The Elizabethan World View and Its Diorama:12 Zodiacal Signs in the ‘Heaven’ of the Globe Theatre

Abstract

This paper aims at exploring the dynamics between the Elizabethan world view and the Shakespearean theatre space. First of all, this paper elucidates the meaning of the Elizabethan view of the world through the examination of the contemporary popular sciences such as medicine, astrology and alchemy. Then, it demonstrates the way in which the Elizabethan world view was represented and, at the same time, presented itself on the Shakespearean theatre space, especially, though the 'Heaven' of the Globe Theatre. The Elizabethan world view was deeply rooted in the Ptolemaic notion of geocentricism, that is, the Earth is the center of the universe and all the creatures in the universe are organically connected one after another and structured in the form of a Great Chain of Being. The practices of the contemporary popular sciences show well that such a world view was in ubiquitous circulation in daily life and accordingly accepted as familiar by the public of the time. Along with the geocentricism, the notion of the micro-macro universal correspondence formed the norm of the Elizabethan conception of the world order. With these notions, Queen Elizabeth could make and mythify a national pride that England was the center of the world and then implant the pride in her subjects who thought themselves to be the selected people of the world. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth. England was in desperate need to free herself from the political and religious influence of Spain. Considering this, the production and circulation of the England-centered world view or national pride should be the order of the time that Elizabeth had to take. As a popular and public place for entertainment, the contemporary playhouse could be an easy and useful means to propagate and, consequently, popularize the Elizabethan world view among the general public. The circular pattern of zodiacal symbols in the 'Heaven' of the Globe Theatre explains best such a possibility. Together with the motto torus mundus agit histrionem(the whole world is a stage) inscribed at the entrance of the building, the zodiacal signs (re)presented the Elizabethan world view by making the audience members assume the playhouse as the world, identify themselves with the actors on the stage and consequently accepting their position as the center of the universe. Furthermore, the presence of the zodiacal signs in Heaven of the Globe Theatre leaves behind to chance for the reconsideration that the structure of the Elizabethan theatre building, as a diorama of the world view of the Elizabethan age, was the embodiment of the England's own peculiar context of the times.