Arden of Faversham

While the play depicts a society in which social mobility is increasingly possible, this mobility heightens class tension between the play’s upper-class and middle-class characters. Characters can climb the social ladder, but there are still deeply entrenched class divisions and prejudices. This theme mainly manifests in the tension between Arden and Mosby, though it is also evident between Alice and Mosby, as well as between Arden, Greene, and Reede.

Arden is “by birth a gentleman of blood” (1.36), whereas Mosby is a tailor who has risen to become the steward of a gentleman’s house. The class tension between Arden and Mosby is evident insofar as Arden uses it to degrade Mosby when he sees him as a competitor for Alice’s love. Arden can socialize in a friendly manner with Mosby when they are getting along. He even invites Mosby to his house on the night when he is eventually murdered. When he is at odds with Mosby, however, he mocks his profession to his face and behind his back. Arden is more insulted by the fact that Alice is having an affair with a former tailor than he is by her having an affair in general. Confronting Mosby, he says, “Villain, what makes thou in her company? / She’s no companion for so base a groom” (1.