The term ‘humanist’ originally referred to a scholar of Classical literature. In the Renaissance and particularly in the Elizabethan age, European intellectuals devoted themselves to the rediscovery and study of Roman and Greek literature and culture.

the Renaissance

Humanism, also known as Renaissance Humanism, was an intellectual movement embraced by scholars, writers, and civic leaders in 14th- and early-15th-century Italy.

Between the 18th and early 20th centuries Othello was mainly read from a liberal humanist perspective. Traditional liberal humanist readings emphasise that he is the victim of an individual’s malevolence – Iago’s – and his own personality, especially his gullibility and jealousy.

While Romeo and Juliet represent a new kind of humanism. They make brave and resourceful struggles against feudal ideas and traditions, even though the outcome of the struggle is a tragedy, but in exchange of victory and promotion of the spirit of humanism.

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet character is a personification of the evolution of philosophical humanism into moral nihilism, and this is shown through Hamlet’s initial quest for revenge, his inner search for the truth of his father’s murder, and his eventual hollow revenge over Claudius.

In plays, Shakespeare shows progression from tragedies to romances. The message becomes clearly humanistic in nature. His magical arts tame and control the tempests of human nature. He possesses noble qualities of generosity, compassion, friendship and wisdom.

Throughout his plays, Shakespeare regularly demonstrates and celebrates the ideas and ideals of Renaissance humanism, often—even in his tragic plays— presenting characters who embody the principles and ideals of Renaissance humanism, or people of tremendous self-knowledge and wit that are capable of self-expression and …

However, Hamlet is an archetypal liberal humanist embodying the ongoing argument of the Renaissance man versus the medieval man, and therefore we can conclude that Hamlet is simply a product of his time.

Shakespeare’s plays are traditionally divided into the three categories of the First Folio: comedies, histories, and tragedies.

Shakespearean critics have broken the plays into four categories: tragedies, comedies, histories, and “problem plays.” This list contains some of the plays that fall into each category.

We’ve divided them into four categories of saturation – mainstream, popular, niche and underground. If you know Pericles (the least-known play) you’re a die-hard fan – more so than someone who knows King Lear (niche, with 17%).