The Elizabethan Period and English Renaissance

The English Renaissance was one of the most significant and culture-inspiring periods in English history. Heavy hitting authors spawned major works and scores of plays and poems and books and stories to express their thoughts and ideas. This was also a time period of economic development for England, as it interacted with the continent of Europe more and more. For English teachers around the world, this is the wellspring of English literature: the life and works of William Shakespeare, probably one of the most impactful authors who wrote in the English language. The English Renaissance and Elizabethan Age was the birthplace of modern English as a language, and marked the beginnings of the modern uses of the English tongue (such as the use of certain phrases and slang, and even more modern spellings of words, etc.). In addition to major developments in language, major changes in science, philosophy, art, and music spread across Europe, focusing on a necessary perspective shift from the Middle Ages.

The two anchor texts that we will be using in this unit are two of Shakespeare's most well-written and most popular plays: The Tragedy of MacBeth and The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. Review the notes for these ground-breaking pieces of literature to make sure that you are ready for class. Use the secondary texts for this unit that are linked below; some links to the anchor texts for this unit are available in the Online Texts tab.