The Renaissance is considered one of the greatest times in history for several reasons. The world had just experienced one of the worst plagues to date. In England alone it was estimated that it killed nearly 30%-60% of its population. (Alchon) At this point the world was in the early beginnings in many things such as; Medicine, Art, and Religion, to list a few. The black plague could have easily ended the world (and all of the progress thus far) as we know it, however it started something that no one could have predicted, The Rebirth. The amount of creativity and learning that occurred in such a short time was unprecedented, and to think that most of what was discovered, created, or just thought of is still present in some way, shape, or form in modern day 2017. So, what exactly did the Renaissance contribute to our modern society? The Renaissance influenced the world by bringing about focus on humanism and as a result, a gradual turning away from the once dominant ideals put forth by the church.
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In the Renaissance, the church was a huge figure in politics, but it wasn’t until Giovanni Boccaccio, author of “The Decameron” (one of his greatest works) made contributions to what we now refer to as “Realism.” He deviated from the Renaissance norms of creating characters who dealt with larger than life issues and instead he created characters who were down to earth, appealing to the average person, and relatable. The Decameron is a collection of 100 tales that revolves around a group of people gathered at a house during the Black Plague. They tell stories to one another to pass the time and each story deals with issues a Renaissance reader would be familiar with. Boccaccio formed this new way of writing about settings and characters just by writing about real things. This form of realism is widely recognizable in today’s world. Within the last 15 years Barbie Inc. has been under fire for making “perfect” dolls and society has made a push to be as real as possible, Barbie is an interesting choice of topic since it deals with kids. However, it shows how the world has slowly (but surely) became more realistic in many aspects of life. This is not the only example; many companies 20 years ago would use a “perfect model” that was often attractive and in turn a little unrealistic since not everyone looks like a super model. Within the last 3 years Arie a branch for American Eagle has since chose models that are still beautiful, but in different ways, they look like normal everyday people that you would see daily. This could just be for publicity or it honestly could be that companies want to relate to the everyday person. Either way the world has slowly embraced the idea of realism in almost every aspect of life. Machiavelli with his most important and influential Renaissance work The Prince with its central idea being to put forth a realistic and grounded political philosophy. In this, he discusses the way a leader must appear to his people; as being an (almost) holy figure, but one who could also commit evil acts if need be. The term Machiavellian has remained in contemporary American culture and describes someone who is willing to commit an evil act for personal gain. Even though this is not completely accurate in terms of The Prince, the word has survived and so have some of the ideas about how a leader should lead. The Prince is still a popular read amongst many people today, although it has some extreme ideas of what a leader should be, it has some valid points as well and is a big reason as to why it is still read today. For example, in Chapter 17: Cruelty Vs. Mercy he is addressing the question of whether it is better to be loved or feared, Machiavelli writes, “The answer is that one would like to be both the one and the other; but because it is difficult to combine them, it is far safer to be feared than loved if you cannot be both.” As Machiavelli states, commitments made peacefully are not always kept when facing adversity; however, commitments
In the Renaissance, the church was a huge figure in politics, but it wasn’t until Giovanni Boccaccio, author of “The Decameron” (one of his greatest works) made contributions to what we now refer to as “Realism.” He deviated from the Renaissance norms of creating characters who dealt with larger than life issues and instead he created characters who were down to earth, appealing to the average person, and relatable. The Decameron is a collection of 100 tales that revolves around a group of people gathered at a house during the Black Plague. They tell stories to one another to pass the time and each story deals with issues a Renaissance reader would be familiar with. Boccaccio formed this new way of writing about settings and characters just by writing about real things. This form of realism is widely recognizable in today’s world. Within the last 15 years Barbie Inc. has been under fire for making “perfect” dolls and society has made a push to be as real as possible, Barbie is an interesting choice of topic since it deals with kids. However, it shows how the world has slowly (but surely) became more realistic in many aspects of life. This is not the only example; many companies 20 years ago would use a “perfect model” that was often attractive and in turn a little unrealistic since not everyone looks like a super model. Within the last 3 years Arie a branch for American Eagle has since chose models that are still beautiful, but in different ways, they look like normal everyday people that you would see daily. This could just be for publicity or it honestly could be that companies want to relate to the everyday person. Either way the world has slowly embraced the idea of realism in almost every aspect of life. Machiavelli with his most important and influential Renaissance work The Prince with its central idea being to put forth a realistic and grounded political philosophy. In this, he discusses the way a leader must appear to his people; as being an (almost) holy figure, but one who could also commit evil acts if need be. The term Machiavellian has remained in contemporary American culture and describes someone who is willing to commit an evil act for personal gain. Even though this is not completely accurate in terms of The Prince, the word has survived and so have some of the ideas about how a leader should lead. The Prince is still a popular read amongst many people today, although it has some extreme ideas of what a leader should be, it has some valid points as well and is a big reason as to why it is still read today. For example, in Chapter 17: Cruelty Vs. Mercy he is addressing the question of whether it is better to be loved or feared, Machiavelli writes, “The answer is that one would like to be both the one and the other; but because it is difficult to combine them, it is far safer to be feared than loved if you cannot be both.” As Machiavelli states, commitments made peacefully are not always kept when facing adversity; however, commitments