shakespeare had to take all those factors into consideration and they have helped in some measure to define the form of his plays.