Can you call William Shakespeare a humanist?

Answer 1

Yes, he did because he encouraged individuality, and he was and independent thinker. He wrote plays that emphasized Humanism by showing that humans are important and they have lives. Some of these plays are "Romeo and Juliet", "Midsummer Night Dreams", and also "Hamlet and Macbeth". But he had his downside, he encourages things like suicide romance and such. My advice is read and enjoy his stories, but DO NOT live them.:)

Answer 2

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was an English dramatist who is considered to be the greatest writer in the English language, and the greatest dramatist ever. It is easy to know who Shakespeare was. It is not so easy to know what a humanist is or was, because it is a word with many meanings. Some of them, such as the idea that a humanist is someone interested in people, a student of human nature or affairs, are so vague that they could apply to anyone, Shakespeare included. Who isn't interested in human nature and affairs? On the other hand, some meanings are very specific, as, for example, the name of a philosophical school in the Renaissance which was opposed to the medieval scholasticism of St. Thomas Aquinas, and turned to Greek and (especially) Roman authors for intellectual guidance rather than the Church Fathers. This does not, of course, apply to Shakespeare, who had "small Latin and less Greek" but might apply to some of his contemporary playwrights, particularly Ben Jonson. The idea of a humanist as a scholar, especially a classical one, also does not apply to Shakespeare. A more modern concept of a humanist as someone who founds his philosophy on scientific or rational grounds, also is a poor fit for Shakespeare, especially the later Shakespeare. It is difficult to imagine someone devoted to the rational and scientific creating the Tempest, with its magician, air spirit, magical illusions, and half-man half-fish.

Answer 3

Yes, if you like. You can also call him a lobster if you like.