Humanities & Classics 1002
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Renaissance Forum
Humanities & Classics 1002 |
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In Reply to: PLEASE POST YOUR SECOND REQUIRED POSTING AS FOLLOWUPS TO THIS POST posted by Tom Bacig on January 13, 1999 at 21:59:54:
Renaissance Ideals
All three of these authors have very strong opinions on how an ideal Renaissance man should behave. I say man, because the rules that they are constructing were meant to apply to men and not women. There were a different set of rules for women which are hardly mentioned by these men. Castiglione offers a few reference, but it is really not surprising that women are not mentioned because they still didn't enjoy the same status as men did. Although the Renaissance was a time of excitement and revolution of thought, I guess the idea of women being equal was still too radical and revolutionary. Anyway, I will get back to my point. As I was saying, the three authors all agree that there are certain standards that men must hold themselves to.
Alberti believes that idleness is evil and those who do not strive to perfect themselves and master as many things as possible might as well be dead. Castiglione contradicts Alberti when he says that it is not necessary for the perfect courtier to have perfect knowledge. Machiavelli's view point is that it would be ideal for a Renaissance leader to possess all of the qualities that are considered "good", but it seems like Machiavelli does not really believe that it is possible to achieve this ideal. Instead, he points toward another theme that is subtle, yet appears in all three of these authors works. Machiavelli seems to be writing about the important of appearance. Today our parents always tell us, "You can't judge a book by it's cover." During the Renaissance this was a common practice. It seems that Machiavelli is pointing this out. If you cannot be the perfect courtier in reality, you should at least try to appear to be perfect and good.
Although Castiglione seems to take a different approach to self-fashioning than Machiavelli, he also ascribes to the "image is everything" philosophy. You must always be seen to have good qualities. It is crucial that you maintain your spotless reputation as a gentlemen at all times. He doesn't say that men should be sinful and unrighteous outside of the public sphere, but he does stress the importance of what others think of you.
During the Renaissance, you could become as they say "a self-made" man. Now, especially in America, we cannot really imagine any other kind of person. In this time period, however, the self-made man, had quite a challenge on his hands. He was supposed to excel in arts and sciences, be brave, virtuous and noble, gain power and praise and yet he was supposed to make this all look effortless. That is the trick of it all. Not only were you supposed to be a genius in every sort of way, you weren't supposed to let anyone know that you were working towards this sort of goal. It was supposed to come naturally to you. Perhaps, the Renaissance with all of it's perfectionism should be called the Rebirth of Ulcers. The pressure of being a college student today is quite stressful at times, I can't imagine trying to make it look effortless.