Category: Blog Assignments

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Percy Bysshe Shelley, the intellectual Beauty of the Nature, Mont Blanc

I read the chapter of “Sisters” from the book “Young Romantics” by Daisy Hay. The chapter talked about the relationship between Mary Shelley, the second wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley and her sisters Claire and Fanny through their own stories and stories of others.

Percy Bysshe Shelley was first married with Harriet Westbrook, a poet, in 1811. Shelley then fell in love with Mary Shelley, an English novelist who finally became his second wife. He eloped with Mary and abandoned Harriet during her second pregnancy and left her in great misery. She was under great pressure and decided to end her life while pregnant with her baby with an unknown father. Although she left her suicide note to Shelley and begged him to leave their children to her sister Eliza, her last wish was not granted at the end.

Claire Clairmont is the step sister of Mary. She was with Mary during her elopement with Shelley. Claire soon fell in love with Shelley too. She envied Mary’s relationship with Shelley and the life she had with him. Mary, of course, did not want to share her love with Shelley with her step sister. Claire left with a broken heart but she did not lose her passion for love and kept seeking for a relationship with others. Later, she set her eye on Lord Byron, a poet and politician. Byron’s wife left him because of his immoral care and love for his half-sister Augusta Leigh. Claire targeted the wounded man and started writing to him. Finally, they met in London and started their relationship. She quickly fell in love with him while Byron was cold with her after the novelty has passed.

In order to improve the relationship with Byron, Claire introduced Byron to Shelley, whom had been admired by Byron for some time. Both men recognized and respected each other’s talent and quickly became good friends. They spent time together at a small chalet named Montalegre which was owned by Shelley at the shore of a lake. Their friendship grew fast. Byron suggested that everyone should write a ghost story, which was the inspiring point when Mary started to develop the idea for Frankenstein. Shelley played a key role in the development of Frankenstein and acted as Mary’s editor and agent. Because of the immoral and dishonorable relationship between Shelley and Mary, their work of Frankenstein was first condemned and censured. However, when Frankenstein had been published, it proved that they worked so well together and they gained their respect back from the public.

Mary had a conversation with Shelley and Byron about the idea for the beginning of her novel, Frankenstein. She shared the reading and conversations into poetry. Shelley, Mary and Claire travelled to Chamouni, the village from which intrepid tourists could explore the Mont Blanc glacier. Mont Blanc later became the title of one of his most famous poems. Actually, the conversation with Byron about the first generation of Romantic poets had influenced Shelley’s poem, “Mont Blanc”, in which he rewrote Coleridge’s conception of a Christian sublime, which was transformed into a symbol of the limits of human knowledge.

When they returned from Charmouni, Claire found out that she was pregnant with a child conceived with Byron. As soon as Shelley learnt about her pregnancy, he took on responsibility for her. He helped Claire to negotiate with Byron about the baby’s future. Unfortunately, these negotiations disrupted the friendship between them. Claire realized there was a gap of social status difference between she and Byron. Finally, they all agreed that Byron would send for the child when it was old enough to leave its mother and that Claire would have the right to see it when she desired. Although this arrangement seems to be weirdly vague, it was better than Byron’s first suggestion which asked Augusta, his half-sister to handle Claire’s baby. After Byron admitted to Claire, his immoral relationship with Augusta, Claire was totally disappointed and left London with Mary and Shelley with her broken heart.

Fanny Imlay is another half-sister of Mary. They sent letters to each other often. In Fanny’s last two letters to Mary, she described and accounted England’s state as ‘evil’ and ‘misery’ and cried out for help to fix Godwin family’s financial problem. However, Shelley refused to help. Fanny accused Shelley as being irresponsible. She was deeply melancholic and depressed. She killed herself with an overdose of laudanum. Her last letter to Godwin was somehow torn by someone, to avoid the signature off and thus a formal identification of the body. The Godwins were spared of the humiliation of having their daughter publicly named as suicide without the signature on. Since there was no identification of the body, Funny’s body was interred in an unmarked grave after the inquest.

Leigh Hunt, an agoraphobia English critic, a poet and a writer. He published the ‘Story of Rimini’ which is the tale of Rimini, Francesca, who was trapped in a passionless marriage and finds solace in the arms of her brother-in-law, Paulo. When Hunt wrote the story, he was actually having, his sister-in-law, Bess Hunt, living in their house. The tale somehow implies the relationship between he and Bess. On the other hand, he emphasized that his wife, Marianne Hunt, who had helped him to overcome his agoraphobia was the love of his life. He said that both women are essential to his happiness while he ignored how cruel he was to both Marianne and Bess. His tale soon became subject of public comment and so did the relationship between he and Bess.

When Hunt’s family was in a desperate financial situation, he wrote an article called “Young Poets” and published by The Examiner. The article drew the attention of three young writers, including John Keats, John Hamilton Reynolds and Shelley. Shelley had retained his respect for Hunt at the beginning. Later Hunt wrote to Shelley to draw this attention to “Young Poets” and mentioned his financial distress in the letter. Shelley then sent a substantial amount of money to help him out of his difficulties. This has become a juncture of their friendship.

After the death of his first wife, Harriet, Shelley wanted to claim his two children back from the Westbrook family. The Westbrooks refused and both sides began to prepare for a custody battle in the courts. That time, Hunt gave Shelley constant source of support. Their friendship was strengthened by crisis and adversity and reinforced his confidence to win the custody of his children.

From the Chapter, Mary seemed to be indifferent to her half sisters. They were not closed and did not have much affection for each other. Shelley did not show much concern for the two sisters too though he took up the negotiation with Byron after learning about her pregnancy. The Chapter tells stories of the sisters and Hunt and Bess but does not seem to any link to the analysis of the poem “Mont Blanc”.

