Hamlet as a Renaissance Man

During the era known as the Renaissance, a rebirth of classical Greek ideals helped turn in new directions art, society, science and thought. Rational and trained thought were the highest goals to which mankind could aspire. The increasing secularism of the era focused on humanism, especially a philosophy that stressed individual dignity, self-worth, and posited a high value on reason or rational thought. A Renaissance man was often an enlightened, rational individual with a capacity for multiple talents from the arts to politics. Hamlet represents such a "Renaissance" man. Hamlet's rational deliberations illustrate a primary characteristic of the Renaissance man. Hamlet is obsessed with rational thought as the means of finding truth. He is torn in his thoughts with respect to avenging the murder of his father, "To be or not to be,--that

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Category: Literature - H