The Globe Essay Research Paper The public

The Globe Essay, Research Paper The public playhouse in Elizabethan England was a place that invoked great criticism. Some saw it as an instrument of evil. The theatre, according to some, nurtured thieves, which preyed on innocent playgoers. If that was not enough public playhouse were said to help spread bubonic plague, also known as the Plague, due to the close contact of the patrons. In order to contend with this criticism all public playhouses were placed outside of the jurisdiction of the local government. One of the most famous of these buildings, which lies across the Thames River, is the Globe Theatre. It was home to some of the most influential playwrights of the time, the most notable of them was William Shakespeare. An in depth study of the Globe will show how the

Globe appeared during the Elizabethan period. In March of 1599 building began on The Globe, supervised by Peter Streete. According to Bernard Beckerman in Shakespeare at the Globe Mr. Streete would go on to build the Fortune a year later using much of the same details from the Globe, after being contracted by Philip Henslowe and Edward Alleyn (xii). The construction of the Globe would cost around L400 (pounds) according to John C. Adams (50). The reason it was so cheap was because it was reconstructed from the skeleton of the Theatre, which was pulled down in 1597. The foundation of the Globe consisted of a circular ditch that was filled with limestone and pebbles. On top of this a bricks were stacked to create a polygon shaped that would serve as a base for the first set of wood

that would be put in to Booth 2 place. There were two sets of bricks an outer polygon and an inner polygon of bricks with a distance of ten to fifteen feet between them (75). These bricks would form the outer wall and the inner yard area. The actual shape that these walls formed was under much debate until recently when archeological evidence surfaced to support the idea that the Globe had been multi-polygonal shaped. According to Leslie Hotson, the Globe was shaped like an O, he draws this conclusion from the accounts of the people who visited the original Globe (78). If the reader were to look at the original text that these accounts come from, the O that is referred to actually appear like a polygonal O instead of a round O. In the past ten years the archeological site in

London, has found evidence to support the claim that the globe was a twenty-four sided structure (Mulryne 42). This twenty-four sided polygonal structure contained three levels. On the exterior of each level there consisted of a series of windows for ventilation and to allow extra light inside of the theatre. Unlike today s theatres the higher a playgoer sits the cheaper price, during this era it was exactly the opposite, the higher the more expensive. When a playgoer would first enter the Globe he or she would enter under a figure of Hercules supporting the Globe, under which were written Totus mundus agit histrionem (Adams 32). At the entrance a patron would pay one penny to the doorman. This covered the fee for the yard, first level. The first level was called the yard were

the groundlings stood. It was named the one penny area. In this area, the groundlings would stand on the ground for the entire performance, hence the name groundlings. If the playgoer wanted a better seat they would enter a stairway, to the to the upper levels. The upper levels were covered and furnished. The walls and ceilings of the two penny galleries were covered with Booth 3 plaster, and the floor was elevated to allow the people in back of the gallery an opportunity to see the stage (Adams 64). Unlike the yard the upper galleries had benches in order for the patrons to sit during the performance (64). The cost for these more elaborated seats was another penny. If one wanted an even better seat, one could go upper another level which cost another penny. The second and third