He was one of the first playwrights to bring the Renaissance’s core values to the theater.
He focused on creating human characters with psychological complexity. Richard Cummins/Lonely Planet Images/Getty Images. Shakespeare demonstrated a deep understanding of self-expression, humanity and intellectual freedom through the characters he created, characters who were intelligent and witty in their expression. Until Shakespeare's time, although the English language was widely used, it did not have the complexity to express profundity adequately. The Influence of the Renaissance in Shakespeare's Work. She has a Bachelor of Arts in journalism from Michigan State University. Shakespeare influenced the Renaissance by standardizing the English language and expanding its vocabulary, deepening the humanity of the characters in his plays through emotional complexity and using elaborate references to Greek and Roman mythology in his writing. Shakespeare at the Crossroads of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance Though Shakespeare was writing during the Renaissance, his work owes much to medieval traditions. From the 14th century onward, people started to break away from this idea. William Shakespeare was among the people who brought about a lot of changes during the renaissance period in England and transformed literature, thus affecting later culture. When she took the throne, Queen Elizabeth I forced conversions and drove practicing Catholics underground with her imposition of the Recusancy Acts. Profit came from joint investment in a business enterprise, a typical Renaissance ideal and one that moved away from the medieval system of profit from land and serfdom. The Renaissance arrived in England rather late. Shakespeare arguably invented a uniquely English version of the Renaissance, for he wove together the plots of ancient tragedies with the histories of medieval England so masterfully that it was difficult to disentangle them. The printing press's arrival in England in 1475 helped stabilize the language and gave Shakespeare access to books about Greeks and Romans as well as allowing him to print his plays, reports David Judkins, an English professor at the University of Houston, in the university's website, uh.edu. The new openness and humanism are reflected in Shakespeare’s plays. Is the Coronavirus Crisis Increasing America's Drug Overdoses? In addition to being a playwright, Shakespeare was a businessman. And the new focus on humanity created new-found freedom for artists, writers, and philosophers to be inquisitive about the world around them.
Shakespeare's treatment of characters marked a shift … Copyright 2020 Leaf Group Ltd. All Rights Reserved. He mocked Puritans with his portrayal of Malvolio in "Twelfth Night," he showed Christians to be cruel in their dealings with a Jew in "The Merchant of Venice," and Angelo in "Measure for Measure" is cast as a villain for sentencing a character to death for fornication. Broadly speaking, the Renaissance period is used to describe the era when Europeans moved away from the restrictive ideas of the Middle Ages. Fact Check: What Power Does the President Really Have Over State Governors? How Did William Shakespeare Affect the Renaissance? William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright and actor of the Renaissanceera. They often drew on the more human-centered classical writing and art of ancient Greece and Rome for inspiration. The Renaissance cultural creators did, however, question humankind’s relationship to God.
In medieval times, plays took on a staunchly religious cast and were Christian in their outlook. Regardless of what he may have been doing secretly, he maintained a public persona as an Anglican. Shakespeare helped bring the Renaissance freedom, humanity and rebirth of appreciation of classical antiquity to the English theater. Despite these laws, Shakespeare did not appear to be afraid to write about Catholicism nor to present Catholic characters in a favorable light. He also contributed many phrases that continue to be used, such as a sorry sight, all of a sudden, all one to me, dash to pieces, fair play, heart's content, in a pickle, love is blind, pound of flesh, the be all and end all, the game is afoot, there's method in my madness, up in arms and wild goose chase. He was an important member of the King’s Men company of … Consider King Lear and Macbeth. Shakespeare's greatest effect on the Renaissance was in expanding vocabulary and language. Festival of Sacrifice: The Past and Present of the Islamic Holiday of Eid al-Adha. When Shakespeare was working in the theater, the Renaissance movement in the arts was peaking in England. Shakespeare reintroduced many stories and classical texts from Ovid, Plutarch, Livy, Plautus and Sappho, helping to keep these classics alive, a very prominent characteristic of the Renaissance. His inclusion of Catholicism in his works has led historians to hypothesize that the Bard was secretly Catholic. Words he coined include advertising, lonely, arouse, blushing, excitement, mimic, torture and zany. ), The Secret Science of Solving Crossword Puzzles, Racist Phrases to Remove From Your Mental Lexicon. His plays weren't put on solely for the royal or noble class but were available as entertainment to everyone. Will 5G Impact Our Cell Phone Plans (or Our Health?! His characters show humanistic tendencies that were a hallmark of the Renaissance, Hamlet being the most notable of these. Even monarchs were portrayed as having human emotions and were capable of making terrible mistakes. If discovered, Catholics faced stiff penalties or even death. Ironically, the Renaissance freedom brought to the English theater by Shakespeare and other writers also brought about its temporary demise. His written vocabulary was 17,000 words -- four times that of the average educated person of the English Renaissance -- and, according to educational resources provided by the Royal Shakespeare Company of Stratford-upon-Avon, he contributed more than 3,000 words to the English language, either by being the first to record them or by creating them.
