Post #1_Rank & Status

The critical concept I have chosen to explore this semester is the idea of rank and status and the role they play in Shakespeare's early work.

The Oxford English Dictionary features a variety of definitions for both status and rank. However for the sake of time and space I have chosen the definitions I will be focusing on throughout the semester:

rank1 /raŋk/ noun

• 1. A position within the hierarchy of an organization or society: only two cabinet members had held ministerial rank before. [mass noun] high social position: persons of rank and breeding.
• 2. (ranks) the people belonging to or constituting a group or class: the ranks of Britain's unemployed.

verb 

[with obj. and adverbial]

• 1. take precedence over (someone) in respect of rank; outrank: the Secretary of State ranks all the other members of the cabinet.
• – origin Middle English (in the sense ‘‘ row of things’ ’): from Old French ranc, of Germanic origin; related to  ring1.
• status /ˈsteɪtəs/ noun
• 1. relative social or professional position; standing: an improvement in the status of women. [mass noun] high rank or social standing: those who enjoy wealth and status. The official classification given to a person, country, or organization, determining their rights or responsibilities: the duchy had been elevated to the status of a principality.

• – origin late 18th cent. (as a legal term meaning ‘‘ legal standing’ ’): from Latin, literally '‘ standing’ ', from stare '‘ to stand’ '.
• (OED "rank" and "status)

As I understood the terms rank and status they referred almost exclusively to an individual's position in society. With that idea rank and status rely on the amount of money a person makes  or the job they possess. For example a garbage man may make a large amount of money however he would not hold a high rank in society due to the nature of his job.

I am particularly interested in tracking this concept throughout the semester because I think it is important to understand the role that the society-created concepts of rank and status have on the way we interact with other people and how Shakespeare addressed the concept in his era.

I think that the concept could prove important to Shakespeare's early works because of his use of the stock characters from commedia and how he often portrays lower class characters or those who are not in the highest rank among the other characters. He often portrays these characters as the more intelligent or enlightened of the cast even though they are rarely listened to or laughed away.

I am really looking forward to tracking the concept over the semester because during my time in World Theatre I with Dr. Laura Hope I wrote my research paper comparing Shakespeare's use of the wise fool in As You Like It, with Touchstone, and Twelfth Night, with Feste. I would like to expand my understanding to see how rank and status in general can be seen throughout Shakespeare's early works.