Renaissance Pageants Research Paper

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As Shakespeare said, “If music be the food of love, play on” (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night). As Shakespeare compares music to the food of love, new artists and entertainers also felt passionate and wanted to share their beliefs and views through their work. This allowed many forms of entertainment to flourish during the Renaissance. There were fairs where people bought and traded specialty goods, and festivals that had wild celebrations. The Renaissance had parades that celebrated the coming of important people, multiple types of pageants, and paintings with deep meanings. People valued enjoying themselves during the Renaissance as it was an age of appreciating life rather than just getting by and putting food on the table. Entertainment greatly reflected the social values of the Renaissance. Fairs gave people the chance to interact with people from other social classes as well as making normal life a little more exciting. A fair was usually an extension off of the town's weekly market. Smaller fairs had no…show more content…
There are three main types of pageants. The first one is a pantomime pageant where they move to reenact a scene but do not speak. There is also a tableau vivant, or "living painting,". The actors do not speak or move but stand in silence to reenact a scene from ancient history, the bible or mythology. The only one where lines are spoken is called a set piece, recited in the local language. These pageants could take place on a float in a parade or on a fixed stage. Pageants were particularly used to promote ideas and make political announcements as well as entertainment (“Parades and Pageants.”). Pageants were great to promote certain beliefs of a community. By using pageants like a living painting that depicts a scene in the bible, everyone will see it as it passes by on a parade float. They could encourage and enforce new beliefs to the people of their town that have not been re enforced

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