Chapter 6 Summary and Analysis

"Life in the Suburbs" The beginning of this chapter describes two different ways of life in London when Shakespeare first arrived. The first is life within the ancient Roman wall surrounding the city, a life of crowding, noise, bad smells, and bad health. The second is life outside the walls, which in some directions led directly to the open, fresh, healthy air of the countryside but in other directions led to recreation areas. Included in these areas were brothels, bear-baiting pits, and places of public execution and/or punishment. It was in these last, presumably, that theatre in general and Shakespeare in particular learned of the public's lust for blood and violence, an attitude that could explain Shakespeare's gruesome treatment of Lavinia in Titus Andronicus, having her hands cut off and her tongue cut out. There were also several theatres in...