The Renaissance in England
"Renaissance" is a French word which means "rebirth".
rebirth of learning
caused by the discovery of Greek and Latin manuscripts.
Humanism
Encouraged artists such as Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.
Renaissance Drama
Renaissance drama take inspiration from the medieval drama (moralities and interludes), and the greek classical drama.
The interlude is a short dramatic play used as an interval between the acts of a tragedy.
The Masque , is a type of refined entertainment common at the Elizabethan court , characterised by music , dance , song and drama.
The tragedy is an imitation of a serious action , of a certain length , without narration but with people acting directly.
- Introduction , showing a situation of prosperity. - development. -crisis. -decline. -final outcome with catastrophe and death of the hero\es.
Features of tragic hero\heroine.
-he\she is a person from a privileged social position ( a king , a nobleman ); -he\she is a person of high moral qualities; -he\she accepts the inevitable consequences of his\her actions with great courage and dignity.
Elizabethan Features
Revenge theme
bloody scenes
use of ghosts
division of the play into five acts
long speeches
Three periods: -The Beginning of the Renaissance (1485-1558); -the Flowering of the Renaissance (1558-1603); -the Decline of the Renaissance (1603-1625);
all over Europe the Renaissance is a moment of radical change involving all cultural fields :
Philosophy : based on deduction and axiomatic truths.
Science: the new discoveries by Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei are the results of new methods of research about the universe.
Art and Architecture : artists get inspiration from the past to revive the classical style.
Religion: there is a gradual passage from the influence of the Roman Church.
Printing Press
William Caxton was the person who introduced printing in England. So people can learn to : read and write.
Thomas More
The Tudor Dinasty
One of the greatest of all English humanists and he wrote the book "Utopia" , written in Latin , and Utopia means "nowhere" in Greek.
In 1485 , a powerful nobleman named Henry Tudor defeated the King Richard III in the battle of Bosworth Field. He was declared the new king and given the title of Henry VII. He then established the powerful Tudor Dinasty,an absolute monarchy.
The main themes of Elizabethan tragedies revolve around the basic dualism order \ disorder.Personal disorder is for example madness and social disorder is the assassination.
This performance should arouse 'pity and horror' so as to achieve catharsis , the purification and purgation of emotions.
The thinkers of this period , also called "Humanists" , believed that the man should be the subject of study , and not the God.