The poem “Mont Blanc” was composed after Shelley’s journey with Mary and Claire. The idea of “Mont Blanc” came from a conception of a Christian sublime which refers to a symbol of the limits of human knowledge. Shelley praised human knowledge as the intellectual beauty of nature of the Mont Blanc. In his poem, he wrote, “The everlasting universe of things / Flows through the mind, and rolls its rapid waves, / Now dark—now glittering—now reflecting gloom— / Now lending splendour, where from secret springs / The source of human thought its tribute brings / Of water”. This canto implies that human knowledge contributes to human’s exploration of more unknown things in the universe. This knowledge, as the biggest secret of human technique, might bring a brighter, darker or vaguer future to human but human could do nothing else without this.

Shelley also uses “Mont Blanc” to describe the beauty of human’s life cycle from birth to death, as the intellectual sounds and views its power of nature. “Mont Blanc yet gleams on high:- the power is there, / The still and solemn power of any sights, / And many sounds, and much of life and death.” The word “power” is referred as the beauty of human knowledge and transformed into the symbol of the Christian sublime.

Question:

  • Why would Shelley send a large amount of money to help Hunt instead of Godwin family?
  • What is the meaning of “Christian sublime”?
  • What do you think about the relationship of Bess, Marianne and Hunt?
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Gillen D’Arcy Wood, “The Year Without a Summer” a Year of “Darkness”, Lord Byron

Mt Tambora Information Graphic

The Wrath of Mt. Tambora

A very poignant phrase that begins this article goes as followed “To be alive in the years 1816-1818, almost anywhere in the world, meant to be hungry.” Even though it was named “A year without a summer.” The duration of the effects of the centralized disaster felt around the world lasted approximately for three years starting in 1815. It was considered a weather crisis. Agriculture failed, nothing was growing from the ground and what did grow was often washed away through terrible flooding throughout many regions. People ate what they found or stayed their hunger by eating things that had no nutritional value, for example, peasants in Yunnan, China would suck on white clay. Imagine sucking on chalk because there was nothing else. It was rough not only ecologically but financially, sociologically, and economically. Despite this there were a few bright spots that would turn out to be the most enduring discoveries and advancements to this day.

Firstly, what caused this 3-year period of darkness? In the time between 1815-1818 the global climate was deteriorating rapidly before bouncing back like it never happened. On April 10, 1815 Mount Tambora volcano erupted on the island of Sambawa in the Dutch East Indies in what is now known as Indonesia. It was the most notable volcano event in recorded history as well as having the largest eruption in the past 10,000 years. It spewed approximately 43 kilometers, that’s 26.7 miles of gases and ash upwards into the stratosphere and had fallout of approximately 1300 kilometer, 807.8 miles out into the distance. The entirety of Indonesia and the East India regions were under cover of darkness. It The eruption created sulfate gases that formed into an aerial dust cloud that created a massive debris fall of 100 cubic kilometers, which is the visual equivalent of 40,000 times as big as The Great Pyramid of Giza. It not only obscured the sun over Indonesia but continued to circle the earth and cause a great disruption over weather patterns and weather precipitation for the next few years. Average temperatures also fell by a margin between 3°F and 6°F degrees. In Indonesia alone, the direct impact caused 90,000 deaths, the highest in volcano related deaths.

Major Changes Bring Major Pains

Mt. Tambora altered history for many people. The 3-year long food crisis was a weakening blow to colonization efforts, giving way to local revolts against western influences, piracy, and slavery. It disrupted the monsoons that created the condition for typhus and cholera which itself spread throughout Bengal in 1817 and further across the entire globe, becoming an epidemic that killed millions. It spread so far due to the massive migrations of people in search for land and food within distant nations. In China There was a revolt against the Qing Dynasty that was the catalyst for the opium trade to begin in Yunnan and later poppy production became a popular marketable venture. In Western Europe many people were displaced from their native homes and or invaded their neighbors in Russian or headed further out to America. This time was not without adventure as there was a huge rush toward the North Pole when it was discovered the ice caps were melting and artic exploration became a distraction for many enterprising people in the nineteenth century. Farmers in North America left for more promising prospects in Ohio, Pennsylvania and the Midwest which became a major agricultural leader for the U.S.A and the Atlantic world. You can imagine the price of staple foods like rice were much higher than what many could afford.

Poor climate conditions lead to poor agriculture. Image Courtesy of the Smithsonian Magazine.

This bleak picture of the period is not without a silver lining. Amidst the homelessness, diseases, famine, death and despair there were political and healthcare reforms happening in Ireland, humanitarian efforts taking place in France where authorities helped maintain the affordability of bread during the food shortages despite the tense relationship between the citizens and those in rulership post Napoleon’s rule, and many others who followed suit in the reforms of those in political powers as they realized and rekindled their responsibility towards those of the lower classes. Although it is the lower classes who took the brunt of the disaster and of whom we do not have sufficient recorded materials to adequately analyze the scale of this three-year event. The upper classes in contrast, left plenty behind for historians to pour over because the upper class was both educated and literate. These records took many forms most often in the romantic literary genre that would describe the atmosphere and the sentiments during that time, often disguised within a story. Other times not disguised at all. Many such stories would bloom from this crisis. One such is in the form of a poem aptly named “Darkness” written by Lord Byron.

Visual Depiction of Lord Byron

Of Poems and Dreams, of Nightmares in Scenes

Lord Byron was an aristocrat and a traveling companion to Mary Shelley and he wrote this poem after experiencing a particularly dark day when on any normal day it should have been sunny outside. The poem is about dreaming of a dream that turns out to be a living nightmare. During such a dream listlessness takes hold of men and they forget themselves and what drives them, spending their time praying for the light to return. Time seems to have been lost in a never-ending cycle, especially when they are hardly able to see the sun in the sky. A desolate time where watchfires were your only source of light and heat in the cold. Anything flammable was used to keep the fires going. Furnishings were fuel as well as parts of your home. Whole cities were smoldering for warmer days. There was no resolution in sight for those who survived the aftermath of the volcano. Regular food was scarce, and people took to eating once considered wild game such as birds and snakes alike. I did find the part about snakes quite interesting and it reminded me a bit of Paradise Lost.

