Perhaps one of the most influential artists characterizing Renaissance Humanism in their work is William Shakespeare. He produced as many as thirty-seven plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems and miscellaneous verse before his death in 1616 (Gaines). In studying his work, numerous authors have found that it is one of the truest representations of the Renaissance Humanism movement. This movement identifies with a shift from the medieval movement, which mostly focused on god and faith, to a more individual approach to life. The focus was more about the human experiences and the optimistic attitude about what people really understood about themselves. In "Renaissance Humanism" Michelle Lee puts together numerous quotes from many authors analyzing the work produced during the humanism movement. The cited material in the article consistently continues to refer back to Shakespeare; how most of his work embodies the humanist thought process. For a Humanist the purpose of cultivating reason was to lead a better understanding of how to act. Many of the reasons cited throughout the article focus on two subjects, divine providence and human free will. Both Paul Siegel and Richard Mallette quote that Shakespeare's work is a reflection of the Elizabethan worldview of his time. Mike Pincombe states that in the play Hamlet, the character of Hamlet is a literary humanist, a man of the theater and a Dane and all three of these traits would evoke a certain stereotype to the audience in the Elizabethan Era. To the audience they would see the man as one who had classical learning, a refinement about oneself, respectable, highly educated, kind, and urbanized. All of these traits are ones that come through the character of Hamlet. Calvinism and ...
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...formation true, how will it affect you in the future, and will acting on this information harm or propel your success in the future. Every person has success and failures in life, the question becomes to what extent you will allow each of these to influence your future.
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The Renaissance has been a diverse period and had people who held dear to the art and literature, which have developed over the period. Starting with literature, was well known and popular in forms of plays, which have been presented out to people in that era and even today. One of the writers that have been noticed and presented in different styles in our time is William Shakespeare. William was known for writing most of the popular plays in the 1600’s and for interpreting language which was known for being ‘Shakespearean Language’. These languages in his plays are used from the renaissance era and are more likely seen with in the other writer’s stories as well. Though William was not the only one, there are others before him that has studied
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