The word Renaissance comes from the Latin word Rinascere, which means to be reborn. This period dates from 14th to 17th c. and is usually opposed to Middle Ages on the basis of the fact that it gave us a multiperspective vision of the human being.
Features of the R in Europe:
Realization of national identity (European nations began to realize their national identity);
Science development;
Church is not a dominating institution (before it was an institution that predetermined the development of culture; the church unified the nation by imposing one mode of life.);
3 ‘R’s’: revival (of philosophy and art and ancient Greece), renewal (of old traditions and philosophy), rebirth (acquirement of the new sense and idea of human being – the idea of his possibilities).
During the R European writers tried to use the life and spirit of ancient Greek and Roman cul-re in their own lit-ry, artistic, and philosophic works. The R is different from the medieval period: in medieval times, people thought about saving their souls and during the R period they thought about society and what they could do to help it. During the Middle Ages people studied theology (the study of God). The people of the R. studied humanity, looking at the great ancient civilization. The R. is thought to be the beginning of modern history. It began in Northern Italy and then spread through Europe. The R influenced painting, sculpture, lit-re and architecture.
In England R. appeared later that in Italy, but the intensity of its development was even greater because it was based on works of European humanists Petrarche, Dante, Pico della Mirandolla. Petrark expressed the hopes of his time; he was inspired by the ancient cul-re, it gave birth to new classicism.
Representatives of R in England:
Thomas More (a politician, later was executed): “Utopia” – 2 parts: the 1st describes the contemporary England (criticism), the 2nd describes in detail the state organization on the Island Utopia. The 1st part is a dialogue between the author and an imaginary char-er. He expresses the idea of ideal society based on collective labour. Poetry has the leading position – the highest point of poetical development.
Thomas Wyatt introduced the genre of a sonnet into the Engl. lit-re
Edmund Spenser: “The Fairie Queen” – a combination of the medieval and the R;
Christopher Marlowe: “The tragic history of Dr. Faustus” – admires the reason of a human being, his char-r are not personifications of virtues and vices but are enriched by human passions and limitations.
The 16th c. – the epoch of flourishment of drama. The religious and moral themes of medieval drama under the influence of R humanism began to give way to to closer attention to ordinary human char-s. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DRAMA
Drama is letting one’s character to speak without any interference of the author.
Drama, tragedy, comedy, family chronicle
Drama: The characters are obviously separate from the writer; in fact, they generally seem to have lives of their own and their speech reflects their individual personalities. The writer is present, of course, in stage directions (which the audience isn't aware of during a performance), and occasionally a character acts as a mouthpiece for the writer.
First Period .The development of the drama in England was in close connection with the appearance and development of the theatre. Since ancient times there existed in Europe two stages upon which dramatic art developed. The chief place of performance was the church, and second to it was the market place where clowns played their tricks. The church exhibited Bible-stories, called "Mysteries"; they also had "Miracles" which were about supernatural events in the lives of saints. Both, the miracles and mysteries were directed by the clergy and acted by boys of the choir on great holidays. It has become a tradition since then to have men-actors for heroines on the English stage. The regular drama from its very beginning was divided into comedy and tragedy.
The R had diff. manifestations in diff. countries but in England it was the R of the theatre. This coincides with the time when Elizabeth I succeeded to the throne. And the theater of that time is called Elizabethan theatre. Shakespeare was the most prominent playwright of that time. Sh. wrote during the age in which England grew to be a world power.
As the R awoke interest to Roman and Greek cul-re, playwrights borrowed a lot of devices including ghosts, chorus, 5-act structure, but they also filled the plays with medieval morals. (Sh. drew his plots from history, mythology and other works of fiction, both classical and contemporary. He employed 5-act structure and typically interwove 2 more plots in each play, ranging freely in time and location. His characters, drawn from all classes, speak in verse or prose according to their rank.)
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