The Influence of the Renaissance on the World of Performing Arts

          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 14^th through the 16^th 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 5^th to the 13^th 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.

Othello is personally my favorite Shakespeare play so the Renaissance did me a great service by providing the opportunity for William Shakespeare, and many other artists, to show his genius and his talent through the performing arts.