“/…/the wild birds shriek’d
And, terrified, did flutter on the ground,
And flap their useless wings; the wildest brutes
Came tame and tremulous; and vipers crawl’d
And twin’d themselves among the multitude,
Hissing, but stingless—they were slain for food.”

The snakes twining itself around the helpless flightless birds who are unable to fly are both “punished” by a hungry human. This part stood out during my second time reading the poem. Byron also wrote of war that ceased. Who has the vigor to fight on an empty stomach? It was a moment where all earth was one in thought and direction driven by the single purpose of hunger. Where there was no master over beasts and the beasts became the masters out of sheer survival instinct. Dogs were turning on their masters, famine, a different kind of beast, was consuming the flesh of the people and those that escaped its emaciating grasp would fall dead in their tracks. Dread sails forth from the following words.

“/…/The world was void,
The populous and the powerful was a lump,
Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless—
A lump of death—a chaos of hard clay.”

Although I find this next line to be the most striking on several levels.

“Darkness had no need
Of aid from them—She was the Universe.”

Not only does it refer to the climate crisis, but it can also refer to the fact that the universe is actually a deep expense of black and just is. There’s no sense in fighting the universe it will continue to be and doesn’t need help to do what it is there to do. The universe could also refer to the Earth itself as the self-regulating entity it is and all they could do was wait it out in the hopes that things went back to how they were which they did. It’s almost like the Earth had major cold for 3 years and was congested and stuck in the bed of space suffering from hot flashes and the chills that took a long time to heal.

  1. What would you do if we were in a three-year food shortage?
  2. Are we adequately prepared to handle such a disaster today?
  3. What stood out to you while reading “Darkness”?

 

Work Cited

Wood, Gillen D’Arcy. “1816, The Year without a Summer.” BRANCH: Britain, Representation and Nineteenth-Century History. Ed. Dino Franco Felluga. Extension of Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net. Web. March 06, 2018.

To Learn more about what happened with Mt. Tambora do visit the Smithsonian Magazine.

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Anya Taylor, “Coleridge’s ‘Christabel’ and the Phantom Soul”

“Christabel” is a juxtaposition of characters and gender roles of which are at play. Christabel is motherless at birth and represents the common downfall of females that have little to no support and are eager to obey. Christabel prays in the woods in relation to the dream she had the night before about marriage, during her ritual Geraldine intervenes by asking for her aid. Geraldine is the daughter of a nobleman and a victim of kidnapping coincidentally situated where Christabel was praying. This brings all of Christabel’s attention to escorting Geraldine back to her home.

Geraldine spends the night in Christabel’s night and both individuals spend time discussing their personal backgrounds. Christabel reveals to Geraldine the death of her mother at birth as Geraldine sympathizes and wishes her mother was here now too. Geraldine uses this moment to infiltrate the emotions of Christabel and asserts her that her prayers will repay the kindness that was shown to her. As Christabel undressed and  readys herself to sleep although she is unsuccessful due to worries about Geraldine. It’s as if a supernatural spell was put onto Christabel to accept Geraldine’s presence. Later in the morning Sir Leoline the widower, is introduced to Geraldine. In fact Sir Leoline was close aquantices with “Lord Roland de Vaux of Tryermaine” who is the father to Geraldine. Although the boyhood friendship didn’t end in good terms this opportunity to aid Geraldine was the perfect opportunity to mend it. Geraldine asks to be escorted back to her home although this becomes a dilemma as “Bracy” the bard has dreams of Christabel as a bird being strangled by a green snake. Sir Leoline chooses to disobey his own daughter’s wishes in order to execute the wishes of Geraldine, an individual who he has just met.

Coleridge’s main theme of this play explores the vulnerability of motherless women. The author was able to bring light to the life of females that he encountered during his period. If we recall Wollstonecrafts “Vindication of the Rights of Women” we explore a similar theme of women at a young age treated superficially and were taught to accept a man made hierarchy between males and females. Although, the power of “reason” is what creates us equal in the ability to decide what is best for our own self interests. Why do women have to prove their capabilities in this era? Do the insecurities of men encourage their defiance against feminism? These are still relevant questions society is trying to comprehend. Another motif Coleridge explores is the supernatural realm, particulary in reference to Milton’s “Paradise Lost” and the story of Adam and Eve. Geraldine puts Christabel under a spell the first night of their encounter with  sinful intent. Whilst Geraldine is amist her prayers the two see eachother naked and sleep in the same bed, this causes us to question the corruptiveness qualities attached to Geraldine. She continues to persuade Christabel in believing that a spell is in control of her, the reader may infer that this evil spirit is possibly Geraldine. After Christabel introduces Geraldine to her father, Sir Leoline is asked to escort Geraldine back home on the very day Bracy the bard dreamed of Christabel’s own demise. A vision so vivid of her as an “ailing bird” being strangled by a serpent just as in Milton’s “Paradise Lost.’

Sir Leoline is conflicted in deciding to help his own daughter or agree to the wishes of Geraldine. Leoline’s decision to nullify his daughter’s decision represents the threat of a charming lady such as Geraldine in the presence of a widower. Coleridge is pointing readers to question the roles of women in society and “fear” their power over decision making. The supernatural is a reacurring theme in “Christabel” and more specifically witch like qualities that Geraldine posseses can suggest that Christabel may just be dreaming of this figure. The “fall of grace” in Adam and Eve can be correlated as to when Christabel is praying in the woods. She tends to Geraldine as she stands helpless in the “Garden of Eden” enabling her to deceive Christabel with a false disguise of purity.  