At the very least, Shakespeare’s writing indicates a thorough knowledge of Catholic rituals. A Feast of Language: Words and Grammar. She is the author of two blogs, reviews live theater and has a weekly column in the "Lansing State Journal." Catholic characters included Friar Francis ( "Much Ado About Nothing"), Friar Laurence ("Romeo and Juliet"), and even Hamlet himself. These laws required citizens to attend worship in Anglican churches. Broadly speaking, the Renaissance period is used to describe the era when... Shakespeare, the Renaissance Man . This questioning produced enormous upheaval in the accepted social hierarchy. An example of this can also be seen in Hamlet.
The Renaissance arrived in England rather late. His theater was also able to thrive because of the financial prosperity of a new business class.
Shakespeare was born toward the end of the broader Europe-wide Renaissance period, just as it was peaking in England. He previously served as a theater studies lecturer at Stratford-upon Avon College in the United Kingdom. As a professional writer since 1985, Bridgette Redman's career has included journalism, educational writing, book authoring and training. Shakespeare created new words and expressions that enabled English to become a much more precise artistic instrument.
The ideology that dominated the Middle Ages was heavily focused on the absolute power of God and was enforced by the formidable Roman Catholic Church. Shakespeare's greatest effect on the Renaissance was in expanding vocabulary and... To Thine Own Self Be True: Characters With Humanistic Ideals.
His plays contain complex characters of all social classes and he defied the conventions of the time. Shakespeare’s influence on Renaissance culture was not simply a matter of incorporating works written in foreign languages and times past into his present. Shakespeare instead wrote plays that were secular in story and ideas. How Did Shakespeare Influence the Renaissance? The Influence of the Renaissance in Shakespeare's Work The Renaissance in Shakespeare's Time . He started his career in London in 1592 when the theatre in England has jus… He had access to source material that would inform his plays and help change the world around him.
He is the most famous writer of all times with his works being used even today in many societies in the world. He was baptized in and buried at Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, a Protestant church.
His use of genres such as history, tragedy and comedy helped to hone the focus of theatrical production. Shakespeare's plays left just as big a mark on the Renaissance as the Renaissance left on his work. Shakespeare helped bring the Renaissance freedom, humanity and rebirth of appreciation of classical antiquity to the English theater. Shakespeare updated the simplistic, two-dimensional writing style of pre-Renaissance drama. This is not to say he did not have Christian theology in his plays, but he showed a secularism that would affect Renaissance thought in England, says an article by the British Humanist Association and comments by Harold Bloom in "Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human." Shakespeare utilized his knowledge of Greek and Roman classics when writing. His biography evidences that Shakespeare (1564-1616) was among the most prominent poets and authors who ever lived (E-Notes.com 2011). It reached its zenith during the Elizabethan era in the 16th century. Lantern Theater Company The artists and thinkers of the Renaissance did not necessarily reject the idea of God. Shakespeare's plays in the Renaissance left an unforgettable mark on this era and the world, because of his use of complex characterization, and his use of rich language in his plays.
Everything You Need to Know About Shakespeare's Plays, M.A., Theater Studies, Warwick University, B.A., Drama and English, DeMontfort University. When the Puritans took over the government after the First English Civil War, all forms of theater were banned as immoral until the restoration of the monarchy in the late 17th century. The upheaval in social hierarchy allowed Shakespeare to explore the complexity and humanity of every character, regardless of their social position.
In fact, Shakespeare himself may have been Catholic. Shakespeare's treatment of characters marked a shift from medieval to Renaissance thinking. She's worked for daily newspapers, an educational publisher, websites, nonprofit associations and individuals. It’s very easy to think of Shakespeare as a unique genius with a singular perspective on the world around him. William Shakespeare was not the only figure of the English Renaissance, but he and his works are so important that no one talks about the period without mentioning him. The renaissance began in Italy in the 14th century, spread across Europe and arrived in England by the late 15th century.
Shakespeare was a frequent borrower of classical tales that he adapted and rewrote. It reached its zenith during the Elizabethan era in the 16th century. Theater Experience in Shakespeare's Lifetime, The Roles of Women in Shakespeare's Plays, Renaissance Architecture and Its Influence, Discover the Mysterious Shakespeare Lost Years, The Renaissance Writers Who Shaped the Modern World, Biography of William Shakespeare, History's Most Famous Playwright. The most obvious evidence of his classical contributions comes in such plays as "Coriolanus," "Antony and Cleopatra," "Julius Caesar," "Pericles," "Timon of Athens" and "Titus Andronicus" but can also be seen in "A Midsummer Night's Dream.". ... Tony Soprano and Shakespeare… Shakespeare embraced the Renaissance in the following ways: Elizabethan England endured a different form of religious oppression than that which had dominated the Middle Ages.
However, Shakespeare was very much a product of the radical cultural shifts that were occurring in Elizabethan England during his lifetime.
What Types of Plays Did Shakespeare Write? Monarchs were shown to make mistakes, common citizens were shown to have wisdom, and women were shown to be thoughtful.