Renaissance: Rebirth, Humanism, and the Great Chain of Being
General Characteristics of the Renaissance
The Renaissance, literally meaning “rebirth,” was a period of renewed interest in classical antiquity that began in Italy in the fourteenth century and spread to the north, including England, by the sixteenth century. It ended in the north in the mid-seventeenth century (earlier in Italy).
During this period, there was an enormous renewal of interest in and study of classical antiquity. It was also an age of new discoveries, both geographical (exploration of the New World) and intellectual. Both kinds of discovery resulted in changes of tremendous import for Western civilization.
Study of the Renaissance might well center on five interrelated issues:
Continuity with the Middle Ages: Although Renaissance thinkers often tried to associate themselves with classical antiquity and to dissociate themselves from the Middle Ages, important continuities with their recent past, such as belief in the Great Chain of Being, were still much in evidence.
Political Changes: During this period, certain significant political changes were taking place.
Humanism: Some of the noblest ideals of the period were best expressed by the movement known as Humanism.
Literary Imitation: Connected to Humanist ideals was the literary doctrine of “imitation,” important for its ideas about how literary works should be created.
The Reformation: What later probably became an even more far-reaching influence, both on literary creation and on modern life in general, was the religious movement known as the Reformation.
The Great Chain of Being
The Great Chain of Being was a major premise of the Renaissance worldview. It held that every existing thing in the universe had its “place” in a divinely planned hierarchical order, which was pictured as a chain vertically extended.
Higher up were various members of the vegetative class, like trees and flowers. Then came animals; then humans; and then angels. At the very top was God.
Within each of these large groups, there were other hierarchies. “Correspondences” existed everywhere, on many levels. Thus, the hierarchical organization of the mental faculties was also thought of as reflecting the hierarchical order within the family, the state, and the forces of nature.
When things were properly ordered, reason ruled the emotions, just as a king ruled his subjects, the parent ruled the child, and the sun governed the planets. But when disorder was present in one realm, it was correspondingly reflected in other realms.
For example, in Shakespeare’s King Lear, the simultaneous disorder in family relationships and in the state (child ruling parent, subject ruling king) is reflected in the disorder of Lear’s mind (the loss of reason) as well as in the disorder of nature (the raging storm). Lear even equates his loss of reason to “a tempest in my mind.”
Though Renaissance writers seemed to be quite on the side of “order,” the theme of “disorder” is much in evidence, suggesting that the age may have been experiencing some growing discomfort with traditional hierarchies.
According to the chain of being concept, all existing things have their precise place and function in the universe, and to depart from one’s proper place was to betray one’s nature. Human beings, for example, were pictured as placed between the beasts and the angels. To act against human nature by not allowing reason to rule the emotions was to descend to the level of the beasts.
In the other direction, to attempt to go above one’s proper place, as Eve did when she was tempted by Satan, was to court disaster. Yet Renaissance writers at times showed ambivalence towards such a rigidly organized universe. Also, some Renaissance writers were fascinated by the thought of going beyond boundaries set by the chain of being.
Humanism
Humanists placed great emphasis upon the dignity of man and upon the expanded possibilities of human life in this world. For the most part, it regarded human beings as social creatures who could create meaningful lives only in association with other social beings.
In the terms used in the Renaissance itself, Humanism represented a shift from the “contemplative life” to the “active life.”
“Imitation”
The theoretical emphasis of Renaissance literary critics was less on the “imitation” that meant “mirroring life” and more on the “imitation” that meant “following predecessors.” In contrast to our own emphasis on “originality,” the goal was not to create something entirely new.
To a great extent, contemporary critics believed that the great literary works expressing definitive moral values had already been written in classical antiquity. Theoretically, then, it was the task of the writer to translate for present readers the moral vision of the past, and they were to do this by “imitating” great works, adapting them to a Christian perspective and milieu.
Literary Ramifications
The Protestant Reformation had a significant impact on Renaissance literature. First, the Protestant rejection of the authority of Church representatives resulted in placing that authority entirely on the Bible, at least in theory. Consequently, Protestants stressed the need for all believers to read the Bible for themselves.
At the same time, Protestants also stressed the need to understand the Bible in its original languages (Hebrew and Greek) so that it could be properly translated.