Anya Taylor focuses on the vulnerability of both characters especially at the beginning of their interactions (Page 712.)”It is certainly true that Christabel assertively wills her own adventure up to line 230. She leaves the castle at midnight of her own will. She is not prevented by guards or nurses from leaving the walls and going alone into a deep forest. She is left alone to do as she wishes; no one notices her absence or cares for her, despite the tag “whom her father loves so well” (line 24). As Christabel is seen praying for the knight of her dreams we acknowledge further her sense of loneliness. Mixed with the sudden fasle presence of purity and helplessness (Geraldine) a disaster was bound to occur. Anya Taylor mentions that Coleridge’s attempt to progress the feminist movement may not be his only motive but to provide readers with a “thought experiment” [Page 708] enabling numerous theories to be viable. Anya states on [Page 708], “The poem narrates incidents in the emotional life of a young woman; it shows her acting and being acted upon; its segments— written at different times—circle backwards to address questions that had been left unanswered. The poem, part of Coleridge’s lifelong meditation on the vulnerabilities of will and agency, is in many ways a female version of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”

 

  1. Do you think feminism is the sole theme of Christabel? Or are there several motifs to explore?
  2. Are the works of Coleridge and that of Wollstonecraft’s relatable?
  3. What do you think helped influenced Sir Leoline’s decision to betray his own daughter?
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Mary Wollstonecraft, A vindication of rights of women [1792]

     During the eighteenth and nineteenth century, If  women were reasoning  if there is any way they can live independently or live equally as men, then people in modern society would not have to question or distinguish the male and female from getting equal rights. This is a good thought to ponder as it is elaborates in the discussion we have for both men and women in today’s society and in the past history as people lived by. A Vindication of Rights of Women written by Mary Wollstonecraft.  Mary Wollstonecraft is a powerful tolerant writer and she was known for the world’s best feminist author. She struggled all her life mostly living independently. She traveled all around the globe and helped almost all of her friends and families when they sought for help. She developed her intellectual by making the right choices by herself. This is the reason why she wanted women to  live independently and be able to use their brain for the right things to show the society what they are capable of.  Her works of literature is mostly on the radical ideas that generally discusses the equality and inequality.

     The author has argued throughout the reading to emphasize the three main points. First, she gave reasoning to help overcome the prejudice where most men lack it. Second, she mentioned that the people who have the virtue are the ones that are better than who does not have the virtue. She said that because she was attempting to convey to the readers that both men and women have equal virtue. The final point that she stated is that people gained knowledge by the process of overcoming from their emotion and passion. She has interprets these three points in the whole text by giving descriptive and examples of each. Mary stated “Rousseau declares that a woman should never, for a moment, feel herself independent, that she should be governed by fear to exercise her natural cunning, and made a coquettish slave in order to render her a more alluring object of desire, a sweeter companion to man, whenever he chooses to relax himself”. (2.24) This means that Rousseau still believe that women should always obey the men in order to ask for what women want. One can relates this quotation with the first point where she mentioned that most men are lacking the idea of “to help overcome prejudice. Later in the text, Mary has disagreed with Rousseau’s point of view as she thinks that both men and women should live equally. She argues to his thought that women have the same intellectual as men do. She believes that measuring one’s physical strength does not dignify your full strength as a human being. She even argued that body strength is so unnecessary in modern society that people has look down on it. She said one can measure themselves by the virtue of morality and having education which lead them to succeed. To support this thought, she stated “It follows then, I think, that from their infancy women should either be shut up like eastern princes, or educated in such a manner as to be able to think and act for themselves.” (3.30) This interprets as that the purpose of this education is so that people can control their emotion by strengthening their reason, unlike animals.

     In the reading called A vindication of Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft, author uses “women and femininity” as the main theme of the text to show the readers how they should treat women and how women’s mind are just capable of reason and virtue as men. An example of this theme as author said ““I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.”(page 5) This shows that the author does not want to reverse the concept of the inequality of men and women, but rather she wants women to have the rights as equal as men do. She also said if women does not get educated, then it will be difficult for their children to grow intellectually. Indeed, men are just afraid to give women their equal rights because men believe that women will try to take over all the power and will reverse the concept of inequality. Also, the tone of the text is that the author loves the word reason as she wrote it with the capital “R”. She also has referred to men as masculine and women as feminist. She was favoring more of women than men because she already knows that men already have enough power to raise their voice but women do not as women fear their emotion. If women are well enough to be educated, then they would not have to be afraid to speak up for their voice. Men would easily know how tough it will be for them to speak to a woman who would bring a reasonable argument with her power of education. Woman’s emotion won’t easily appear there if she shows her level of confidence thorough her knowledge.                   

     A vindication of rights of women can relate to many readings that have shared some common ideas with this text. Wollstonecraft has develop new and radical concepts in the late eighteenth century as it connect to french revolution. Wollstonecraft’s primary concern was women’s education as equal as men do. During the french revolution, women were not having the power to raise their voice to speak for the rights. As a result of that, Wollstonecraft raised her voice and fought for women’s right after getting the independence of “A vindication of rights of men” as it was also written by her. She shared her views on how the revolution in France should include the movement of the political and social  structures of women. She also said that if women in general does not receive education and forced to live as a housewives, then how they will properly done that without any knowledge.  To prove her point, she said,  “It is time to effect a revolution in female manners – time to restore to them their lost dignity – and make them, as a part of the human species, labour by reforming themselves to reform the world. It is time to separate unchangeable morals from local manners.” This is showing that Mary wants to change Another reading that connects to all these ideas that the author convey to the readers is Paradise lost by John Milton. The similarities between these two readings are that both of them discusses about the power between two people or two groups. In paradise lost, Satan was using his power that was granted by god to the people on earth to make them evil like he is, just like the way Mary described in her text about how men were using women as like their slaves. Also, it was similar in the way that Satan and god’s two angels were using two different power to lead people and that take people in two direction that are both good and bad.                      

