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Baldassare Castiglione's The Book Of The Courtier

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Since the beginning of time, humans have had an innate desire for stability and order. This very inclination led to the creation of civilization itself. Most of, if not all civilizations have had social hierarchies and systems that defined the everyday of life of its citizens. An excellent example of this is Renaissance-era Europe. Organized social structures with an emphasis on wealth and family lines dominated society in that era. Baldassare Castiglione’s work The Book of the Courtier is an excellent insight not only into this society, but beyond that as well. The Book of the Courtier exemplifies the different roles for men and women in Renaissance-era Europe and has many applications to the modern world. The Book of the Courtier was written in 1528, during the height of one of Europe’s golden ages: The Renaissance. This was a period of rebirth for the sciences, literature, architecture, philosophy, and education for Europe …show more content…

As the conversations between the Duke and his servants in The Book of the Courtier demonstrate, skill, a concerted effort, and a good education go a long way in increasing your social stature. Nonetheless, this doesn't mean that if you tried very hard to become more wealthy and elite that it would always have fruitful results; it was still very dependent on who you were related to and their prestige. In addition to these factors, another key component of European society was your gender. Men and women had different expectations at the time, as Castiglione points out. Men were supposed to be bold, reasonably proud, and audacious, as well as well-versed in the humanities. These skill sets played a large part in determining your social status in European society. On the other hand, women were expected to be reserved, modest, witty, and like their male counterparts, familiar with the arts. These roles were the foundation of the European elite during the

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