Humanism Drama

Definition of Humanism Drama

The term drama comes from a Greek word meaning draomai, which is derived from to do, force, act, and react. Thus, drama means that actions. Drama is art depicting nature and human behavior and should give birth to the human will to action and behavior. The enactment of drama is theater, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a collective form of reception. Drama or theater is a show that happens in the human world.

The history of the term humanism is complex but enlightening. It was first employed (as humanismus) by 19th-century German scholars to designate the Renaissance emphasis on Classical studies in education. These studies were pursued and endorsed by educators known, as early as the late 15th century, as umanisti that is, professors or students of Classical literature. Renaissance humanism in all its forms defined itself in its straining toward this ideal. No discussion of humanism, therefore, can have validity without an understanding of humanitas.

Humanitas meant the development of human virtue, in all its forms, to its fullest extent. The term thus implied not only such qualities as are associated with the modern word humanity, understanding, benevolence, compassion, mercy, but also such more aggressive characteristics as fortitude, judgment, prudence, eloquence, and even love of honour. The purview of Renaissance humanism included not only the education of the young but also the guidance of adults (including rulers) via philosophical poetry and strategic rhetoric. It included not only realistic social criticism but also utopian hypotheses, not only painstaking reassessments of history but also bold reshapings of the future. In short, humanism called for the comprehensive reform of culture, the transfiguration of what humanists termed the passive and ignorant society of the dark ages into a new order that would reflect and encourage the grandest human potentialities. Humanism had an evangelical dimension: it sought to project humanitas from the individual into the state at large.

Therefore, humanism may be accurately defined as that Renaissance movement that had as its central focus the ideal of humanitas. The narrower definition of the Italian term umanisti notwithstanding, all the Renaissance writers who cultivated humanitas, and all their direct “descendants,” may be correctly termed humanists.Thus, humanism drama is the drama about the development of human virtue, in all its forms, to its fullest extent.

References

Endraswara, Suwardi. (2011). Metodologi Penelitian Sastra. Jakarta: PT Buku.

Grendler, Paul F. Georg Voigt: Historian of Humanism. Humanism and Creativity in the Renaissance: Essays. Honor of Ronald G. Witt.

Hasanudin. (1996). Drama Karya dalam Dua Dimensi, Kajian Teori, Sejarah, dan Anlaisis. Bandung: Angkasa.

Johnson, Paul. (2002). The Renaissance. Modern Library Chronicles. New York: Modern Library.

Kristeller, Paul Oskar. (1979). Renaissance Thought and its Sources. Columbia University Press