    Finally, in today’s society, women’s right has changed in a significant way. Women have almost the same power as men do. In fact, they are leading almost everything from the men. Today we see many female that are doctors, engineers, and businessman. In every jobs, we see half males working and half females working and getting equal paychecks. Nowadays, there are also many males that are taking care of children and keeping house in their responsibilities.         

 

 

Questions:

Are men today still superior to women? If so, In what ways?

What are the advantage that women are getting from this equal right?

In some country, men still have more power than women, what are the thoughts of these people from these countries? If any of them read this text by Wollstonecraft, especially those women who are not getting the equal right as men are getting, will anything change for them from reading this?      

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Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Men [1790]

A Vindication of the Rights of Men by Mary Wollstonecraft is a political pamphlet which conveys Wollstonecraft’s’ complete disapproval of the aristocratic (high born) structure of English society. And states her thesis through criticizing Edmund Burke’s Reflections of the Revolution in France, “a political writing that placed heavy emphasis on the role of established tradition and the aristocracy in governing society.” Detailing the problems of his philosophies in governing the British people and laying out the solutions.

Wollstonecraft uses reasoning to counter argue Burke’s philosophy, which adds credibility to her argument to Burke’s reflection of the revolution in France. With this technique, Wollstonecraft directly countered each of Burke’s points and made her thesis stronger for the reader. In this pamphlet, she voices her opinion on the importance of equal rights by birth and the “importance that a society based solely on tradition be abolished.” Continuing to this point, she provides a few examples in her writing, including her belief that the common man should be able to obtain public offices without making financial contributions. Wollstonecraft specifies how at that point in time, public positions, such as the clergy, were based solely upon social standing and contributions to the specific organization. “The servility to superiors, and tyranny to inferiors said to characterize our clergy, have rationally been supposed to arise naturally from their associating with the nobility. Among unequals there can be no society; (Page 29) “or the hierarchy of the clergy, an ideal part of the constitution… posterity been injured by a distribution of the property snatched, perhaps, from innocent hands, but accumulated by the most abominable violation of every sentiment of justice and piety? (page 36) in these lines, Wollstonecraft is pointing out how the constitution is flawed and how this class system is taking away the rights of innocent men.

Wollstonecraft also speaks out about how Burke was all about slavery, “the slave trade ought never to be abolished;” (Page 12) she criticizes Burks statement by saying how this idea of slavery in the name of “Security of property”, is nothing but inhuman custom an atrocious insult to humanity and love of the country. Another example she provided was suffrage for every citizen in society because of the corrupt criminal justice system. Since all men are born equal, it is obvious to Wollstonecraft for all members of society to have equal justice in the eyes of law. Mary Wollstonecraft points out her opinions against the criminal laws in England. She concludes how Oftentimes the rich would receive no punishment for the crimes they committed. Conversely, the punishments for poor would regularly result in death. Wollstonecraft wished to change this and believed that everyone should be viewed equally under the law. At the very least, Wollstonecraft desired to end capital punishment for apparently “harmless crimes such as killing a deer on the King’s property”. On page 12 Wollstonecraft speaks her concerns of unjust laws, “Our penal laws punish with death the thief who steals a few pounds; but to take by violence, or trepan, a man, is no such heinous offence.–For who shall dare to complain of the venerable vestige of the law that rendered the life of a deer more sacred than that of a man? But it was the poor man with only his native dignity who was thus oppressed”. Wollstonecraft further shows concerns for the poor, how they don’t have a voice nor they have laws protecting them. She makes fun of laws by calling it a game on page 13, “The game laws are almost as oppressive to the peasantry as press-warrants to the mechanic. In this land of liberty what is to secure the property of the poor farmer when his noble landlord chooses to plant a decoy field near his little property?” what can the poor do when the rich man wants to devour the fruit of his labor asks Wollstonecraft. These are some questions which Wollstonecraft raises to the reader.

One important point to mention is that Wollstonecraft’s reasoning behind why each individual deserves basic human rights. She believes that each and every person is born with the ability to reason which is a distinctively human characteristic and possibly the most important characteristic of all. Wollstonecraft believes that everyone should have the opportunity to exercise this ability and no class system should interfere in reasoning. The hierarchical structure of English society did just that, and the common man struggled to exercise his reason to the fullest extent which rendered them of their personal growth and development and most importantly robbed them of their natural rights. Wollstonecraft states on page 18, “The only security of property that nature authorizes and reason sanctions is, the right a man has to enjoy the acquisitions which his talents and industry have acquired; and to bequeath them to whom he chooses. Happy would it be for the world if there were no other road to wealth or honour;” this is elaborating on how the world would be a better place only if men gained wealth and honor the right way. This idea of justice is also reflected in her evident support for the French Revolution, as she supports the uprising against the noble class by the common man. She critiques the class situation in Britain at the time by stating on page 12 “it is only the property of the rich that is secure; the man who lives by the sweat of his brow has no asylum from oppression.” Wollstonecraft also contrasts from Burke in that he is in support of tradition, whereas she believes rights should exist because they are reasonable and just, not merely a British tradition.

Another one of the claims that are made in this letter is that people are not born naturally good or evil; they merely end up doing evil because they are trying to find self-satisfaction (page 39) “It may be confidently asserted that no man chooses evil, because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks And the desire of rectifying these mistakes, is the noble ambition of an enlightened understanding, the impulse of feelings that Philosophy invigorates.”. in this statement she also claims that an enlightened person is the one who looks for those mistakes and tries to correct their own actions. The evidence that she uses to back up this claim is that people act only on emotions without any forethought about consequences. She says that if people used reason in their decisions, everyone could be able to develop their skills, and this could allow people to be good. This is a generalized assumption about people in general. Wollstonecraft is clearly against the notion that power comes with wealth and social background.

