London Entry 2

Penny Stinkers and Groundlings

    Upon visiting the reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, I found myself pondering the relationship between Shakespeare's works and socioeconomic class. Oftentimes in modern society, knowledge of Shakespeare is associated with status and a thorough (often expensive) education.  However, the tour emphasized the variety of classes that attended Shakespeare's plays.  In fact, the theatre itself was constructed to house the entire range of socioeconomic classes in Elizabethan London. Shakespeare's works were accessible to all classes in his era, as shown by the construction of the theatre and mentions in his plays themselves.

    One of the first facts given to us during the tour was the explanation of "the pit." For a penny (though this was nearly a day's wage), the lower classes could enter and stand on the ground. The middle class sat in the surrounding booths for a slightly higher price, and for a small fortune, the upper classes sat in the high decorative booths flanking the stage and upon the stage balcony where they could be seen.

    This dynamic represented the class division in London.  Those standing in the pit were referred to as "groundlings" or "penny stinkers." The groundlings were even mocked in Hamlet:

O, it offends me to the soul to hear a robustious
periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to
very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings, who
for the most part are capable of nothing but
inexplicable dumbshows and noise.
(Hamlet, 3.2)

In 1630, shortly after the term's debut, the OED lists "groundling" as an insult referring to a person of lower class.  Though the terminology and mockery of the lower class customers of The Globe may make them seem unwelcome, the lower classes were a staple in Shakespeare's audience.  In even a casual read of Shakespeare's plays, some crude humor and mockery of the upper class is just as apparent as the high brow jests and insults to the lower class.  Shakespeare clearly did not pen his works with a solely upper class audience in mind.  He was indiscriminate with his mockery, and pandered to various forms of humor.  The physical form of the Globe is a tribute to his universal class appeal.