Renaissance Is Not a Revolutionary Period
Revolution is defined as a drastic and far-reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving . There is indeed change during the Renaissance period; however, those changes cannot be considered as drastic change. Hence, I would like to say that the Renaissance is not a revolutionary period.
First of all, there is no drastic change in the politics in the Renaissance period. Renaissance inherited Feudalism from the Medieval Period . During the Renaissance period, we can see that there is a movement of power from feudal lords to the rulers. Rulers gained more power by centralizing their control. Thus, instead of saying that the political structure was changed, it is more suitable to say that changes have been made in the power distribution of the Feudalism structure. Secondly, we cannot say that Renaissance art has made a drastic change because the Renaissance artists looked back to the classical Greek and Roman styles where at the same time, challenged themselves by adapting the ancient traditions into their own styles. ‘The realism that emerged in Renaissance painting went beyond mere fidelity to ancient costumes, architecture, and statuesque posture’ . The changes on Renaissance art can be better explained in terms of its continuity of the classical Greek and Roman styles rather than of revolutionary change. Besides that, revolution is also defined as a radical and pervasive change in society and the social structure . However, during the Renaissance period, the lives of the peasants were poor and miserable. People during that period of time had to do various kinds of jobs like prostitution, theft and beggary in order to survive . The lives of the peasants remained the same in the Renaissance; there were no changes in the lives of the poor people. From this point of view, it is very obvious that revolution did not occur among the lives of the peasants during the Renaissance period. As mentioned in the first paragraph, revolution is defined as a sudden or
First of all, there is no drastic change in the politics in the Renaissance period. Renaissance inherited Feudalism from the Medieval Period . During the Renaissance period, we can see that there is a movement of power from feudal lords to the rulers. Rulers gained more power by centralizing their control. Thus, instead of saying that the political structure was changed, it is more suitable to say that changes have been made in the power distribution of the Feudalism structure. Secondly, we cannot say that Renaissance art has made a drastic change because the Renaissance artists looked back to the classical Greek and Roman styles where at the same time, challenged themselves by adapting the ancient traditions into their own styles. ‘The realism that emerged in Renaissance painting went beyond mere fidelity to ancient costumes, architecture, and statuesque posture’ . The changes on Renaissance art can be better explained in terms of its continuity of the classical Greek and Roman styles rather than of revolutionary change. Besides that, revolution is also defined as a radical and pervasive change in society and the social structure . However, during the Renaissance period, the lives of the peasants were poor and miserable. People during that period of time had to do various kinds of jobs like prostitution, theft and beggary in order to survive . The lives of the peasants remained the same in the Renaissance; there were no changes in the lives of the poor people. From this point of view, it is very obvious that revolution did not occur among the lives of the peasants during the Renaissance period. As mentioned in the first paragraph, revolution is defined as a sudden or
Bibliography: 1. "Revolution." WordNet® 3.0. Princeton University. 14 Aug. 2008. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/revolution>. 2. Newman, Garfield. Legacy: The West and the World. Toronto: Patty Pappas, 2002. 3. "revolution." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 14 Aug. 2008. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/revolution>. 4. "revolution." The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. 14 Aug. 2008. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/revolution>.