Is social mobility presented as a positive or a negative quality in the play The Shoemakers
The Shoemaker’s Holiday Is social mobility presented as a positive or negative quality in this play? Social mobility is definitely presented as a positive quality in ‘The Shoemaker’s Holiday’. Dekker writes a play that enforces his ideals of a world that judges on virtue, and not birth. ... As the play progresses, what we hope will happen to the characters does. ... This is clearly presented in the play, as the aristocracy do nothing but quarrel in most of the scenes. The shoemakers on the other hand, are engaged in productive work during most of the play. ... This play is a rebellion against the nobility, and lays the foundations for the middle classes to come through as industrialists, and the working classes to come through and start forming unions or ‘guilds’. ... The King makes us see that social status can be rectified in minutes, but virtue is something that you continue to build on over a life time.