Restoration England
“The Enlightenment”
“The Augustan Age”
“The Neoclassical Period”
“The Age of Reason”
(1660-1800)
Brought out of Civil War
• After ten years and multiple
Civil Wars (1641-1651),
Charles II united England,
Scotland, and Ireland.
• Theater reappeared and
censorship of the arts
vanished.
• Religious persecution
Changes and Titles
• In this time period England went through
a plague, a massive fire across London,
colonialism, the creation and loss of the
American colonies, and a growing middle
class.
• “The Augustan Age” – like Emperor
Augustus of Rome, the Stuart kings
brought peace to their country tired from
warfare. Tired of revolutionaries and
fighting, thus elevating a monarch to a
savior – Oliver Cromwell
• “The Neoclassical Period” – emphasis on
Latin classics and emulating Latin works
to bring around a “new classical” period.
Titles Cont.
• “The Age of Reason” and “The Enlightenment” – asking
“how” instead of “why.” More science and less superstition.
Enlightened progress and attitudes:
• The Scientific Method
• Astronomy
• Hooke and Newton
• Philosophy
Rationalism – reason is the only proper basis for decisions
Materialism – everything is a state of matter
Deism – the “clockmaker” view of religion
The Bloodless Revolution
• Charles II died heirless. His brother James II, a Roman
Catholic, took the throne.
• When James had a son, a Catholic heir, the English
political leaders transferred power to his daughter Mary II.
• Her husband, the Dutch king William III, attacked England
for power in the Glorious (Bloodless) revolution. He and
Mary jointly ruled.
• Factions divided over Catholic James and Protestant
William can still be found today in Northern Ireland.
Theater
• After the ban on theaters during Puritan rule, major
changes took place since Shakespeare’s time:
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Royal patronage for acting companies
Women playing female roles
Unsentimental, unromantic
Witty comedies
Plays for the pampered class and for the ordinary man
Changes in Literature
• Satire: Authors like Pope and Swift wrote to the privileged
class and criticized their lifestyles, using wit as a means of
venting over materialism and corruption. They did not share
the common attitude of the time – smugness and satisfaction
• Journalism: As Pope spoke to the wealthy, journalism spoke
to the middle-class. Not only commenting on society, also
attempting to reform it.
• Poetry: Poetry was not about conveying the soul, it was a
public tool. Elegies and odes served a specific function in
society. Poetry as a matter of precision and wit and nothing
else.
• Novels: The development of the true English novel came from
this period. Women became a large reading market. Most
novels were adventurous with numerous spirited “episodes” –
such as in Robinson Crusoe and Tom Jones.
Alexander Pope
• (1688-1744)
• He “lisped in numbers” as
a child
• Denied education,
deformed, but the
greatest poet of his age
• Early success in essays
and epic poetry
• Satire used for revenge
Jonathan Swift
• Born in Ireland in 1667 – Death 1745
• Suffered from Ménière's disease
• MA from Oxford in 1692
• Became an Anglican priest in 1695
• He was active in the early debates of
the political parties in England—
Whigs and Tories
• Swift is most famous for his satires,
He wanted to make people think
by using humor.
Swift has sailed into his rest.
Savage indignation there
cannot lacerate his breast.
Imitate him if you dare,
world-besotted traveler.
He served human liberty.
-Yeats’ translation of Swift’s epitaph
Gulliver’s Travels and Satire
*Gulliver’s Travels is a parody of the genre of “travel narrative”
*During the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, these tales of
voyages of exploration and colonial adventure were extremely popular:
Christopher Columbus
Amerigo Vespucci
Sir Walter Raleigh
Captain John Smith
*More’s Utopia also parodies the genre, Shakespeare’s The Tempest
invokes the genre, and Candide serves as Gulliver’s French brother
*Travel narratives are often sometimes “utopian”—Book IV of Gulliver’s
Travels also parodies More’s Utopia
Gulliver’s Travels and Satire
Lemuel Gulliver’s four voyages can be seen as a criticism of key European
issues. But just as importantly, it serves as a satirical exploration of
the human condition: What does it mean to be a human being?
The name “Gulliver” suggests that he is “gullible”
Gulliver’s first voyage, to Lilliput:
The diminutive citizens of Lilliput represent human small-mindedness
and petty ambitions.
Filled with selfimportance, the
Lilliputians are
cruel, treacherous,
malicious, & destructive.
Voltaire
• (1694-1778)
• Real name was François-Marie Arouet
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(used at least 178 pen names)
Wrote poetry, polemic fiction, essays,
plays, histories, and over 20,000 letters.
Imprisoned and exiled many times
for his attacks on the government, the
aristocracy, and the Catholic Church.
While exiled to England, Voltaire was
impressed by England’s constitutional monarchy and freedom
of speech. He returned to France, spoke out, and was exiled
again.
Along with Emilie du Chatelet, studied all the great advances
of the Enlightenment.
A freemason buddy of Ben Franklin
Place these locations in order based
on when Candide arrives at them.
(You can all work as a group)
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Paris
Constantinople
Lisbon
Bulgaria
Buenos Aires
Germany
Holland
Paraguay
Venice
El Dorado
Home of the Biglugs
Surinam
Candide sequence of events
Germany
Bulgaria
Holland
Candide is caught
kissing & gets kicked
out by the Baron
Recruited into the
Bulgarian army,
Candide runs away
Saved from hunger
by Jacques.
Pangloss appears.
Lisbon, Portugal
Buenos Aires
Paraguay
Gov. Don Fernando
proposes to
Cunegonde.
Candide flees the
authorities.
Jesuit colonel and
Cunegonde’s bro
killed by Candide,
Escape again
Shipwreck,
earthquake, Pangloss
hung, Cunegonde
found, escape!
Candide sequence of events
Home of the Biglugs
El Dorado
Surinam
Candide and Cacombo
captured, then
celebrated for
killing a Jesuit
Find a utopia,
leave with riches
intending to buy
back Cunegonde
Cacombo leaves,
sheep stolen by
captain, Candide books
passage to France,
meets Martin.
Paris
Venice
Constantinople
Candide sick and
swindled of his
riches many times,
framed by Abbe,
flees to England.
Paquette’s story,
meeting the
pleasure-less count,
& the dethroned kings,
Old friends saved
from servitude,
Cunegonde ugly and
wed, the dervish,
“garden cultivating”
Essay Topics
• 1) Voltaire subtly attacks the theory of progress. What is that theory,
and do we still believe in it? Is it a good belief? Use evidence from
Candide to show Voltaire’s attitude towards the concept.
• 2) To what extent does an optimistic outlook improve or impair
society? To what extent does a pessimistic outlook improve or impair
society? (MUST reference Candide and have a good grasp of history)
• 3) Voltaire was a deist. In a comparison/contrast essay, explain how
we see Voltaire’s deism in Candide and how it differs from the
traditional Catholic/Protestant views depicted in the novel. How does
Voltaire use his belief and satire to criticize the Church?
• 4) Martin claims that people “live either in convulsions of misery or in
the lethargy of boredom.” Do the events of the novel support that
statement? Is one of the two options worse than the other? If what
Martin says is true, what does it imply about the value of social
change and political activism?