Renaissance And Humanism In The Renaissance By William Shakespeare

The Renaissance was a period of time after the medieval period in which religion, economics and politics mold into some aspects of science, literature and philosophy. The renaissance originated in Florence, Italy and then spread to parts of Europe. In Italy the major focus was on cultural art, while in England literature and music was their main focus. Literature and music were how the renaissance ideas were mainly spread. During the English Renaissance ideas were spread throughout England because of William Shakespeare. This was done through his use of humanist ideologies in his writings, using ancient tragedies from history as a base for his plays and allowing all types of classes to view his plays. William Shakespeare was a playwright born in mid 16th century and lived throughout the English renaissance. By the late 16th century he began to become a successful writer in London. A majority of his works was comedic and involved the history of England, or other parts of the world. The main concept of the renaissance was the rebirth of culture and reacquiring knowledge that had previously been acquired just there was a loss in touch with it. William Shakespeare did that through his plays. He utilized Greek

Humanism originated in Italy, like many characteristics of the renaissance. It’s the rediscovery of a classical civilization. This cultural movement rehabilitated any interest people had in Greek and Roman civilizations. It also promoted civilized values and guarded against any barbarism human nature threatened to give, in the broadest spectrum. “That the ancient adage nosce teispum – know thyself – is a key principle in humanist thought in general, and in Shakespeare in particular…” The “know thyself” principle is very evident in Hamlet. This is because Hamlet was not a medieval system character but rather he was developed to be a renaissance character in the Victorian England