As the Renaissance emerged in Italy during the 14th century, so did the fundamental characteristics of this era. These include humanism, individuals, secularism, and a fascination with antiquity. The literature of Niccolo Machiavelli, Francesco Petrarch, and Baldassare Castiglione demonstrates how these characteristics impacted the citizens of Italy, and how they helped shape the Italian Renaissance that we learn of today.
As one example of literature containing the principal characteristics of the Italian Renaissance, Machiavelli’s The Prince describes his political beliefs as to how a prince should behave. Machiavelli’s literature in many ways illustrates humanism and individualism, which were present during the Italian Renaissance. An example…show more content… In this book, Castiglione claims that one must be extremely virtuous in all fields, yet demonstrate this knowledge with grace and ease. He goes on to say a courtier of his liking would be skilled in combat, speech, music, popular games, and so forth. His literature shows how widely skilled a man of the renaissance was expected to be , demonstrating greatly the amount of individualism there was present during the Italian Renaissance. Likewise, a smaller portion of The Book of the Courtier is dedicated to what is expected of a woman. In this portion, Castiglione says, “Many faculties of the mind are as necessary to woman as to man; likewise gentle birth, to avoid affectation, to be naturally graceful in all her doings, to be mannerly, clever, prudent, not arrogant, not envious, not slanderous, not vain, not quarrelsome, not silly…” As the list continues, Castiglione provides a great example of what is asked of women during the Italian Renaissance. Women are expected to be even more graceful and beautiful than a man. With that said, Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier shows how individualism truly did impact everyone during the Italian