Gutenberg And The Printing Press Analysis

As artists were frequently trying to attempt to impress the elite in hopes of finding or impressing a patron, the lower and middle classes were typically unaffected by the Renaissance culture. The invention of the printing press, by Johann Gutenberg, allowed for the possibility of educating the impoverished and illiterate, as it was much easier to mass produce books, rather than having to handwrite each copy. Before its invention, only the extremely wealthy could afford to have large libraries, as each book would have to be handwritten by a commissioned artist. The wealth that would be required to hire an adequate amount of writers to complete hundreds of books in a timely manner was only conceivable for the exceptionally wealthy and elite, …show more content…
While the printing press certainly bridged some of the gap between the impoverished and the wealthy, there was still significant inequality between the two social classes. As a result, many individuals from middle and lower classes resented the elite and wealthy. This is clear in individual responses to the social inequalities of the Renaissance, such as “A Letter to Posterity,” by Francis Petrarch. Petrarch’s resentment for the upper class is clear, as he explicitly states “I have always possessed an extreme contempt for wealth,” though justifies that he does not hate wealth itself, but rather the many despicable anxieties that accompany having in excess (A Letter to Posterity). Petrarch further disparages the upper classes for their ostentatious displays of wealth, which he feels are inherently bad and distracting. Petrarch’s resentment for the upper class is representative of the responses of many lower class