The view of the world and superstition

In the Elizabethan Age people truely believed in fate or providence, the Age was given over to the astrologer, the alchemist, sorceres and witches who dominated many people`s minds. People believed that supernatural forces could influence the workings of nature and therefore their own lives. With regards to that everyone in those times what they were and looked like.

The witch:

The witch was the most widely recognized supernatural figure. She had the ability to affect the lives of others but she needed the presence of an "incorporeal power" which carried out her commands. This power was seen as evil and therefore people soon believed that witches were an instrument of the Devil, that there was a pact between the witch and the Devil. Accordingly, there were a number of attributes given to the witch, for example people believed that witches were able to change their shape into that of an animal, that they could fly in the night and that they were able to control the weather and the winds to name only a few.

With regards to that witches were seen as a potential enemy to everyone, so people felt fear and hatred for them.

In the Elizabethan Age, people even believed that the queen herself would be the focus of a "magical attack" by witches.

So it can be said that the witch is a woman given over to evil because she is a slave of the Devil. She commands a great power but it is power to destroy, not power to create.

The sorcerer:

In contrast to the witch, there is the sorcerer who is not the Devil`s slave or servant but his master. He has sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for his power. The sorcerer entered into an agreement with the powers of darkness. Even though devils hated to serve magicians, they agreed to the contract because they wanted to have the sorcerer's souls.

The alchemist:

He stood in vast contrast to both the witch and the sorcerer, since he wanted to control nature through understanding her basic structure rather than through any reliance on or agreement with the evil. The alchemist did no more than follow recipes and procedures in order to try to recreate "God`s perfection".

The astrologer:

He was trained to read the stars and planets and people expected him to be able to interpret the possible influences the position of the stars had upon them.

There were serious astrologers who wanted to find useful information but there were also those who hadn`t the slightest idea of the damage their forecasts could cause. And of course there were those who tried to cheat people for selfish reasons: they wanted to earn money.

So only 350 years ago people deeply believed in those supernatrual powers, they were superstitious.

According to that it becomes obvious how important it is to bear this view of the world in mind which prevailed when Shakespeare wrote his plays if you want to understand and analyse them.

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