Renaissance Literature Period - Essay Example

Renaissance Literature Renaissance period was characterized by many activities that revolutionized Europe. It was the European rebirth time and many changes were witnessed in relation to social, political, and economic platforms. The European nations had been in the dark ages where religion had much power and overpowered the individual rights. As time went by, the need to have reforms took a center stage as pressure mounted on the ruling class composed of religious leaders to uphold the individual’s dignity. Poverty among the low class and oppression had been the order of the day making people advocate change. Moreover, Renaissance period can be characterized by learning and discoveries of the new world as well as intellectuals. Because of all these happenings, many people argue that Renaissance literature was all about the power struggle at a time of rapid social change. This is true owing to the condition and the political temperature at the time. People wanted a political change hence pushed for reforms as well as inclusion in the leadership. Moreover, the clergy headed by the King of England had much power over the people, and there was a need to trim more powers to other bodies. Because of this, most Renaissance literature are about power struggles between the people and the King. The rest of the paper will discuss the notion that Renaissance literature is concerned with power struggle at a time of social change. During the Renaissance period, there was a "The Great Chain of Being” which was a hierarchy of superiority. It assumed that everything in the world had its place in a divinely hierarchical order. According to Norbook (2002), men had a place in this order making them subordinated by others. People believed that going against the order would bring illness making them fear challenging the notion. Similarly, human beings were also categorized, and there were some who were above the rest just a like a parent is above the child and takes charge. The man was categories between angel and beast hence confining him to one point. Through this, acting against human nature by not allowing reason to rule would place man at the position of the beast. However, the Renaissance writers challenged this notion and wanted to question it after developing discomfort. More (37) challenged the notion that religion had powers above the people by outlining the operations of the city states. According to More, religion plays the role of motivating people and giving them hope as opposed to threatening them. Similarly, the dark ages gave the King of England powers to rule and had supreme powers over the people. However, More (40) challenged this notion by outlining the role of the King giving the examples of city states. The King has a role of protecting the interest of his people as opposed to oppressing them and snatching what belongs to them. The fear of disorder that Kings created helped them and other political rulers to reinforce their authority. Before the civil rebellion, the people knew that it was a sin against God to challenge the power of the king since the order dictated the position of everyone. Because of this notion, the Renaissance literature talked about the need for the people to have an active role making them bring the end to the feudalism. Most of the Renaissance literature wrote about the ideals of kingship, characters, and behaviors. One of the literatures supporting the notion is the Machiavelli’s book, “The Prince” (Robert 79). There were many oppressions and lack of human dignity by the political rulers. They exercised their powers on the people without considering the aspects of human life. This brought a renewed emphasis to life in the world as opposed to otherworldly and spiritual life associated with middle ages. Renaissance literature started writing about man’s dignity and the expanded possibilities of humans in the world. They believed humans were social creatures who could create a meaningful life in association with other social beings. As More notes, the people chose their Magistrates who looked after their welfare. The Magistrates included Syphogrant and Tranibore and looked at those who were suffering. Renaissance literatures challenged the powers of the king that did not value the input of man. Therefore, the campaign of humanism meant to bring a change from contemplative life to active life. Renaissance writers were concerned about the highest cultural values characterized by active involvement in public life, moral, political and service to the state (More 89). This implies that human beings were to have a role in the development of the society as opposed to leaving everything for the king to manage and oppress the rest of the people. Moreover, the humanist approach that the Renaissance writers advocated for saw the existence of secular and religious value together. However, not all the Renaissance writers were non-Christians, others such as Erasmus was a churchman (Norbrook 20). The new society began to value individual’s achievement, breadth, and knowledge, as well as personal aspiration. The growth of Renaissance writers brought a new meaning to mankind. They defined man as a person participating actively in the public affairs life and possess skills and knowledge in different subjects. Such persons included Leonard Da Vinci, Francis Bacon and John Milton Besides individual aspiration, Renaissance writers taught people how to participate and rule the society. This was not meant for everyone but the nobility and some members of the middle class. Similarly, Renaissance literature was concerned about the Protestant Reformation, and this was brought by the power struggle in the church. Renaissance humanist rejected the medieval form of Christianity after Martin Luther reacted against corruption in the church (More 94). Corruption occurs where there is no law that governs the conducts of the people or leaders hence some overpower the rest. Through these scenes, different Renaissance writers emerged to write literature concerning power struggle in the church as much as there was the social change taking place. One of such literature is "Canterbury Tales" by Chaucer. Luther was very much aggrieved with church policies despite other Catholic leaders such as Erasmus calling for reformation of the church within. All