Reading Shakespeare in the context of his own time

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to study Shakespeare in the context of his own age. Drawing on critical research in New Historicism and Cultural Materialism, I have attempted to show how the social practices of Elizabethan Age influence the plays. The prevalence of themes relating to politics and finances in the plays are a reflection of the contemporary social issues. I discuss how power and money are represented in Shakespeare‘s plays as well as the way the playwright himself dealt with these two forces. Shakespeare had to negotiate between the rules imposed upon him, by political power and economic necessity, and his desire for artistic autonomy, and this position is inscribed in his plays.