One thing I have noticed while reading this pamphlet is that Wollstonecraft was jumping from one point to another on each topic to address her audience, which makes this reading more interesting. Also, it is evident that her writing style was sophisticated yet repetitive to address the upper class and the lower class who lacked higher education. Her overall thesis of Wollstonecraft’s writing is that everyone should have the same dignities because we are all gifted with reason. She believes that if everyone starts out equally in life, everyone will have an equal opportunity to reach their full potential and develop their own set of skills, which one cannot accomplish if they do not have the same opportunities. The opportunity which is taken away from them, merely because of their station in society.

 

Disussion Questions:

  1. Does it help Wollstonecraft to directly address Edmund Burke to pass her message to the reader?
  2. Based on her argument, reasoning is why we should have natural rights. what are your thoughts on this statement?
  3. If no man chooses evil; he only mistakes it for happiness according to Wollstonecraft, then why attack Burke with such violent words in public?
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The French Revolution and Caleb Williams

Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France was a conservative response to the radical changes occurring in France in 1790. The French Revolution, if you’re unfamiliar, was a period of uprising among the middle and lower classes against the French monarchy. It was caused partly by France’s unstable economy, bad harvests that left most of the population starving, and the King’s incompetence. Revolutionaries aimed to overthrow the monarchy, write a new constitution, and abolish old customs.

Burke, a British politician, was against the Revolution and attacked its foundations. Burke viewed the revolutionaries as being motivated by greed and desiring to destroy all social, political, and religious institutions in place. He was appalled by the violence occurring throughout France, but what offended him most was the change the Revolution brought. Century old traditions that gave Europe character were being thrown away. Ancient chivalry was gone; no one would serve the monarchy with dignity. Burke wrote that “all the pleasing [old] illusions which made power gentle and obedience liberal, which harmonized the different shades of life, … are to be dissolved by this new conquering empire of light and reason” (77). He contrasted the sentimental idea of kings and queens ruling with these old, fundamental principles to that of dishonorable barbarians ruling with no plans for the future.

Without traditional rules and ways of life, countries lose their way. Burke argued that improvements should be built upon the foundations of the past. Instead of a revolution discarding everything learned prior, countries should improve by reforming what already exists. The new leaders of France changed too much and ignored the past. Burke detested this unstable government: “With them it is a sufficient motive to destroy an old scheme of things because it is an old one … As to the new, they are in no sort of fear with regard to the duration of a building run up in haste, because duration is no object to those who think little or nothing has been done before their time” (88). This government was not sustainable and did not care for the country like the old monarchy. Generations were no longer linked due to the constantly changing state, which Burke said is “ten thousand times worse” than states that are prejudice and stubborn.

Burke also bemoaned the lack of respect for the monarchy and upper classes in France. He wrote that “when kings are hurled from their thrones … and become the objects of insult to the base and of pity to the good, we behold such disasters in the moral” (80). Louis XVI did not choose to be king; he was born into it. Therefore, Burke said he’d been treated unfairly and should not be blamed for all the trouble in France. The ideas of the Revolution corrupted the minds of people and made them irrational. The crimes of the old regime were lesser than the crimes of the new, which justifies murder for public benefit.

However, the English differed from the French. The English still valued their old traditions, revered priests, and respected the nobility. Religion was connected to the state and provided comfort for people while preventing selfishness. Burke believed in a social contract where society was a “partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born” (96). This means that society relies on not only the work of those alive now, but also those from the past. The revolutionaries were disregarding the past and disrupting the social contract that has been in place for centuries.

Edmund Burke

While Burke made many convincing arguments against the Revolution, I think there are a few areas he could have elaborated. At least in this excerpt, Burke doesn’t acknowledge the suffering of the lower and middle classes. Most people had little to eat, while the nobility and monarchy still had plenty of food. France was a highly divided society, and Burke did not seem to think anything wrong of people being born in a low class. Burke defended the King as being “misfortunate” to be born a ruler, so he should also defend those who were unfortunate enough to be born poor. Burke could have offered alternatives to a revolution to help feed those people. Also, I think he was too sentimental and nostalgic about the hereditary monarchy and nobility.

Burke portrayed the nobility as being honorable and dignified, but William Godwin saw them differently in Caleb Williams. Both works were written within a few years of each other, but they show different views of society. William Godwin’s novel tells of the abuses of the powerful and wealthy against the poor and weak. Godwin was more liberal than Burke, who saw no evidence of this tyranny that Godwin thought existed in society. Both believed in justice, with Burke saying that “if … the king and queen of France … were inexorable and cruel tyrants, … I should think their captivity just … The punishment of real tyrants is a noble and awful act of justice” (83). However, unlike Burke, Godwin felt that the justice system in place was unfair and favored those in power, similar to how the French revolutionaries felt about the monarchy.

Godwin portrayed the flaws of legal institutions in Caleb Williams. Mr. Tyrrel, as his name suggests, was a tyrant that led to the death of his cousin and destroyed the lives of the Hawkinses by manipulating laws to his advantage. Mr. Falkland also used the law to frame Hawkins for killing Mr. Tyrrel and frame Caleb for stealing. When describing Mr. Falkland, Caleb said that “he exhibited, upon a contracted scale, … a copy of what monarchs are, who reckon among the instruments of their power prisons of state” (Vol. II, Ch X). Caleb saw in Mr. Falkland the same abuses that the French people saw in their King.

