The Enlightenment – so named because it describes the philosophic, rational, and scientific spirit of the age

Neo-Classicism – (New Classics) – because this period attempted the recapture the spirit of ancient classical thinking and literature
The Age of Reason – because Reason was the prevailing idea of the period
The Augustan period – this name is primarily used when referring to English writers (Pope, Swift,
Addison, Steele) who imitated the literature of the time of Roman Emperor Augustus (Virgil,
Horace, Ovid)

• Reason
Humans are limited and not capable of understanding all the truths of the universe.
To accept this is to be REASONABLE.
• Order
There is an inherent order in all things, including the physical world and human nature.
Hierarchies are part of the natural order.

• Stability
Nature is permanent and unchanging.
Ancient people have the same basic nature as contemporary people.
• The General or Universal
Individualism or uniqueness are not valued in people.
Standards of correct reason and taste are the same for all people.

John Locke NOT this
John Locke
THIS John
Locke www.redzeppelin
.org
gustavus.edu
From An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
• If by this inquiry into the nature of the understanding, I can discover the powers thereof; how far they reach; to what things they are in any degree proportionate; and where they fail us, I suppose it may be of use to prevail with the busy mind of man to be more cautious in meddling with things exceeding its comprehension; to stop when it is at the utmost extent of its tether; and to sit down in a quiet ignorance of those things which, upon examination, are found to be beyond the reach of our capacities.
• Our business here is not to know all things, but those which concern our conduct. If we can find out those measures, whereby a rational creature, put in that state in which man is in this world, may and ought to govern his opinions, and actions depending thereon, we need not to be troubled that some other things escape our knowledge.

• Lots of War in Europe
France – The Thirty Years War (1618-1648)
Complicated, but the nutshell version is, German protestant princes from France, Sweden, England, Denmark, and other places were fighting against the Holy Roman Empire and the German Catholic nobility.
England – Civil War and the Commonwealth Period (1642-1660)
Charles I beheaded, a Commonwealth government takes over, and
England is without a monarch www.pegc.us

• So, both England and France experienced long periods of chaos
• When the war in France and the
Commonwealth Period in England came to an end, people were ready for order, and this need for order – based on REASON – is translated into the ideas of Enlightenment literature

faculty.ucc.edu
• Louis XIV – The Sun King
– While there was a lot of disorder in his own court in the form of debauchery, Louix XIV was responsible for much of the neo-classical thinking and art of the Enlightenment
– The French Academy of Sciences established
– There is a shift in religious thinking from a spiritual or theological basis to a rational basis
– John Locke – rights of natural man based on natural laws
– Education became more attainable http://www.sil.si.edu/imagegalaxy/imageGalaxy_ enlarge.cfm?id_image=5355

www.britannica.com
• The Restoration period (1660-1700) –
Restoration of the monarchy. With the puritans no longer in control, the “reign of the flesh” set in.
• Charles II returns from exile in France and takes the throne
• Charles II was a Catholic King who concealed his religious sympathies for the sake of his protestant subject. The English were glad for his homecoming because a king meant they could have order, peace, and freedom again (stability). Charles had
French companions and tastes, and his court was much like that of Louis XIV. He also insisted on the rules of French Neo-
Classical literature.

• The Royal Society is founded in 1662, with much the same purpose as the French
Academy
• The National Observatory is founded in
Greenwhich www.ast.cam.ac.uk

• 1685 – James II (brother of Charles II) becomes king.
He promoted Catholicism and the English began to worry about a future controlled by a succession of
Catholic monarchs. James II was deposed during the
Glorious Revolution in 1688 (glorious because it was swift and relatively non-violent), and he fled to France.
• 1689 – William of Orange becomes king. He was married to Mary, the daughter of James II (the second college in America was named after this couple).
William is a protestant, so the people relax a little.

• 1702 – Queen Anne takes the throne. She is James II’s youngest daughter, and she will be the last Catholic monarch in Britain. The Act of Settlement in 1701 settled succession of the British crown on protestant descendents of the family – the House of Honover, a
German protestant royal family.
• From which we got:
George I – 1714
George II – 1727
And George III – 1760-1820 (sometimes referred to in
American history books as Crazy King George)

• The American Revolution (and the French
Revolution) occur during the reign of George
III. The Enlightenment Period will begin to close with these revolutions. What
Enlightenment ideas are in conflict with the ideas of these revolutions?

• Emphasized powers of the mind
• Looked to Roman classical authors as models of form and simplicity of style
• Believed the purposes of literature were to delight and instruct
• Contained attacks on metaphysics, abstraction, and the theoretical sciences
• Rejected the whims of fashion

The neo-classical elements of form in Tartuffe
- use of the Heroic Couplet
- strict observance of the classical unities
- Satire

Iambic pentameter in pairs of rhyming lines, continuous throughout a poem
(Iamb = two syllable foot with unstressed syllable followed by stressed syllable. Five iambic feet make iambic pentameter)
U/U/U/U/U/

Unity of time
The action presented in the play should span the time it takes to perform the play.
Unity of place
All of the action occurs in the same place or within close proximity.
Unity of action
The play contains one, single plot.

• Definition: The use of humor to censor or expose human frailty (vice, pretentiousness, etc.)
• Moliere on the satire in Tartuffe: “As the duty of comedy is to correct men by amusing them, I believed that in my occupation I could do nothing better than attack the vices of my age by making them ridiculous…”
• The purpose of satire is not to make you laugh at your neighbor when you see his or her vices depicted on stage (or in reading a piece of satire), but to make you identify your own vices and change them.

• Emphasis on reason
Presented through subject of religion
Religious fanaticism is unreasonable, as is aetheism.
Both represent, for Moliere, extreme positions.
Cleante and Dorine serve as voices of reason in the play
I.5.81-87, I.1.103-116, V.1.35-48

• Attack on institutional religion
Why do Orgon and his mother trust Tartuffe so completely? (because he dresses like a priest [a representative of the institutional church] and looks to be praying, so he must be pious?
Religious rhetoric can present an incontestable answer to every question, denying any contradiction – Moliere is concerned with the corruptive potential in this.
IV.5.98-110, I.5.68-75
DISCERNMENT prevents abuse of religion

• Emphasis on what can be empirically proven
Orgon and his mother are foolish because they ignore clear evidence of Tartuffe’s hypocrisy
Discernment is necessary is judging what is seen (Orgon sees prayer and believes it proves Tartuffe’s piety)

• Faith in the monarchy (Enlightenment emphasis on order)
King derives supreme authority from divine appointment
In his realm, the king is acting for God
Therefore, to disobey the king is to disobey God
As God’s representative, the king is not authorized to rule unjustly
Therefore, like Orgon, the king must exercise discernment to run his kingdom well

• God = King = Father
• Humans = Subjects = spouse and children
The Universal Order (chain of being)
God
Angels
Hierarchy of Angels
Humans
Hierarchies of Humans
Animals
Insects
Single celled organisms

• Deus ex machina (L. God from the machine)
The introduction of a god or other personage in a play, usually by a mechanical contrivance, in order to untangle the plot.