The Limits of Desire in the 16th Century

The Limits of Desire in the 16th Century

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Monique Dean

Dr. Debra Watkins

June 17, 2013

The Limits of Desire in the 16th Century

Desire and limitations with society have been present from the start of when man and woman to Jennifer Lopez and getting together with important men to drive her social not to mention professional status as high as possible. Desires for almost anything you can think of have made humans sacrifice important things in life; jobs, love, and family bonding time to name a few. Society has played a part in the existence of what desires we, as humans, are allowed to have whether it is life, love, religion, or brain power.

A recent story portrayed social existence and social networking going all the way back to the 16th and 17th centuries. Individuals wanted to make sure that their status was known, secret clubs were formed, and life was still about people that you knew and the best way to get your foot in the door. The social society desire was not popular compared to today’s trends; such as Facebook, Twitter, and blogs but they used different means to show their status and each status had its own limitations placed on them. According to the research of Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL) in London, England the concept has been linked as far back as the 16th century within the academies of the Italian culture. The scholars of that time allowed individuals to think up and use nicknames for each person, they then created an emblem that reflected their outlook or their nickname, and then mottos were created for different groups and this information would be exchanged through different routes.

The Royal Holloway in the University of London joined with the British Library to produce analysis of 16th century works that portrayed a desire to separate themselves from others, a desire for knowledge, and a desire for social acceptance. There individuals created the groups throughout the Italian literature and they were a...