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very
society has its misfits and oddballs: people who stand out because
they are outside the mainstream. While we certainly respect the
individuality of such people, when it comes to creating a character
we must ignore them. We strive to give a sense of everyday
life: people who are part of the society around them. While they can
be colorful, to be meaningful and theatrical convincing their
eccentricities must be one of their era, not ours.
The characteristics below are broad outlines of
Elizabethans in town and countryside, as opposed to Londoners.
Please note that the characterizations of "rich" and "poor" are
relative to the middle class, they are not meant to denote true
poverty or high birth. These are only guidelines; if there is a good
theatrical reason, you may wish to diverge from them a little. If
you'd like help with this or want pointers to further research,
please see the theatrical director.
| Age |
Poor |
Rich |
| Under 7 |
If you’re male, you
help with the family garden and perform basic tasks around the
house. If you live on a farm, you help glean the fields. If your
father is ambitious, he might be trying to find an
apprenticeship for you in one of the local guilds. If you’re a
girl, you’re already learning to cook, spin, sew, work a still
room, brew, and handle household accounts. |
If you’re male, you’re
likely to have had some instruction at a village school,
learning Latin, French, history, and mathematics. Your father
may have made an arrangement for you to be involved in one of
the local Guilds, and you may have already begun some studies
towards a career. If you’re female, you are receiving private
tutoring in the same subjects found above. You also study music,
dance, and the fine arts in preparation for marriage, and may
already be betrothed. You would be working on the contents of
your dowry chest – household linens, baby clothes, and the like
– and would be learning to manage household accounts and how to
handle servants. |
| 7-12 |
If you’re male, you
are either enrolled as an apprentice or actively involved in
learning a trade. Over 70% of the population of England live on
small farms, and you are very familiar with farming even if you
hope to follow some other trade. If you’re female, you would
be learning midwifery, and are taking over many of the household
duties from your mother. You might have a position as a
maidservant in another, more prosperous, household. |
If you’re male, you
are actively involved in learning a trade, becoming a scholar,
or have been fostered to a wealthier household. In any case, you
are learning everything you can. Your family may have betrothed
you to a girl of another family with which they plan a dynastic
link. You are probably literate. If you’re female, you will be
starting to attend society functions to show your worth and
eligibility as a wife, and you would be expected to entertain
family and guests with your learned musical skills. You probably
have some control over household servants at this point, but no
control over money. You might also be employed as a maidservant
at a noble household or, if your family owns a store, assist
with the work there. |
| 13-18 |
If you are male, you
are married or soon will be though you may still be living with
your parents or on their land. If you were apprenticed, then you
are probably continuing your studies as a journeyman. You have
probably never ridden a horse or traveled more than 20 miles
away from your home. You are at least semiliterate. If you are
female, you are married at this point, with at least one child
(18-year olds might have as many as three). You might be living
at your family’s household or that of your husband’s. |
If you are male,
although the upper classes often waited until later in life
(unless there were dynastic pressures), you are engaged,
married, or soon will be. You may have traveled within England
with your father or Master in the course of business duties, and
are therefore relatively cosmopolitan. You may be caught in the
romantic notion of making your fortune fighting n France or
Ireland. You are highly literate in English and would know some
French, and perhaps a smattering of Latin.
If you’re female, and if you’re married by now, you have a
household of your own and are complete charge of running the
household, including servants and accounts. You probably have at
least one child. |
| 19-30 |
If you are male, you
are probably a farmer or shepherd, making part of your income in
barter and part cash, but you could also be working in one of
the semiskilled trades or in one of the lesser Guilds. You most
likely live in a farm cottage or in a house over your workshop,
and have started to make arrangements for your sons’ futures.
If you are female, you are skilled at home brewing, curing and
smoking meats, and pickling. For a woman to be unmarried over
the age of 25 was highly unlikely -- most women of this age have
already had several children. Around 60% of women die in
childbirth during this era, and this is a real concern for you.
You are now training your daughters the same skills your mother
taught you. |
If you are male and a
craftsman, you are a full member of the Guild as a working
journeyman or Master, and may be involved in local politics as
an alderman or constable. If you are rich enough, you may even
have the right to vote. You have started to make arrangements
for your sons’ futures. If you are female, you are probably
married with one or two children. Wealthier families tended to
have fewer children than those of poorer families, but around
60% of women die in childbirth during this era, and this is a
real concern for you. You are now training your daughters in the
same skills your mother taught you. |
| 30-40 |
Both male and female:
you definitely have several children, and odds are that not all
of them have survived childhood. You may be involved in making
marriage arrangements for your oldest children by now. If either
of your parents are alive, they are considered very old. |
If you are male, you
have probably served as an alderman, or on the town or shire
council, or in some other civic or church duty (the two are not
very separate in this era). You may have been involved as a
litigant in some sort of court case -- hardly anyone of means
avoided being sued over boundary disputes, contested wills, and
the like. You probably own a substantial amount of pewter and
silver plate, though probably not much gold. Women: more of
the same. If you are a widow, you may have control of the money
and business that your husband left to you – or it might be in
the control of your (or his) relatives, and you would instead be
receiving a stipend to live on. You cannot be forced to remarry
(although it did happen). |
| 40-50 |
More of the same...
your parents are dead, and you are starting to feel the rigors
of age yourself. |
If you are
sufficiently wealthy to do so, you are probably buying land,
either to rent or to give as dowries and gifts for your
children's marriages. |
| Over 50 |
You are a
patriarch or matriarch of a large extended family, possibly with
dozens of grandchildren. You will probably work at your trade
for as long as you can, though it was not entirely unknown for
someone who was comfortably wealthy to spend time in study,
particularly of religion. |
Things you are
not, regardless of wealth:
• Openly Catholic, Jewish, or Muslim
• Proudly Irish, unless you are a Protestant
settler who fled Ireland when the wars started
• Over 30 and never married, unless you are in
the clergy.
Some notes on the
servant class
If you are in the servant class, you live to the same standard as
your employer; servants are not the modern interpretation of
"servants," with the undertone of "slave." It was a valued position,
much sought-after to gain higher standing and a better life than in
the fields. Many servants were viewed upon as a part of the family
they served, and were loved, trusted, and counted upon in the
household and family business.
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Essays- |