Both Mr. Tyrrel and Mr. Falkland were guilty, but their high social standing allowed them to abuse others with the law on their side. Caleb noted this imbalance of power: “visit the scenes of our prisons! Witness their unwholesomeness, their filth, the tyranny of their governors, the misery of their inmates! After that, show me the man shameless enough to triumph, and say, England has no Bastille!” (Vol. II, Ch. XI). This relates to the situation in France and how people were unhappy with the monarchy that Burke defends in his work. Godwin believed legal institutions should not be used to subvert justice by the powerful.

Burke’s writings on the French Revolution sparked an intellectual debate. His conservative ideas contrasted with the liberal ideas of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. Godwin also wrote Caleb Williams in addition to Political Justice to argue for a fairer justice system. Reflections on the Revolution in France was an important piece in 1790 and remains significant today.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Do you think Falkland represents the evils of the social system, just as the King did in the French Revolution?
  2. Do you think the French Revolution had an influence on William Godwin and the writing of Caleb Williams?
  3. How does Godwin’s view of political justice differ from Burke’s?
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William Godwin and Political Justice

Erica Simon

11 February 2018

Professor Walker

English 151w – 05

William Godwin and Political Justice

In 1793 William Godwin published Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and its Influence on Morals and Happiness (or Political Justice for short). Godwin was inspired to write Political Justice after the publication of Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man. It was written during the early years of the French Revolution and Revolutionary Wars. Political Justice provides an insightful critique of unjust government institutions and notes that humanity will inevitably progress. Chapter three talks about innate principles and how the moral characteristics of men originate in their perceptions. Chapter four is about the ways in which the human mind can be advanced towards the state of perfection.

One of Godwin’s main ideas in chapter three is the idea of innate principles. People are brought into the world without innate principles and they “are neither virtuous or vicious as we first come into existence.” The phrase innate principles refer to instincts or natural. Children are neutral when they first come into the world – they are neither good nor bad. People are shaped and influenced by the environment and experiences that they are exposed to. Godwin goes on to note that even though children are born without vice or virtue ‘the seeds of error’ are passed down so early on that ‘superficial observers’ believe they are innate. In other words, from moment that children are born they are influenced by the world around them. This reveals that the ‘seeds of error’ are developed so early on, that they are mistaken as innate. In the following excerpt, the author notes that by the end of the first day of birth, children have already been subjected to the corrupt word and he describes newborn infant’s cry for assistance.

“In this neutral and innocent circumstance, combined with the folly and imbecility of parents and nurses, we are presented with the first occasion of vice. Assistance is necessary, conducive to the existence, the health and the mental sanity of the infant. Empire in the infant over those who protect him is unnecessary. If we do not withhold our assistance precisely at the moment when it ceases to be requisite, if our compliance or our refusal be not in every case irrevocable, if we grant any thing to impatience, importunity or obstinacy, from that moment we become parties in the intellectual murder of our offspring.”

This means that when a parent doesn’t know when to say ‘no’ to crying child who will not stop crying – he has already planted the seeds of vice in the following generation, and has become the “intellectual murderer” of his offspring. In summary, chapter three is about instincts and how people are shaped by their experiences and the world around them.

The next chapter explains how the human mind can be advanced towards a state of perfection. There are three ways – literature, education, and political justice. Literature is defined as the “diffusion of knowledge through the medium of discussion whether written or oral.” Literature is powerful and is the most efficient way of eradicating prejudice and mistakes. Godwin also says that even though people all over world have different opinions only one can be true. Literature is also flawed because it alone is “not adequate to all the purposes of human improvement.” Education is a “scheme for the early impression of rights principles upon the hitherto unprejudiced mind” or in different words – the early presentation of idea to unprejudiced minds. “Where must the preceptor himself have been educated, who shall thus elevate his pupil above all the errors of mankind?” Education is flawed because it is circular – the right education is dependent on right teacher.  How is right defined? Is it only if the teacher has the right education? Political Justice is the “adoption of any principle of morality and truth into the practice of a community.” It is universal and can be applied to any situation. Out of the three advancements that Godwin gives, political justice is the most important one because it can be universally applied.

Goodwin makes a number of good arguments in his book Political Justice, however, he makes few assumptions that don’t make much sense. For example, in chapter three, he explains that children are corrupted by society in the moment they are born and when a parent doesn’t say ‘no’ to a crying child, they are planting the seeds vice in the next generation. This is an interesting way of looking at the situation of a crying child and it’s appalling the way he describes it. In chapter four, regarding literature he says that “but, if in any science we discover one solitary truth, it cannot be overthrown.” This statement sounds rather naive because there is always evidence that can be found to that proves that the old claim is false. Also regarding literature, he notes that even though people all over the world have different opinions, only one is true – this also doesn’t make any sense, why does there have to be only one right answer?

Godwin uses, Caleb Williams to emphasize ideas that are found in his philosophical book, Political Justice. In both books, the idea of anarchism is present and its development is necessary in order to improve the individual. In volume one of Caleb Williams, there are are two aristocrats, Falkland who is well liked by the poor and upper class and Barnabas Tyrrel who takes advantage of his status and is not well liked. Godwin believes that social hierarchy and political systems were the cause of corruption and society would only stabilize when individuals live by an inner moral code. Also both books were written during times of political change – Political Justice was written during the heart of the French revolution, and Caleb Williams was set in time when there was a lot of political change going on.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Why do think Godwin talks about literature and education, even though they are flawed?
  2. Why is anarchism important in Caleb Williams?
  3. What does Political Justice mean to you?

