Elizebethan Mentality

Lilian Winstanley wrote, ``The mentality of his audience provides him with at least half of his material. It is through that mentality that his plays must be reviewed and considered; it is to that mentality they must all appeal.''
Our age has ignored this and appealed to 20th-21st century readers of 20th-21st century psychology. Winstanley located this in 19th century psychology and has special criticism for AC Bradley, as his effort to masquerade the very 16th early 17th century Shakespeare in so called universals terms of reference, that is late 19th early 20th century psychological terms of reference.She proposes to put Shakespeare ``in his place'' in order to better understand him and his dialogue with his audience and thus enable us to have a more complete picutre of the man and his time..
So we must brush up on 16th century psychology, as well as its history.
``The mentality of his audience everywhere shapes and conditions his work as certainly as the work of a sculptor is shaped by the architecture and purpose of the building in which it stands. The sculpture of the Parthenon is not more certainly adapted to the purpose of the Parthenon than are the plays of a true dramatist to the mentality of his audience