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In Macbeth by Shakespeare, several Renaissance ideas were used. Actions, episodes, characters, and themes used Renaissance characteristics. There were allusions that referred to Greek and Roman times and characters who showed characteristics that were encouraged in the Renaissance era. Characters did things just as people did in their time and thought the same about it. In Macbeth, Macduff shows characteristics of Renaissance ideas.
In Renaissance times, people believed that each human being could change the world for the better. Macduff believed this. Macduff knows that Scotland is in miserable shape. He knows that Macbeth is a bad ruler, but at one point he believes that Malcolm, as well, would be just as bad of a ruler. He wants to help Scotland but does not know how. Macduff says O nation miserable with an untitled tyrant bloody-scepter, when shalt thou see thy wholesome days again, since that the truest issue of thy throne by his own interdiction stands accursed and does blaspheme his breed? .
What Macduff means by this is that he is sorry for the way Scotland is now, and he knows that it is because Macbeth is ruling. He says that Macbeth is cursed, and wonders when Scotland will recover again. Macduff wants to change things for the better for Scotland and cares for Scotland's well being. Macbeth and his actions are another example of Renaissance ideas.
The Renaissance era was a secular movement. A secular movement is a movement focused more towards non-religious things. People were more concerned with the happiness of their life on earth, and less concerned with the Church and the afterlife. Macbeth did not care anything about the afterlife, only about his life on earth and being happy on earth. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth planned on killing Duncan so that they could become King and Queen. Before Macbeth killed Duncan, he was afraid.
He was afraid that he would fail in killing Duncan and get caught, being only afraid of punishment on earth. He was not afraid of the afterlife, and how much worse it would be than punishment on earth. Lady Macbeth reassured him by telling him her fool-proof plan for the crime, and that they could never get caught. Macbeth only wanted to become king and would do anything to achieve it.
He was only afraid of being punished by humans, and probably killed, and he was not afraid of what could happen to him after he dies. In the Renaissance, people became very interested in Greek and Roman ideas. People read old Greek and Roman myths and studied writings of famous writers from those times. Shakespeare referred to Greek and Roman times in Macbeth. Shakespeare refers to a Gorgon, which was an old Greek mythological monster.
Macbeth also says My genius is rebuked, just as Mark Antony's was by Caesar. Macbeth is comparing Mark Antony and Caesar to himself and Banquo. Macbeth is an example of Renaissance literature. People in the Renaissance believed that they could change the world for the better, just as Macduff did. People also became less concerned with religion, and what would happen to them in the afterlife and had more of a desire for material things and money. Macbeth did not care about the afterlife and only wanted to have luxury on earth.
People also read Greek/Roman classics, and Shakespeare makes to Greek/Roman allusions in Macbeth. Macbeth is an example of Renaissance literature because of how the ideas in of the story relates to their time.
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Research essay sample on Macbeth As Renaissance Literature