 

 

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John Milton, The Poet of the 21st Century

              In his work, Why Milton Matters: A Preface to His Writings, Joseph Wittreich focuses in on John Milton’s last poems: Paradise Lost, Paradise Regain’d, and Samson Agonistes, in order to demonstrate Milton’s influence on society through Milton’s unorthodox, yet brilliant, style of writing that transcends both time and borders. This can be seen in how Wittreich cites to the fact that Milton’s poems have been adopted by a wide variety of nationalities and cultures ever since their release in the seventeenth century. For example, Paradise Lost was influential in directing Malcom X toward Islam, in providing ideas for democracy to “the so-called great generation”, and in teaching Cold War America about the evil empires of the world. Using these varying examples, Wittreich argues how Milton’s poems are structured to have a multitude of possible interpretations as opposed to those of hermeneutical traditions which use monologic discourse to bring about fixed interpretations. Wittreich supports this claim by demonstrating that Milton himself imbued his poems with the concept of interpretation, in how he repeatedly accentuates the differences in interpretation between his characters. For example, Wittreich cites to how even the angels in Paradise Lost, let alone man, interpreted God’s decree of the Son as “Second to God” whereas God’s intended interpretation was of the Son as “Equal to God”. Similarly, even Milton’s narrator acts as an interpreter who uses his limited “moralistic and prophetic” perspective to convey an intended, yet biased, meaning. Therefore, Wittreich shows that by demonstrating the varying perspectives of his characters, Milton motivates his readers to analyze his poetry through their own interpretation, yet, while keeping in mind the limit of their own perspective. In doing so, Wittreich explains how the multitude of varying interpretations may lead to “a drama of ideas” that can ultimately make the world a better place.

            Wittreich goes on to explain how Milton not only intended to bring about a spirit of interpretation but to also purposefully input contradictions that lead to different interpretations. In agreement with Mary Ann Radzinowicz, Wittreich contends that for Milton, the “Scripture is a datum for interpretation and not a set of given precedents” and how by inputting subtle contradictions into his work, Milton paved way for a plethora of interpretations to be discovered. For example, Wittreich references Adam and Eve’s conversation in Book 4 where Adam brings out a feminist perspective whereas Eve a masculine one. In particular, Adam’s language describes Eve as being his equal in his statement that God “Conferrd upon us [both Adam and Eve], and Dominion giv’n over all other creatures”. On the other hand, Eve’s language is masculinist (“a Pualine interpretation”), in which Eve refers to Adam as her “Author and Disposer” and how she is intrinsically inferior to him. Similarly, Wittreich brings up the contradiction in Books 7 and 8 where Raphael follows the Genesis 1 account of Creation whereas Adam follows that of Genesis 2, thus tying in the Ptolemaic and Copernican rivaling explanations of cosmology. Wittreich explains that Milton purposefully inserted these contradictions in Paradise Lost as a reflection of the debates of sexism and cosmology that were raging through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. By integrating such contradictions into the scriptural stories, Milton was able to “interrogate…[the] commonplaces of his culture” in order to express them as interpretations, not dogma, and therefore bring them up to debate.

            In his argument for why Milton matters, Wittreich explains how Milton’s last poems take on a transcendent nature in how they simultaneously express the various contradictions and interpretations that shaped seventeenth century culture and act as a medium for resolving those conflicts in the future. By bringing forth opposing views in his poems, Milton transforms his writings into “battlegrounds for a culture’s contending viewpoints” in order to provoke future generations to debate and come to the proper conclusions. Wittreich explains that without such debates, there can be no progression in society and therefore having “no paradise” result from Milton’s poems. As a result, Wittreich calls Milton as the poet of the twenty-first century in how Milton’s progressive mindset acts as a framework for future criticism and the enrichment of society.

            Altogether, while Wittreich mentions how Milton’s work ran into a period of criticism that attempted to silence his vision and downplay his artistic contradictions, Wittreich accentuates the importance of Milton’s work and the necessity to expose Milton’s poems to future generations. In doing so, Wittreich believes how future generations may similarly come to new interpretations that when put up to debate may bring humanity one step closer to paradise.

            Although Wittreich provides a superb argument and analysis of Milton’s poems, there may be certain points on which he could have elaborated. For example, Wittreich may have expanded on Milton’s use of contradiction by juxtaposing Adam and Eve’s interactions in Book 9 and 10 of Paradise Lost; a more conspicuous example. In Book 9, before the Fall, Milton presents a feminist perspective in which Adam treats Eve as his equal and Eve presents a sense of autonomy that is separate from Adam. This can be specifically seen through Eve’s desire to work independently and her debate with Adam to allow for her to do so. While Milton had the option to use patriarchal language to describe this encounter, Milton instead had Adam reason with Eve about the dangers of her decision as if she were his equal. Furthermore, at the end of the discussion, Adam responds: “Go, for thy stay, not free” indicating how Adam believed it wrong to force Eve to submit to his commands. Similarly, after realizing that Eve had been doomed for her sin, Adam lovingly chooses to suffer with Eve instead of allowing for her to die alone. Through Adams actions, Milton once again infuses a sense of equality between Adam and Eve in how Adam sacrificed himself to remain equal with Eve; something he would likely not have done for an inferior. On the other hand, in Book 10 after the Fall, Milton quickly shifts to a masculinist perspective in which Adam no longer perceives Eve as his equal and where Eve herself becomes submissive to Adam. Milton makes this clear in how he describes Eve “at his [Adams] feet submissive in distress” and being “his [Adams] aide” as opposed to being on Adams level. By linking feminist and masculine hermeneutics to the transmission from paradise to loss, Milton uses these contradictions to accentuate the sexism prominent in his culture in hopes to invoke further debate that can ultimately dissolve such sexism. Fortunately, with progression through time, some of Milton’s messages have been a driving force for the equality of the sexes, yet as Wittreich may argue, need to be further exposed to bring about progressive reform.

  1. Were there any other contradictions that were evident in Paradise Lost that aim to resolve a greater issue?
  2. Would Milton’s method be affective in helping todays generation discover new interpretations which lead to further social reform?
  3. Is it more effective for a writer to directly state a point of view or to incorporate hidden logic that must be discovered?