Shaking One's Fist

People in Charles Reade's novels regularly shake their fists at one another- or at the heavens- and when they do I find myself thinking "And now we're in theatreland"- but I suppose fist-shaking must once have been a real thing.

I can't think I've ever seen it done- not in real life, that is.

So was it once a real thing or was it always just a theatrical and literary convention?

And, finally- supposing it was once a real thing- why and when did people stop doing it?