Renaissance Man Dbq

A renaissance man is defined as “a person with many talents or areas of knowledge.” (Defining the “Renaissance Man”) There have been many throughout history. One of the most famous people in literature, Shakespeare, could be considered an ideal renaissance man. As I learned more about Shakespeare, I wondered how others portrayed him. Was he considered a renaissance man? What exactly is a renaissance man? As I learned the definition of a renaissance man, I concluded that Shakespeare was indeed a renaissance man. His works of art portray his immense talents and diverse knowledge. He fits all of the characteristics of an ideal renaissance man. Shakespeare has been studied for over 400 years. Despite the great efforts of researchers, we still know little to nothing about Shakespeare’s personal life. However, nearly all of his writings have been kept intact and luckily we have them to study and analyse. (Document 2) It is believed that he attended King Edward VI Grammar School, where he learned the Latin language and grammar. (Document 5) He wrote in all genres and they all portrayed his creativity and intelligence. Logically speaking, Shakespeare had to have been an extremely intelligent man to have produced all of the famous works he did. It’s not likely that someone could ever create such advanced and creative pieces of literature as …show more content…
I can understand where these people are coming from. Knowing so little about Shakespeare, besides his writings, it could be difficult to classify him as a renaissance man. Since we have all of his writings it is a bit easier to understand him, however it is still difficult. If we only had his comedies, we would see him as a frothy soul. If we had just the sonnets, we would think of him as a man of darkest passions. Therefore, it is hard to really tell anything about him due to the only knowledge of him in his literature. (Document