these action made Luther challenge the fundamental doctrine of the church hence leading his followers away from Catholic Church in protest. According to Norbrrok (35), the Protestants led by Martin Luther were against the Papacy since he had institutionalized the church and had a full control. This angered many leading to breakup of the ones dominant Catholic Church. Through the discussion, it is evidenced that power struggle in the church might have influenced many Renaissance literatures to write on the power struggle. Additionally, literature books point that Protestants were obsessed with Pope as a spiritual leader. Similarly, it rejected the authority of the church and the mediation of its priest between man and God (Norbrrok 35). Protestants also believed that the church could not grant salvation, and it was only possible through a direct personal relationship with God and through reading a Bible. Some also argued that human spiritual capabilities were corrupted after the fall of Adams and Eve. These make humans incapable of contributing to their salvation. They believed salvation could only be achieved through faith in God’s grace (More 137). All these indicate that Renaissance literature was about the power struggle. The church split because of the opposing views concerning the powers vested in the Pope as well as other religious leaders (Greenblatt 119. Luther was unease with the Pope having the spiritual powers as well as taking over control of the church. The Protestants also struggled for power to influence their activities. This gave the Renaissance writers an opportunity to write about the power struggles in the church. Besides, the early literature focused on imitation to signify the societal power struggle. For instance, literature played a crucial role in imitating the reality and as a mirror of life. Renaissance literature wrote about the evils of the society, and they became so powerful medium of spreading information. The much powers vested on the religion was oppressive, and people had a means of communicating through literature. However, the ruling authority saw literature as a threat to their existence as it challenged them on the wrongdoing. This led to the competition and power struggle of who influences people largely. Through this attempt, Shakespeare came in with many dramas that spoke much about the society and mocked the ruling class. Most of the works of Shakespeare were about the power struggle as the ruling class had all the powers and citizen’s participation was minimal. The dramas meant to influence the ruling class towards seeing what they do to others as well as what others feel about them. Similarly, using pictures and drawings was also significant in portraying the power struggle in the new world. Written and drawn words spoke much that influenced people to come out and fight for their rights, as they demanded powers and participation in the governments. The long lasting struggle of the old world to bring a new world seems to be fruitful. The creation of utopia society that early Renaissance writers advocated for seems to be important and define the modern governments. During the old ages, the religious leaders took all the powers and privileges leaving an ordinary man with nothing but as a tool of oppression. Renaissance literature criticized these practices as they subordinated the role of citizens in participation in governance and other activities within the state. The constant criticism led to the creation of utopia society that respects the peoples dignity and treat them as people. Similarly, the created utopian society guarantees people rights, and there is power separation. Before this was effected, it was difficult knowing the boundary of the government since it took care of everything and determined who gets what and at what time. Several attempts to shed light on the old regimes characterized by old ages bared fruits with the creation of utopian society. In such societies, there is a separation of power and no power struggles. It forms the basis of the modern democratic society. Despite the struggle for political participation during the dark ages, economic participation was also an issue that the old age society struggled to achieve. The common person struggled for financial participation since the religious heads had all the privileges of controlling and determining the types of businesses to engage. Today, the utopian society has given the citizens a breakthrough and freedom to participate in all the economic activities they like. The social and economic have different merits and demerits making the societies choose what they feel best suits them. The Renaissance writers advocated the expanded freedom. In conclusion, Renaissance period was marked by a drastic change in the way the society conducted business and brought in new ideas. The religious leaders had all the powers and influenced the societal activities. However, this was pegged on a doctrine of orderly where it was assumed that everything had its place hence challenging the order was against the Gods will. This gave the King more control of others through divine spirits. Because of this, Renaissance literature wrote about the power struggle taking place between the church and the people. The church used the doctrine of orderly to shape peoples behaviors against civil revolution until Martin Luther distanced himself with Catholic Church. The main issue was the power struggle as they felt church had more powers than expected leading to a creation of Protestant churches. From the evidence presented in this paper, it is clear that a power struggle was the central theme of the Renaissance literature leading to religion reformation. It challenged the powers of central government as well as improving the social life of the people. Similarly, the literature empowered the locals to participate in political activities such as taking leadership positions in the society. However, this was only meant for the nobility and the middle-class individuals. Work Cited Greenblatt, Stephen. Renaissance self-fashioning: From More to Shakespeare. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980. More, Thomas. Utopia. Rockville: TARK Classic Fiction, 2008. Norbrook, David. Poetry and Politics in the English Renaissance, revised edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Read More