私醫聯招 英文歷屆試題｜第 286 題

Culture is by no means a separate part of society or politics. Elizabethan era is generally known as one of the most glorious periods in English history not simply because of its political and military strength, but also because of its vigorous cultural power. For those of us in the twenty-first century, the success of William Shakespeare's plays is as well known as Queen Elizabeth's defeat of the Spanish Armada. By permitting the establishment of permanent public playhouses, Elizabethan era created the cultural conditions that nurtured theatrical creativities. "Literature is part of history," Jean E. Howard writes, just as "the literary text [is] as much a context for other aspects of cultural and material life as they are for it." Shakespeare's works, which constitute a part of the Elizabethan history, worked hand in hand with other aspects of material life at that time to shape our conceptualization of the Elizabethan era. Thus seen, a seemingly minor cultural policy that permits the building of playhouses had enormous effects on subsequent ages' impression of the era. Cultural policies are undeniably integral parts of society and politics, and they might have a lasting effect on history.