How Did The Renaissance Contribute To Modern Society

The Renaissance is considered one of the greatest times in history for several reasons. The world had just experienced one of the worst plagues to date. In England alone it was estimated that it killed nearly 30%-60% of its population. (Alchon) At this point the world was in the early beginnings in many things such as; Medicine, Art, and Religion, to list a few. The black plague could have easily ended the world (and all of the progress thus far) as we know it, however it started something that no one could have predicted, The Rebirth. The amount of creativity and learning that occurred in such a short time was unprecedented, and to think that most of what was discovered, created, or just thought of is still present in some way, shape, or form in modern day 2017. So, what exactly did the Renaissance contribute to our modern society? …show more content…
In the Renaissance, the church was a huge figure in politics, but it wasn’t until Giovanni Boccaccio, author of “The Decameron” (one of his greatest works) made contributions to what we now refer to as “Realism.” He deviated from the Renaissance norms of creating characters who dealt with larger than life issues and instead he created characters who were down to earth, appealing to the average person, and relatable. The Decameron is a collection of 100 tales that revolves around a group of people gathered at a house during the Black Plague. They tell stories to one another to pass the time and each story deals with issues a Renaissance reader would be familiar with. Boccaccio formed this new way of writing about settings and characters just by writing about real