Shakespeare at the Crossroads of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
Though Shakespeare was writing during the Renaissance, his work owes much to medieval traditions.
Originally produced during Lantern Theater Company’s 2017/18 season and streaming May 4–30, 2021, as part of our new Plays from the Lantern Archives series, The Tempest was written when London was in full sway of the Renaissance and would remain so for another decade. However, the values and theatrical structures of the Middle Ages were not far from Shakespeare’s mind. Characteristic for his work, and for its endurance, is his merging of the Middle Ages thinking of his youth with the Renaissance traditions of his adopted home: London.
Some argue that the European Middle Ages started with the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, while others believe it began in 1100. It was characterized by a belief in God’s complete control, and adherence to the Roman Catholic Church that interpreted and enforced religious doctrine in everyday life. The period was marked by the Crusades and feudalism, one a series of religious wars and the other a work system built on strict distinctions between the landowners and those working the fields. It also laid the groundwork for the Renaissance; gothic architecture and universities were both born in this time, and it produced writers like Chaucer and Dante.
The Renaissance began in Italy around 1350, reached most of the rest of Europe by 1450, and ended around 1620. The period was shorter in England, however: the ideals of the period would not reach Britain until the 16th century, and gained most traction in the second half of that century in the urban center of London.
Whether in Italy or England, the Renaissance can be characterized by the rise of humanism, which placed more value on rhetoric, poetry, history, grammar, and moral philosophy than on accepted dogma. Humanists were as interested in these fields as they were in the act of learning, and the willingness to constantly explore was central to Renaissance thought. In addition to pushing toward the new, though, the Renaissance also reached backwards toward the classical age, where the ancient Romans and Greeks presented models for how to learn and live. In fact, it was the Renaissance that gave us the term “Middle Ages” in an attempt to reject the time between the classical and Renaissance eras. For Renaissance thinkers, the intervening centuries offered little of value, and only passed the time between the two greater eras.
The Renaissance’s emphasis on discovery and learning led to a huge number of advancements creatively, culturally, linguistically, and scientifically. Because the search for knowledge was so central, scientific beliefs were reevaluated and new understandings of subjects like the body or the structure of the solar system were presented. With the invention of the printing press and the resulting spread of the printed word and literacy, written grammar and spelling were standardized. And magic played a role: astrology and alchemy were taught alongside astronomy and chemistry in the universities that spread wildly during the time.
Many of these values can be seen in The Tempest, whether in Prospero’s love of learning and magic, Ferdinand’s courage and loyalty alongside his willingness to try new experiences, or Miranda’s wonder and excitement at the world opening up before her. In writing these Renaissance men and women, however, Shakespeare was also drawing on a long career as a playwright steeped in Middle Ages convention.
Because the Renaissance reached England later than other parts of Europe, the hold of medieval beliefs was strong in Shakespeare’s day, especially in the less urban Stratford-upon-Avon of his youth. When he moved to London in the 1580s, he moved from a more medieval life to a Renaissance one, and this duality is present in his writing. He certainly incorporated Renaissance ideals: from his own astonishing linguistic invention to the number of plays inspired by ancient Greek and Roman history and literature, Shakespeare is a product of a time looking both ahead and behind.
But Shakespeare’s writing is also firmly rooted in the Middle Ages, particularly its theatrical traditions. His work is unbound to the strict classical guidelines of time and space that Renaissance writers prized; instead, Shakespeare’s plays might span continents and decades within the two-hours traffic of a single work. He mingles tragedy and comedy, and high- and low-brow characters, in ways the medieval cycle plays often did. And he was just as inspired by Middle Age figures and stories as he was by classical ones: Hamlet, King Lear, and many of the history plays are directly drawn from Middle Age sources, and Chaucer, the great medieval poet, influenced several of Shakespeare’s works.
Despite straddling both ages, Shakespeare’s writing itself is perhaps his greatest embodiment of Renaissance ideals. In a period deeply interested in forward progress, using the classics as a guide, he was endlessly inventive, surprising, and revealing of humanity’s deeper truths in ways that only a Renaissance poet could be. But where other Renaissance adherents dismissed the Middle Ages, Shakespeare was rooted in them, using his and his nation’s recent past to launch them both into what was to come.
Related reading: Shakespeare’s Tempests and the Sea Venture — The real events that inspired Shakespeare’s shipwreck in The Tempest. Plus: a Shakespeare quiz.
The Tempest is part of Plays from the Lantern Archives, a new series celebrating some of the finest productions from recent Lantern seasons, brought vividly back to life on screen. This performance was professionally filmed with a live theater audience in April 2018, and is streaming May 4–30, 2021. Visit our website for tickets and information.
