Altered View Of Man Dbq Essay

Man’s Altered View of Himself

What would man’s everyday life be like if the Renaissance never happened? Would we still think that the Earth is the center of the universe and our bodies are affected by the zodiac? Throughout the Renaissance, people explored many new ideas, such as religion, anatomy, literature, art, and how the solar system was arranged, all of which altered people’s view of everyman (meaning mankind). Mankind made improvements in realistic art and people who looked more real. People also learned about themselves more, in a physical sense. After some doctors decided to research the insides of people, they learned a lot about how humans work. People began to think more about religion and it was altered greatly in the process.

Before the Renaissance, people were in the belief that the human body was under the control of the zodiac. This belief was shown in a drawing dating back to before the Renaissance with an image of the human body with a zodiac symbol indicating each part (Doc. D). The fact that there were zodiac symbols put in correspondence to body parts backs up the idea that they were believed to govern the bodies movements and use. People during the Renaissance finally figured out that they should actually look into dead bodies. They found out about muscles, organs and all sorts of other important things. This was a very important discovery for the time period that helped lead to our knowledge of the human body and modern medicine today. Proof of this important discovery is shown when there is also a diagram drawn of a person without skin standing up and there are many accurate muscles showing (Doc D).This means that they must have actually looked at bones and muscles to know where in the body they were and to even have thought that they may be there at all. Throughout the Renaissance, the idea of people’s physical traits changed drastically and lead to more knowledge of the human body, which inordinately changed people’s views of

One way paintings demonstrate this is the difference between the Mona Lisa and Madonna Enthroned Between Two Angels. The older painting, Madonna Enthroned Between Two Angles, is unrealistic and has rather depressing dark colors. While the Renaissance painting, the Mona Lisa, is not only much more realistic, but also a lot more cheerful, brighter feel, and became a true masterpiece (Doc A). In the paintings, the fact the Renaissance painting is brighter, more realistic and a famous masterpiece, shows that the Renaissance changed the art style into a unique, amazing representation that changed the entire future of art.The paintings from the Renaissance showed that people saw each other differently than before( Doc A). People showed their knowledge of the human body because they made realistic images of people. Since the paintings show realistic bodily structure, it proves how many man had excelled in their understanding of anatomy, and their knowledge has expanded. During the Renaissance man had a much-improved insight on themselves, which is expressed in Shakespearean writing and in the writing of the play, Everyman. They call man noble, and wise( Doc B). This shows that man was gaining confidence in their abilities, as shown in Shakespeare writing when it states, “What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!”(Document B, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare) Therefore, it