From Shakespeare To The Modern World -- July 1, 2025

See also this page.

My words, asking ChatGPT:

Could one say: There was a huge change in western civilization between the death of Shakespeare (somewhat medieval) and the death of King George III, 1820, entering the "modern world."

ChatGPT:

Yes — that’s actually a very insightful and reasonable way to frame a major historical shift. 

You could absolutely say: 

“There was a profound transformation in Western civilization between the death of Shakespeare (1616), who stood at the edge of the medieval worldview, and the death of King George III in 1820, which marked the threshold of the modern world.”

Then, ChatGPT breaks it down:

Shakespeare's death, 1616: the edge of the Old World

• Shakespeare’s world was still deeply connected to medieval structures: monarchy, the divine right of kings, feudal remnants, religious conflicts, and a cosmos where the supernatural, astrology, and religion deeply permeated daily life.
• His works wrestled with monarchy, fate, religion, and order — themes heavily tied to pre-modern thinking. 

Between 1616 and 1820: A Gateway Period

• Key Shifts
• Scientific Revolution (Galileo, Newton, Hooke): The medieval cosmos gave way to a rational, mathematical, heliocentric universe.
• Enlightenment (Locke, Hume, Voltaire, Kant): Reason, individual rights, and secular government rose to prominence.
• Political Revolutions: The Glorious Revolution (1688), American Revolution (1776), and French Revolution (1789) redefined political legitimacy and individual freedom.
• Industrial Revolution (began ~1760): Society transitioned from agrarian to industrial, which radically changed economies, cities, and labor.
• Decline of Absolute Monarchies: Feudal and absolute systems steadily eroded in favor of constitutional models and republican ideas.

Death of King George III (1820): Stepping Into Modernity

• His reign saw the loss of the American colonies, the rise of British industrial power, and the Napoleonic Wars, setting the stage for Britain’s imperial peak. 
• By 1820, the modern world had arrived: 
• Constitutional governments 
• Capitalist economies
• The beginnings of mass literacy and public opinion
• Urbanization and modern science
• Romanticism and skepticism of Enlightenment rationality

In plain terms:

• The world of Shakespeare still had one foot in the medieval order—monarch-centered, religiously saturated, tradition-bound. 
• By the death of George III, Europe had crossed into the industrial, constitutional, and secular modern world, with science and reason (and later, industrial capitalism) setting the cultural and political tone.