The Elizabethan picture of the world begins to focus on the order of the universe. Tillyard explains that God created an order for everything. Cosmic order is a key feature in poetry and plays written in the Elizabethan period. Tillyard argues that our order is influenced by personal ties to each rank. Tillyard uses several examples of order in our lives, one of them is "the sun and the king, the birthright stand together." Primogeniture is the right of the firstborn to inherit family property. This order is shown to be in conflict in Shakespeare's play, Richard the Second. In Richard II the sun was the king, and had to be respected as he was divinely anointed by God for his role. We see an ignoring of this divine order when Henry Bolingbroke and the other nobles take it upon themselves to rebel and pressure the king to give up his crown. Ironically, primogeniture is used to excuse betrayal in one case and then ignored to take Richard's crown. When Bolingbroke arrived he stated that he was only interested in taking back the right that God had given him and at the end of the play we see Bolingbroke and the nobles ignore Richard's divine right to rule because he does not have the ability to rule. During the Elizabethan period much respect was given to the cosmic order. Disorder, especially cosmic order, was believed to cause conflict and chaos in the universe. Sin was a feature present not only in morality plays but also in Shakespeare's plays. In almost every play Shakespeare wrote throughout his career, the audience could always learn something from the character's story. In this chapter Tillyard focuses on the fall and redemption of man. Tillyard stated that the fall of man separated us from our true s...... middle of paper ...... up to the universe and microcosm is the name given to men. Microcosm and political body is the mind of men, a state judge. Tillyard provides an example for Julius Caesar and Brutus gives a speech about how men, politics and dreams are linked together. There are human qualities called bodily health, whereby men possess health, strength, beauty, friends, wealth and virtue. Cosmic dance gives the image of movement. Tillyard says, “Everyone's path is different, but all paths together make a perfect whole.” Each creation has a dance that corresponds to its level of existence. When all items work separately it can cause clutter. However, as Tillyard said, when all paths are together then a perfect whole is formed. Works Cited Tillyard, EMW The Elizabethan World Picture. London: Chatto & Windus, 1950. Print.