The term “Renaissance” means re-birth and refers to the period after the Middle Ages during which a resurgence of interest in classical Roman and Greek culture emerged. Beginning in the mid-14th century in Italy, the Renaissance was a period of re-discovery, which led to a totaly new aproach in many fields such as: phylosophy, art, archtecture politics and social advancement. But its greatest effect and lasting impact, was to be on the arts as a whole. Gradually over time, these new ideas  moved northwards and spread across the rest of Europe eventually reaching britain at a later date. In recent times, critics and literary historians have begun to call this period the “Early Modern” period, but here we shall retain the historically familiar term “Renaissance.” This period is often subdivided into four distinct periods, which get their names from the rulers at the time. The Elizabethan period, the Jacobean period during the reign of James the 1st, the Caroline age that covers the reign of Charles the 1st with authors such as John Milton, and lastly the Commonwealth period between the end of the English Civil War and the restoration of the Stuart monarchy. This beeing the brief period in which Oliver Cromwell and Puritan led Parliament ruled the nation. It is to be noted, that during this period public theaters were closed (nearly two decades) in order to prevent public assemblies and combat moral and religious transgressions. Playwrights and drama on the whole, were severly impacted during this period but on the other hand more politically orientated writters such as John Milton and Thomas Hobbes were able to affirm themselves. This was also to be a prolific period for prose writters such as Thomas Fuller, Abraham Cowley and others. But here we shall focus on what many consider to be the golden age of drama; or rather the Elizabethan age. I’ts most noteworthy playwrights being William Shakespeare and Cristopher Marlowe.