This is my second assignment for my humanities class. This assignment is based off of the Elizabethan Era aka The Golden Age aka The Shakespearean Period.
1. They call this age The Golden Age because of all the lands were at a better spot with advances in technology and economy and the lands felt like they were at peace with themselves. They had also felt a sense of purity like gold, therefore comes the name The Golden Age. Here are some important dates and events from this time period.
1485- King Henry VII cemented his success and settled the tension between Yorkists and Lancastreans, by marrying Elizabeth of York (Future Queen Elizabeth the First).
Late 1400's Queen Elizabeth I ascended to the throne and the result of her reign came wars between The English and the Spanish Armada and the people under her rule loved and respected her.
In this time was when Shakespeare was alive and writing marvelous works. This is also why they called This Era the Shakespeare Age.
2. There were many differences between The Renaissance Era and The Middle Ages. These differences were advances in war technology like in the Renaissance Era, gun powder was invented which ended the era of "knighthood". According to a survey on WikiAnswers the new world was discovered in the time period of the Renaissance and this helped launch explorers to discover new parts of the world along with the invention of the compass which aided their journey also. Now the middle ages was a more primitive age because of wood and stone were main source of tools, buildings, weapons, and things were just more simpler back then. The Renaissance Era also had advanced in music and poetry with composers and writers such as Giovanni Gabrielli, Shakespeare, William Byrd, and Pierre De La Rue.
3. The word Renaissance in French means "rebirth" and in this era was a rebirth in many different ways. One way was the beginning of this era was the end of the black plague and for a lot of the world that was a big rebirth. In one area, music was really reborn and here are few key composers of this time period that gave this era a said "rebirth".
Thomas Tallis (1510-1585)
An English composer who was a famous church musician that composed a great amount of music for the church and the Queen Elizabeth I. Queen Elizabeth I granted him and his people access to the printing press and they published music for Latin and English choirs.
William Byrd (1543-1623)
Byrd was known for his piano works and was also known as the "genius of the keyboard". He not only was a renown pianist, but was known as the greatest English composer of all time. He also had mastered every style of music.
Giovanni Gabrielli (1553-1623)
Gabrielli was well known for bridging The Renaissance Era to the Baroque Period of music. He was known for his well planning and usage of the method, The Antiphon and his great works from the Venetian School.
4. Queen Elizabeth I was a very famous ruler and was recognized for being a very loving and wise ruler. Along with other important dates and events is why this time is called the Elizabethan Era. Her reign was a big part of a wide spread increase in literacy and arts with great poets and composers like Shakespeare, Hawkins, and Greenville. A key military event during her reign was when she defeated the Spanish Armada with a significantly inferior army. The Queen also established "the poor laws" which were to help and aid the needy and was also recognized even more for her will to take care of those in need.
5. Othello is a play about a Morro, meaning he is from Northern Africa who is a highly ranked officer in Venice, Italy. Othello falls in love with a Venetian woman, who he later on in the play kills out of jealousy and rage because he is deceived by his own officer who had Othello thinking that the Venetian woman, Desdomona, is cheating on him. Mostly everyone dies at the end of the play because of so much dishonesty and defiance from people they thought they could trust. In my opinion I feel like this play will relate to the humanities as a whole than any other Shakespeare play because it is a view on human nature. Specifically the nature of knowing who we can trust and who can be trustworthy, the nature of either desires or selfishness, and the nature of truths or false accusations. All of these things play a huge part in today's humanities and has been proven to me through this play.
