Renaissance humanism through William Shakespeare's Hamle
Keywords:
Hamlet, Renaissance Era, Humanism, William Shakespeare.Abstract
The philosophical question raised by William Shakespeare's Renaissance humanism in Hamlet is the main topic of this essay. The renowned aphorism "Of all things, man is the measure" (attributed to Protagoras of Abdera, 485–415 BCE) is where the humanist tradition began in Greece, but it wasn't until the Renaissance that it achieved its pinnacle and solidified into a dogma. This article focuses on Renaissance humanism, particularly how it glorifies the idea of the "giant man," a concept mostly seen in William Shakespeare's writings. The play Hamlet is highlighted as an example of Renaissance humanism by the article by highlighting the characteristics of the movement.
References
ALLEN, Elizabeth Cheresh. Unmasking Lermontov's "Masquerade": Romanticism as Ideology. The Slavic and East European Journal, v. 46, n. 1, p. 75-97, 2002. https://doi.org/10.2307/3086232
BLOOM, Harold. Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human. New York: Riverhood Brooks, 1998.
BURKE, Peter. The renaissance. 2nd ed. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 1997.
BURKE, Peter; CLOSSEY, Luke; FERNÁNDEZ-ARMESTO, Felipe. The Global Renaissance. Journal of World History, v. 28, n. 1, p. 1-30, 2017.