Elizabethan Family Life

The following academic paper highlights the up-to-date issues and questions of Elizabethan Family Life. This sample provides just some ideas on how this topic can be analyzed and discussed.

Elizabethan Family Life

Family life during the Elizabethan period was largely determined by what class the family was in. As in how rich the family was. But the main exception to this was religion. It didn’t matter whether the family was wealthy, poor, young or old, each family was expected to attend a protestant church service every Sunday.

Each family member also wore different clothes. A wealthy family led a completely different life to one of a poor family and men led very different lives to women. The men had quite a lot of control over the lives of the women in the family during the Elizabethan times.

The women were expected to always be ready to do whatever the men told them to do and were supposed to obey the men in all aspects of their life.

In their religion, disobedience was seen as a crime or wrongdoing. The whole purpose for women to get married was to Increase the position and wealth of her own family and then to produce children. Love was not really considered as a reason to get married back then but may come In the marriage. Male children were preferred back In those times. There were no careers available to women and the girls did not receive an education either, so most of the females weren’t able to read or write.

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Women’s Role During Elizabethan Era

It was the women’s job to keep the house tidy and in good shape. It was also the responsibility of the women to keep their family healthy by producing medicines from their available herbs. The Elizabethan men led a life of power, completely opposite to the women and much more favorable. The men made all the decisions and the women were expected to obey them. The men supported the family by going to work and they had a wide variety of occupations. The men were expected to Improve the positions of family members too by working with wealthier people and families than their own and patronizing with them.

Boys had an education and went to school for 6 days a week. This meant they were literate, unlike the girls. When tobacco was introduced, smoking was very popular among men. The lives of the children during the Elizabethan times wasn’t too different from how it is today. The children of the family had to serve and obey the adults of the family, including women. They were raised to obey and respect their parents. Children were very precious during the Elizabethan period because infant mortality was high. Just like the 21st century, children had toys to play with for entertainment.

Some of those toys Included dolls, toy soldiers, hobbyhorses and many others. But unlike the Elizabethan times, children now have PC’s and play stations to entertain themselves. Children were split in classes like the adults. The more high-class children were more punished more severely for bad behavior than the lower class children. The homes back in the Elizabethan period depended on how rich the family was. What the family did in and outside of the home was also determined by what time of day it was. Most of the Elizabethan houses were half built out of timber with black ND white styles The interiors had separate rooms and usually levels.

The walls were made of wattle, which were daubed with mortar and later had whitewash applied to it. For an upper or middle class family, windows were constructed from glass, like today, but if the family was lower class then windows became wooden shutters. The houses had thatched roofs made of straw or reeds. Rushes were used to cover the floor for most families but marble or slate was used only for the very wealthy families. The chimneys were very high and made of stone. The houses didn’t have running water so it had to be obtained through water pumps, owing this caused many people to get typhoid.

Heat was produced by fires and lighting from candles and torches. Bubonic plague was spread easily as the thatched roofs made good homes for rats and mice (from which the disease was spread). The Elizabethan home was where families were able to find comfort. Education during the Elizabethan times was mainly for the boys of the upper and middle classes and girls of the upper class. Girls were usually not allowed in schools. The simplest form of education started at what was called a “Petty School”. This school was conducted for boys from 5 – 7 years of age.

This type of school wasn’t actually held in a school building but the teacher’s house. These petty schools ran for only a small fee and were conducted by a local and well- educated housewife. Reading and writing English and lessons about behavior were taught at these schools, as they were considered to be the fundamentals of education and must be taught early in childhood. From 7 – 14 years of age, boys not in the upper class would attend a grammar school. They were taught by ushers (senior students at grammar school) from 7 – 10 years of GE.

They learnt slightly more advanced English writing and speaking skills and basic Latin. When the boys turned 10 they left their ushers to be taught by masters in more Latin, literature, Greek study, religious education and simple math. After grammar school, the boys left for university at an early age of 14. People ate different things in the Elizabethan period depending on their wealth and social status. During those times, meat was thought to be a luxury enjoyed by the rich. The poor would not have had much food varieties but the rich had plenty to choose from! Old eat are lamb, beef, mutton, bacon, fish, carrot, leeks and fruits.

Many different kinds of food were introduced in the Elizabethan period, such as tomatoes, kidney beans and potatoes. Tutors also enjoyed eating dessert, obviously. They ate pastries, tarts, cakes, custard and cream. The food in those times weren’t actually too different compared to what we eat now. Family was very important back then and still is. Although life as a family was very strict and standardized, it was also vital to have close bonds as a family and to have good respect and obedience towards each other.