The Human Theme Of Morality In The Renaissance

The Renaissance was a time of great change and discovery that expanded through many years of ancient history. Perhaps one of the greatest marks of the Renaissance was that of the rise and emergence of the individual. In this finding of one’s inner self and the belief that instead of looking to church authorities, individuals should look to their own inner conscience as a guide. During the Renaissance time period the human theme of morality is expressed through the cultural concept of humanism and is exemplified by Hamlet and the statue of David. Humanism was a widespread and newly developed cultural concept that came to light during the time of the Renaissance. This was a completely new idea that had been blanketed during the medieval time

Humanism stressed the potential value and goodness of human beings with the idea that instead of looking to the church for authority, the individual should look to their own conscience as a guide. This thought process was extremely rational in that it emphasized common human needs and looked to find the best in every human being. Perhaps one of the most significant impacts of humanism was the revived study of ancient Greek works thanks to the publication of new editions and translations of classical texts. Humanistic philosophers latched onto to earlier schools of Greek philosophy, almost as if they were pretending that the middle ages never even existed. Through this delving deeper and deeper into humanistic thinking the human theme of morality became an enormous part of the Renaissance movement. Morality is an encompassing theme that deals with principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or

Perhaps one of the greatest findings of the Renaissance came from the idea of the emergence of the individual, citing that everyone had an inner being that is separate from everyone else’s own inner life. Through humanistic thought processes becoming more and more prevalent the human theme of morality became all the more important during the time of the Renaissance. Morality was an important idea in the fact that since individual thinking had become a new norm, humans making their own decisions without the consulting of a higher power was a very urgent reason for making moral choices. Hamlet and David are both great examples of humanistic thinkers, in questioning what is going on around them and stepping up to self-motivated plate in order to change the situations they found themselves in. One cannot mention the idea of humanism during the Renaissance period without the mentioning of morality and how it played into the roles of society at this time. Individuals had turned to themselves and each other for direction and guidance and had moved away from the persistent need to have authority from the church. There were no better examples of this highly important movement that Hamlet and the Statue of