In much the same way as the tip of an iceberg is barely a representation of its true size, the plot of a Shakespearean play is but one aspect for the audience to comprehend. This semester, while taking Power and Politics in Shakespeare, I have learned a great deal about the intricacies of Shakespeare’s plots, characters, and subjects, as well as how they relate to everyday life during that time period. Although each play that we studied had multiple themes with multiple aspects, the topics which occupied the majority of my attention were the social issues. Through his plays, Shakespeare raised awareness to many social issues that plagued the early modern era of England, especially in regards to failure and human potential.

The first manifestation of the social complexity of human potential that I became aware of was the concept of an individual’s honor.  In my first short assignment, Ideals of Honor in I Henry IV, I explored early modern England’s definition of honor, as well as how it differed from the present day. I came to the conclusion that honor during that time period consisted not of honesty or truthfulness, but social status and how an individual was viewed by his or her peers. The higher the class, the greater the importance. Therefore, royalty should have placed the utmost emphasis. Prince Harry’s actions couldn’t have pleased the crowd; in fact, they probably seemed downright despicable. The fact that he was the heir to the throne cast great doubts about his character, and whether or not he was fit to be king after all.

Harry’s success after he reforms forces the audience to consider that he may not have wasted his potential, at least to the degree that they had previously perceived. In this way Shakespeare was questioning society’s views, and challenging the audience to rethink their opinions. He was making the point that human potential may not have even been related to honor at all, at least not early modern England’s definition of it. By spending his time with society’s shadiest characters, Harry was seen as the lowest of the low, in terms of social standing. However, even though his actions were certainly not in keeping with society’s definition of honor, he was still successful and able to serve his kingdom. The upper classes of society weren’t the only ones that could make an impact.

Something else that Shakespeare brings to light is the topic of human emotion, specifically jealousy. My short assignment Jealousy and Human Nature analyzed the play Othello and how these themes were displayed through the characters. The protagonist of this play, Othello, is a poster child for every single negative personality trait related to emotion. He is gullible, madly in love, and jealous to an extreme fault. His jealousy overtakes his sense of reason to the point where it leads him to murder his wife Desdemona for her imagined crime of infidelity. My research into this topic led me to conclude that love was essentially looked down upon during that time period. Many, if not the vast majority, of marriages were made either for economic reasons or as an attempt to advance a family’s social position. A few possibilities for these are the potential that love has to become overpowering and the lack of faith that individuals placed not only in their own emotions, but those of others as well. Unlike I Henry IV, however, in Othello Shakespeare’s portrayal of both Othello and the villain Iago confirmed society’s fears in no uncertain terms. Shakespeare displayed through his characters’ actions that he was a firm believer in the negative potential of an individual’s feelings. Othello had a great amount of potential, but squandered it through his lack of reason. He may have thought he was justified; in reality, however, he was murdering an innocent woman for a crime she did not commit.

My most significant analysis was my research paper entitled Shakespeare’s Depiction of Rebellion in I Henry IV. It wasn’t until the writing of my reflective essay that I realized that the themes from both of my short assignments listed above actually contributed to my analysis in the research paper. In it, I focused primarily on the actions of the character of Hotspur. Although Hotspur’s motives for staging a rebellion against King Henry were numerous, two of the most significant were his jealousy and his quest to increase the honor of his family name. In many ways, Hotspur’s jealousy was directed at Prince Harry. Harry was drinking his days away and generally making a fool out of himself while Hotspur was widely regarded as one of the king’s best military leaders. Even then, Hotspur could never hope to be king, or hold a position higher than the one he currently had. For all his successes in other areas of his life, he still allowed his emotions to get the better of him.

The other contributing factor was the emphasis that Hotspur placed on honor. He valued his personal honor, but not nearly to the degree as that of his family. In the beginning of the play, he lists several reasons that he believes that his family’s name has been slighted. According to him, the Percy family played a major part in King Henry’s rise to the throne, and he feels that the king’s refusal to pay the ransom for his brother in law is a direct insult. The definition of honor has another aspect than simply this disgrace, however. If they are successful, the Percy family will now control the kingdom, and have the ability to divide it between themselves however they please. Their family name would benefit greatly simply from this huge increase in wealth. Hotspur’s decision is not a selfish one at all, at least through his eyes. This is due to his distorted sense of honor. In his mind, the importance of his family name was to be valued over everything else, to include his rulers and his country.

Both Hotspur’s jealousy and his perception of honor contributed to his waste of potential. His habit of placing family over all else cause him to fail to see that even though his family may share the same name, they lack the same honor. On more than one occasion, his family members are depicted as only caring about themselves, even to the point that they directly cause the start of a battle in which thousands of men died. Hotspur’s distorted perceptions cause him to squander his potential in the same manner when, in reality, he could have been the most successful of all.

By incorporating elements of many of the social issues regarding human potential that plagued early modern England, Shakespeare brings to light opinions and viewpoints that may not have been previously considered. Part of the effect of his portrayal of these issues is accomplished by raising these questions, but not answering them fully. Through this method, he forces the audience to come to its own conclusion, in much the same way as my opinion was shaped by my research into these topics. Each short assignment that I wrote, to include those not listed in this essay, built upon each other and offered new ideas that I may not have had. By understanding the underlying themes of Shakespeare’s plays, I can better see a connection between these, as well as how they were developed throughout the plays. Fixing an issue that affects as large of a population as an entire country is not something that happens overnight, but the first step in solving a problem is admitting that there is one.