Humanities Study Guide

Humanities Study Guide

© 2020 Page 37 of 62 power within the church. The split elaborated on the ideas of humanist scholars, who reformers disagreed with on many issues. Northern humanists, often called Christian humanists , were different from the more classical Italian Renaissance humanists. Christian humanists like Desiderius Erasmus criticized the hypocrisy and vanity they saw in Renaissance society. They contrasted its vices with the piety and morality they saw in Christianity. Erasmus, who believed people had free will and could improve themselves morally, was at odds with Martin Luther and his Protestant followers. However, he did agree with them on the idea that faith was more important than good works. 6.3 The Reformation in England The English Reformation grew out of King Henry VIII’s desire to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon as it had not produced a male heir to the throne. The Pope's refusal to grant an annulment led Henry to break from the Catholic church and make himself head of the English Anglican church, or Protestant church. Because of the split, he had the authority to grant his own annulment to Catherine. Henry VIII's church was Anglican in name only, as it maintained Catholic beliefs. Elizabeth I later reinstated the Anglican faith, and religious tolerance prevailed in England. Theater Plays were published during this period and distributed widely. They used Roman characters, but the plots were plausible, and the action was divided into acts. Theaters used perspective painting techniques to create three-dimensional scenery on a stage. The theater became associated with touring professional actors, who were often censored by town officials on moral grounds. Actors performed plays in courtyards of inns or in makeshift theaters. Actors sought to combat censorship by gaining sponsorship of the nobility. The construction of the famous Globe Theater, which was a permanent theater house, started a shift towards stable theater structures and marked an era of prosperity in English theater. Comedies were a popular form of play that drew on Roman influences and included broad humor and slapstick elements. Historical plays called chronicles were also common during this time. They incorporated elements of medieval shows, like enactments of on-stage torture. Tragedies were also borrowed from Greek and Roman writers, and they often included mixed revenge with themes of Protestant morality. WilliamShakespeare continues to be one of themost influential playwrights known toman. He built off the ideas and success of Christopher Marlowe, who developed the verse forms of Elizabethan dramas. Shakespeare disliked classical rules of form and combined Renaissance ideas of humanism, realism, skepticism, and much more. Achieve

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