THE RENAISSANCE

The word "renaissance" [гэ 'neisans] means "rebirth" in French and was used to
denote a phase in the cultural development of Europe between the 14th and 17th
centuries. The Middle Ages were followed by a more progressive period due to
numerous events. The bourgeoisie appeared as a new class. Italy was the first
bourgeois country in Europe in the 14th century.

Columbus [ka'lAmbas] discovered America. Vasco da Gama [ 'vseskau da 'grxma]

reached the coast of India making his sea voyage. Magellan [mag'ebn] went round
the earth. The world appeared in a new light. The Copemican [кэи'рз:шкэп]
system of astronomy shattered the power of the Catholic Church, and the
Protestant Church was set up. Printing was invented in Germany in the 15th
century. Schools and universities were established in many European countries.
Great men appeared in art, science and literature. In art and literature the time
between the 14th and 17th centuries was called the Renaissance. It was the rebirth
of ancient Greek and Roman art and literature. Ancient culture attracted new
writers and artists because it was full of joy of life and glorified the beauty of man.
The writers and learned men of the Renaissance turned against feudalism and
roused in men a wish to know more about the true nature of things in the world.
They were called humanists. Man was placed in the centre of life. He was no
longer an evil being. He had a right to live, enjoy himself and be happy on earth.
The humanists were greatly interested in the sciences, especially in natural
scierrce, based on experiment and investigation. These new ideas first appeared in
Italy, then in France and Germany, and shortly afterwards in England and Spain.
The Italian painters and sculptors Raphael [ 'rasfeial], Leonardo da Vinci
[Ira'ncudauda'vmtjl:] and Michelangelo ['maikal 'aendjdau] glorified the beauty of
man. The Italian poets Dante [ 'daenti], Petrarch [рэ 'tra;k| and the Italian writer
Boccaccio [bt> 'kaljiau], the French writer Rabelias [ 'raebalei], the Spanish writer
Cervantes [s3:'vaentiz], and the English writer Thomas More and the poet
Shakespeare helped people to fight for freedom and better future. The renaissance
was the greatest progressive revolution that mankind had so far experienced. It was
a time which called for giants and produced giants — giants in power, thought,
passion, character, in universality and learning. There was hardly any man of
importance who had not travelled extensively, who did not speak four or five
languages. Indeed, Leonardo da Vinci was a painter, sculptor, architect,
mathematician and engineer. Michelangelo was a sculptor, painter and poet.
Machiavelli [ 'тжкю' veil] was a statesman, poet and historian. The wave of
progress reached England in the 16th century. Many learned men from other
countries, for, instance the German painter Holbein, and some Italian and French
musicians, went to England. In literature England had her own men. One of them
was the humanist Thomas More, the first English humanist of the Renaissance.

Thomas More (1478-1535)

Sir Thomas More [ 'tomas mo:] was born in London and educated at Oxford. He
was the first English humanist of the Renaissance. He could write Latin very well.
He began life as a lawyer. He was an active-minded man and kept a keen eye1 on
the events of his time. Soon he became the first great writer on social and political
subjects in English. The English writings of Thomas More include: discussions on
political subjects, biographies, poetry. Thomas More was a Catholic, but fought
against the Pope and the king's absolute power. The priests hated him because of
his poetry and discussions on political subjects. Thomas More refused to obey the
king as the head of the English Church, therefore he was thrown into the Tower of
London and beheaded there as a traitor. The work by which Themas More is best
remembered today is Utopia [ju: Чэирю] which was written in Latin in the year
1516. It has been translated into all European languages. Utopia (which in Greek
means "nowhere") is the name of a non-existent island. This work is divided into
two books. In the first, the author gives a profound and truthful picture of the
people's sufferings and points out the social evils existing in England at that time.
In the second book Thomas More presents his ideal of what future society should
be like. It is an ideal republic. Its government is elected. Everybody works. All
schooling is free. Man must be healthy and wise, but not rich. Utopia describes a
perfect social system built on communist principles. The word "utopia" has
become a byword and is used in modern English to denote an unattainable ideal,
usually in social and political matters.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF DRAMA IN ENGLAND

During the Renaissance art and literature developed. People liked to sing and act.
Drama became a very popular genre of literature. The Renaissance dramas differed
greatly from the first plays written in the Middle Ages. As in Greece drama in
England was in its beginning a religious thing. The clergymen began playing some
parts of Christ's life in the church. The oldest plays in England were the
"Mysteries" and "Miracles" which were performed on religious holidays. These
were stories about saints and had many choral elements in them. Gradually
ceremonies developed into performances. They passed from the stage in the church
to the stage in the street. At the end of the 14th century the "Mysteries" gave way
to the "Morality" plays. The plays were meant to teach people a moral lesson. The
characters in them were abstract vices and virtues. Between the acts of the
"Morality" and "Miracle plays" there were introduced short plays called
"interludes" ['intaluxlz] — light intended to make people laugh. They were
performed in the houses of the more intelligent people. Longer plays in which
shepherds and shepherdesses took part were called "Masques" [ 'ma:sks]. These
dramatic performances with music were very pleasing and were played till the end
of the 17th century. Soonthe plays became complicated. Professional actors
travelled from town to town performing in inn yards. The first playhouse in
London was built in 1576. It was called "The Theatre". A more famous theatre was
the "Globe", built in 1599. It was like the old inn yard open to the sky. Galleries
and boxes were placed round the yard. The stage was in the middle of it. There was
no scenery. The place of action was written on a placard, e. g., a palace, London,
etc. There was no curtain, either. The actors stood in the middle of the audience on
the stage. Women's parts were acted by boys or men.
Drama from its very beginning was divided into comedy and tragedy. The first
English tragedies and comedies were performed in London in about 1550. In the
16th century a number of plays were written in imitation of Ancient Roman
tragedies and comedies. There was little action on the stage. The chorus summed
up the situation and also gave moral observations at the end of each act. Such plays
were called classical dramas. The greatest playwrights of the time were men of
academic learning, the so-called "University Wits". Among the "University Wits"
were John Lyly1, Thomas Kyd2, Christopher Marlowe and others. Each of them
contributed something to the development of the drama into the forms in which
Shakespeare was to take it up.

Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)

Christopher Marlowe [ 'kristsfa 'ma:bu] was a young dramatist who surpassed all
his contemporaries. His father was a shoemaker in Canterbury. Christopher
Marlowe studied at Cambridge University and was greatly in fluenced by the ideas
of the Renaissance. Almost nothing is known of his life after he left the University.
He was killed at a tavern at the age of twenty-nine. Christopher Marlowe is famous
for his four tragedies: Tamburlaine ['tajmbalein] the Great; Doctor Faus-tus
['fo:stas]; The Jew of Malta ['molts] and Edward II. Marlowe approached history
from a Renaissance point of view. His tragedies show strong men who fight for
their own benefit. No enemy can overcome them except death. They are great
personalities who challenge men and gods with their strength. Doctor Faustus is
considered to be the best of his works. Marlowe used in it the German legend of a
scholar who for the sake of knowledge sold his soul to the devil. Dr. Faustus wants
to have power over the world: "All things that move between the quiet poles shall
be at my command". The devil serves him twenty-four years. When Faustus sees
the beautiful Helen he wants to get his soul back. It is too late. Marlowe's plays
taught people to understand a tragedy which was not performed just to show horror
and crime on the stage, but to reveal the suffering of man. Marlowe introduced
blank verse in his tragedies and pointed out the way to William Shakespeare, the
greatest of the Renaissance humanists. In imagination, richness of expression,
originality and general poetic and dramatic power he is inferior to Shakespeare
alone in the 16th century.