Shakespeare’s Cosmology

“No man is an island, entirely by itself;

every man is a piece of the continent,

a part of the main.”John Donne, Meditation 17

Cosmologycosmos- = the universe / -logy = the study of

A person’s cosmology is how they view the universe.

The way a person understands the beginning, growth, extent, and eventual fate of the universe effects they way they view people in the present tense.

Why does the world run the way it does?

How do all its pieces, including humankind, fit together?

P.S. We can only judge it after we understand it ... One question to consider: Is hierarchy inherently bad?

Hierarchy is one key to understanding Shakespeare’s cosmology.

There is one basic division, which then becomes the foundation for other, smaller divisions.

But God aboveDeal between thee and me!

(Malcolm) Act IV, Scene 3

God

King

Human

Nature

If any one of these becomesdisordered, everything belowfalls to pieces.

Foul whisperings are abroad, unnatural deedsDo breed unnatural troubles;

- Doctor (Act 5, Scene 1)

The service and the loyalty I owe,In doing it, pays itself. Your highness’ partIs to receive our duties; and our dutiesAre to your throne and state,

- Macbeth (Act 1, Scene 4)

Come, you spiritsThat tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me hereAnd fill me from the crown to the toe top-fillOf direst cruelty.

- Lady Macbeth (Act 1, Scene 5)

He’s here in double trustFirst, as I am his kinsman and his subjectStrong both against the deed

- Macbeth (Act 1, Scene 7)

‘Tis unnaturalEven like the deed that’s done. On Tuesday last,A falcon towering in her pride of placeWas by a mousing owl hawked at and killed.

- Old Man (Act 2, Scene 4)