During the mid-14th century, the Black Death was rampant. The church, being a state of God, did not know how to cure these people, causing disillusionment in those who came to them in need, asking why God was killing their family and friends. This caused many to turn away from the Church and look inward instead, leading to the birth of an extremely influential humanist movement. It was through these changes within their society that theater was able to transform and blossom into an act of freedom, a means by which society and the state could be critiqued, a way to offer spectators an avenue of escape from their hard labyrinthine work.