The Renaissance, Elizabeth I, and Shakespeare’s Theatre

The word renaissance comes from the same French word meaning “rebirth,” but this rebirth was not in any human or animal but in learning. People had this enthusiasm and crave for reading, writing, sculpting, painting, music, and many other subjects that would better themselves. They didn’t have this need before in the Middle Ages when everything was focused on God and the afterlife and when many of the people were not allowed to read and learn unless they came from a higher family in society. The Renaissance period started in Italy around the fourteenth century. People weren’t able to communicate with others in different countries efficiently; therefore, this idea didn’t spread as fast as people would think of today. This desire for knowledge about the world around them and what life had to offer took nearly one hundred years to reach England where it caught on like wildfire with the citizens as it did in other countries as well. There were people everywhere curious and excited to read every classic they could get their hands on. Citizens were finding their callings in life left and right. Some had the ability to paint and sculpt; famous artists in that time were Leonardo de Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello, along with many others. Famous writers like Thomas Heywood, Robert Daborne, and William Shakespeare also found their calling in the Renaissance time period. The citizens were more intellectually aware of the things going on around them: this was thanks to this want they had to learn. People were better educated; moreover, they were finding ways to improve their way of life and the lives around them through science, mathematics, literature, architecture, and many other subjects. Religion was still a big part of the culture, but it was put in a better prospective in that people could provide for themselves in a new way instead of solely depending on a blind faith and not knowing what to do with it; people could better understand what was meant and