One of the most artistically influential times in history is the Renaissance. The people found a passion and a yearning to find new knowledge and information that their current society didn’t support. Many of the luxuries that we enjoy today wouldn’t be possible without the discoveries made by the philosophers then. The 14th through the 16th century is a time considered to be “a rebirth of classical learning and knowledge through the rediscovery of ancient texts, and a rebirth of European culture in general.”
For many years before the
Renaissance, the European people had been following the ways of the church
without considering any other alternative theories and philosophies of
life. I’m not saying that following the
rules of the church is a bad thing, but the Catholic Church had the patrons
twisted around its finger and made them believe anything that was said in the
church or by a church official was the Holy law. When the social leaders of the time revived
the ancient philosophies from Greece and Rome, it provided many more options
for people to advance their education and artistic creativity.
Queen
Elizabeth didn’t make a lot of new rules and laws to change the country during
the Renaissance, rather she let go of a lot of the strict rules and the
loosened the reins for the allowance of expression of personal creativity. By releasing the power of creativity one of
the greatest playwrights of all time came to be; William Shakespeare. Shakespeare really became the father of
theatre as we know it because he had the freedom to present the common themes
of human nature through the miracle of performing.
This quickly became a huge turning
point in the history of the performing arts because the performers no longer
had to hide their talents and their professions. They were much more accepted
as real members of society and were in fact celebrated for the graces of their
performances. I, being a dancer, am
particularly grateful for the Renaissance because it is now acceptable to study
my passion, and perform my story, and get paid to do what I love to do! So
thank goodness I didn’t live in the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages, from the 5th to
the 13th century, had a very plain sense of society. Progress had hit a plateau and resisted the
few modern and abstract thinkers that came up.
The Renaissance was quite contrasting with the traditions of European
society, but the outburst of abstract and innovative creative was a much needed
transition.
So of course, as performers, we can
be very thankful that the Renaissance occurred to get us past the traditional
ways of the ancient Greeks and Romans and into the Modern Age, giving us so
many new ideas, philosophies, arts, inventions and of course, Shakespeare.
One of Shakespeare’s plays in
particular fits very nicely with the forward thinking of the Renaissance time
period, and that is Othello. It involves
much more advanced ways of thinking that incorporate racial discriminations and
very educated men and women, and the power and influence that much more common
people can have on their society. Unlike
most of Shakespeare’s plays, Othello is not based on royalty and political
history and drama. It is about a simple
couple and their life struggles. And
that isn’t to say that the rest of Shakespeare’s plays are unrealistic, because
the concepts are relatable but the actual events are a little far-fetched.
Othello is a much more wholesome story.
For those of you that don’t know
the storyline that well, let me just summarize.
Othello is a very successful soldier in the Venetian service. Iago is Othello’s sidekick who was passed up
for a promotion and is plotting revenge through the whole play. Othello and
Desdemona, the senator’s beautiful daughter, run away together and get married
in secret. Iago uses racism and
manipulative mind games to ruin their marriage.
Othello trusts Iago whole-heartedly and begins to doubt Desdemona’s
faithfulness. Othello plans to poison
her but becomes so enraged that he ends up physically abusing her and smothers
her to death. Othello is in despair from
killing his wife and Emilia, Iago’s wife, tells Othello of Iago’s plan and that
Desdemona was never unfaithful. Enraged,
Othello wounds Iago before killing himself and Iago then kills Emilia for her
betrayal.
So clearly there is a lot of death
and sadness but the moral of the story lies in the jealousy and the
misunderstandings. However, that is part
of what makes this play so relatable. Most everyone has experienced some form
of jealousy or a miscommunication that caused a huge issue that could’ve been
resolved with calmed nerves and a simple conversation. I highly doubt that any of these real
situations escalate to homicide but that is just Shakespeare’s way of making
his point clearer. After Othello
smothered Desdemona, he experienced regret and despair, which unfortunately are
fairly common human emotions and the readers or viewers of the play feel his
heartbreak and absolute hopelessness. Shakespeare’s Othello speaks to the
general public without stirring anger or resentment to any public figures, but
simply acknowledging genuine emotions that are typically held back from the
world’s prying eyes.
