Renaissance

Renaissance is the Golden Age of Western Civilization. The American College Dictionary defines it as “the period of the great revival of art, letters, and learning in Europe during the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world.” I will try to come up with my own explanation of Renaissance after analysis of the excerpts from The Prince by Machiavelli, Oration on the Dignity of Man by Pico della Mirandola, Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Artists, and Defense of the Liberal Instruction of women by Laura Careta, all four found in J.J. Spielvogel’s Western Civilization.

Machiavelli, a Florentine Sectretary of Ten, in “Is it better to be loved than feared?” from his famous work The Prince reflects about the human kind and political power. He advises for rulers to be rather cruel than lovable, since every one of your “loyal” subjects will turn you down if you need help. People are ready to take advantage of everybody, and especially from not suspecting anything, naive king. But there is a way to put people in order: cruelty that does not have to inspire hatred. “Fear restrains men because they are afraid of punishment,” Machiavelli writes to justify his notion (Spielvogel, p. 314). We can also find elements of individualism in this fragment. Machiavelli advises rulers to keep their hands of people’s property and women, since men do not forget the loss of their own inheritance and wives. It is easier to justify death than to justify seizure of the possession of others.

In Pico della Mirandola’s work Oration on the dignity of Men, on the other hand, cultivates Greek and Roman culture. This intellect of Italian Renaissance states that man is not limited, so he should take full advantage of life to seek knowledge. This totally differs from medieval world view, because in people from Middle Ages believed that God sets the boundaries, and designates our living. Now, Pico contradicts that notion by saying that human is the master of himself, and he should strive for excellence, because “lower forms are brutish” (Spielvogel, p. 317). We can also find humanism’s component, when Pico writes that a rational person grows into “a heavenly being”, and an intellectualist “will be an angel and son of God.” People should, Pico also writes, shape themselves through reason into any form they want, because they have the freedom of choice and honor, the highest Greek virtue.

On the contrary, Giorgio Vasari, a biographer of the Renaissance artists, tries to define a “Renaissance man” in his Lives of the Artists. In the excerpt “The Genius of Leonardo da Vinci,” he underlines the quality a true man ought to possess. He advises us to strive for excellence as well as Pico, but Vasari points out that we must try for pursuing talents in every aspect of our lives. The portrayed Leonardo da Vinci was not only a handsome man, but a talented individual also. He was a graceful architect, inventor, sculptor, painter, writer, and musician. Summing up, we can name him the perfect human being, a Renaissance ideal. Vasari happens to mention secularism as well. He indicates that an artist’s reputation “endures and becomes even greater after [the artist’s] death” thanks to his works of art (Spielvogel, p. 325).

In the last excerpt, from Defense of the Liberal Instructions of Women by Laura Careta, we read about sexism in Renaissance. Careta tries to persuade that women can be scholars as well as men, since women are as intelligent as men. Her writing reminds us of the Roman times, when females gained their semi-independence in the household and outside it. Careta tries to underline that this was forgotten in the Middle Ages, moreover, it should be expanded since now people are more educated. She cries out in grief that women set themselves lesser goals then they are capable of. Women possess “as fine a mind as nature ever bestowed upon the most learned man,” Laura writes to underline that her sex is not the weaker one; it is made weaker by males (Spielvogel, p.319).

After the foregoing analysis, I am able to define Renaissance. In my opinion it is not only the rebirth of learning, but also the revival of whole classical culture. Through the expansion of this culture, the world led by people striving for perfection can step into Modern Times.