How Did Shakespeare Affect The Renaissance

William Shakespeare wrote his famous tragedy, Hamlet, sometime between 1599 and 1601. During the 1500s the Renaissance had begun in Italy with the upper middle class and from there flourished throughout Europe. Renaissance means “rebirth” or “reawakening”, it was the rebirth of society at the time. European civilization became interested in classical learning and values from rediscovered Greek and Roman literature. Shakespeare was born during the Renaissance on April 23, 1564. Sonnets and plays written by Shakespeare affected the Renaissance. Queen Elizabeth the first and King James the first were the two monarchs that ruled England while Shakespeare was alive. Elizabethan Catholics and Elizabethan Protestants were the two prevalent religions