The Renaisance DBQ

The Renaisance changed man’s view on the world in many ways. People viewed life much more differently before the Renaisance came about. This time period was known as the Middle Ages. In the Middle Ages most people believed everything in life was represented by a creature, animal and nearly everyone believened God or multiple Gods.They believed in things like Zodiacs (Doc D). Religion played a huge factor during the Middle Ages. The Catholic Church ruled nearly everything throught Europe. When the Renaisance started, it brang along many new ideas, inventions, and beliefs due to the new art, literature, and science. One area that changed man’s views from the Middle Ages to the Renaisance was through art. Theodore Rabb, who wrote Days of the
Renissance and The March to Modernity, art created during the Renaissance, states, "One begins to know the names of the artists ... feel stronger emotions in the subjects ... well-defined landscapes, folds in drapery” (Doc A). This shows that people used art to get a deeper feeling of life. They thought newly and more purly and had different emotions and connections with the art being made during and after the Renaisance. After observing and studying the art, people had new ideas on life and expanded they’re thoughts about the world they lived in Theodore Rabb also states, "the new artistic styles would echo broader moverments and interests of the view age” (Doc A). This meant that the Renaisance brought new styls of art with different interests. Newer movements and ways to see life from multiple Points of View.
Another area that shows the change in views from the Middle Ages to the Renaisance was through literature.
In the excerpt from Everyman by an unknown aunthor in 1485 it “carr[ied] a message right out of the Middle Ages” (Doc B). In the poem Everyman, it states "Both strength, power, and beauty, Will fade from thee as flower in May” (Doc B). This means that people during the Middle Ages believed that ideals like strength, power, and beauty, which were important to many people, would eventually fade during their lives and were ot impoortat. Another quote from Everyman which gives insight into the thoughts of people from the Middle Ages was, “for ye shall hear, how our Heaven-King calleth everyman to a genral reckoning” (Doc B). This quote describes judgement day, which iswhat christians believe to be the pinnacle of life. Judgement Day decides weather a soul will either go to heaven or to hell. Overall, to people of the medieval period life was a sacrafice to become worthy of heaven Adversely the literature in the Renaissance illuustrated a vastly different viewpoint that humans and their lives on earth as the most important piece of existence Document B included an excerpt from Hamlet by William Shakespeare, which was written during the Reniaissance in 1601. In Hamlet, Shakespeare compares man to an angeles or gods (Doc B). He also refers to humans as “the pargon *of animals!” (Doc B). The word pargon means perfect model(Doc
B). Onne more area that changed man’s view from the Middle Ages to the Renaisance is through scienece. In the diagram The Geocentric Universe of Ptolemy, it says,“Ptomely .... developed a theory of the universe that was adopted by most scholors during the Middle Ages” (Doc C). It shows Earth centered in the middle with all the other planets aligned around it. This how people viewd our universe in the Middle Ages. People had very high views of Earth and believed that everything revolved around it. The Heliocentric Universe of Copernicus says, "Relying mostly on mathematics, he developed a very different understanding of the universe. Geocentric means "earth-centered" and heliocentric means "sun-centered” (Doc C). This shows that after mathematics came about, people were able to get a more accurate, factual layout of our universe. Capernicus centered the Sun instead of Earth and had all the plaets incluiding Earth revolve around the Sun. He got this layout by using mathematics and science. These two subjects helped expands peoples knoweledge, develop more facts and gain more evidence to suport their theory, and correct false information from the Middle ages. The Renaisance changed man’s view on the wold in many ways. Art, literature, and science played a big role in this and each were a major factor on views changing from the Middle Ages to the Renaisance. People had new ideas, beliefs, and new inventions after the Renaisance came about. The Renaisance changed how life would and will be forever and was a major turning point in World History.