Critical Analysis Of The Literary Underground Of The Old Regime

During the eighteenth century, an age of enlightenment fell upon the people of Europe. Across the continent, knowledge and discovery spread like wildfire. During this era, an overwhelming majority of middle-class citizens became literate, partaking in various forms of high culture previously reserved exclusively to the aristocracy. At the same time, while the age of Enlightenment produced prominent theorists, thinkers, and intellectual works, it also made the common man more aware of intellectuality. With access to literature rich in revolutionary thought, the middle-class assumed an understanding of natural law that encompassed freedom, social equality, and the value of mankind. However, while

The Age of Enlightenment saw many great changes in Western Europe. It was an age of reason and philosophes. During this age, changes the likes of which had not been seen since ancient times took place. Such change affected evert pore of Western European society. Many might argue that the Enlightenment really did not bring any real change, however, there exists and overwhelming amount of facts which prove, without question, that the spirit of the Enlightenment was one of change-specifically change which went against the previous teachings of the Catholic Church. Such change is apparent in the ideas, questions, and philosophies of the time, in the study of science, and throughout the monarchial system.

“The Age of Enlightenment” was a period during the 18th Century that was committed to the rise of human intellect and rationality in evaluating society (Waters and Crook, 1993). Enlightenment emerged out of the scientific revolution, it challenged traditions, more specifically Christianity and started building a new framework that separated religion from politics.

This research paper was written for the Advanced Placement United States History class taught by Mr. Roger Brady. It focuses on the rise of the ideas of the Enlightenment and how these ideas were relevant in the American Revolution, and the creation of the modern American Society. It also provides a throughout explanation of what is the Enlightenment, who are its main exponents, and how the ideas of the Enlightenment spread. Lastly, it also depicts how the colonists were mistreated and mocked by the British Empire before the ideas of the

In the 17th and 18th Century, a new age erupted in Europe that shaped the world and it’s ideas to this day, called the Enlightenment Period or the Age of Reason. During the Enlightenment Period, hundreds of individual ideas were expressed between philosophers as well as the citizens of England and France. Interestingly enough, most of these ideas seemed to share one central theme together. This theme was around individual freedoms that people can and should have, and the natural rights they should also hold. In these discussions of individual freedoms, sprouted innovative ideas regarding politics, economics, religion, and social rights.

During the 18th century, many things were happening and the Europeans also were known as “Enlightenment thinkers and philosophers” thought by creating a movement called Age of Enlightenment, it would inflict rational change upon humanity. The Age of Enlightenment is described to be “set out by means of reason and direct observation to discover the fundamental laws governing nature, humanity, and society. The philosophes believed that such discoveries would free the world from tyranny, violence, and instability ” (Davis et al. 17). With this in mind, the goals of the enlightenment were to bring peace to the world and act upon reason. One text, in particular, goes against that and demonstrates the hypocrisy and failure of those goals and is

The Enlightenment thinkers brought innovation and new ideas to the world, reforming the ways that people thought about issues of the time. Government, religion, and women’s rights were some of the most important issues during the Age of Enlightenment. All three subjects were placed under consideration and then under reformation, becoming some of the most recognizable results of the Enlightenment. Each of these issues connected to a central theme of oppression in a variety of different ways.

The Enlightenment Era was a period during the eighteenth century. Its philosophers, often called “the philosophs” attempted to refute the previously held religion-based system by creating arguments based solely on reason, and thus create a completely rational system of thought. But, the question of whether they were as reason-based in their thinking as they attempted to be, given the 11 documents, is unanswerable. While some of the documents are useful to judge this, they are by no means a complete and comprehensive overview of the period’s style of thinking, and some of the documents are entirely unhelpful.

The “Age of Reason”, during Europe was a time in history where people started to confide in eachother and themselves when it came to reason and logic; and it was a period when creative ability came to light and it was encouraged. This paper will examine Voltaire 's Candide and the way Voltaire mocks religion and how this outlines Enlightenment thought.

In seventeenth century Europe there was a revolution that affected the world and continues to almost four hundred years later. This was not a war, or an economic explosion, nor a religious revival, but a revolution in the way that the people of Europe thought, the way they looked at the world. This revolution is known as the Enlightenment. However, this change of thought was not a turning point in all of European society, only in the upper class can the effects be seen in Europe’s philosophes and salons, the enlightened despots, and the books that started to be published. One of the new developments in Europe during the Enlightenment was the introduction of philosophes and salons.

The Age of Enlightenment was a philosophical and an intellectual movement that took place in Europe during the 18th century. From the 1600’s to the 1800’s, philosophers opened a path for independent thought and there were many advances in the scientific, political, economic, and mathematical realms. Many ideas were transpiring and people began to “mature,” becoming less dependent on others. This time is known for four major components: the idea of freedom of thought, rationality, progress and humanitarianism. Philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, and Voltaire were all major minds that contributed to the Age of Enlightenment. Voltaire, the author of Candide, wrote about the positives and negatives impacting a person’s life. The plot of the novel revolves around Candide’s journey to find Cunegonde, the supposed love-of-his-life. Throughout the novel, characters face highs and lows, such as becoming rich, being scammed, and forced into exile. Using Candide’s life and the lives and philosophies of minor characters, Voltaire satirizes aspects of the Age of Enlightenment, especially the idea of rationality.

Enlightenment philosophers, like Voltaire, railed against organized theocracies and argued that religion prevented rational inquiry while it endorsed repression, tyranny and war. The philosophy of Immanuel Kant, who sought, “liberation of the human mind from the dogmatic state of ignorance,” had a major impact on the future ideology of revolutionaries.4 It was Enlightenment ideas which challenged people to question religious orthodoxy and use their own intelligence to draw conclusions about the legitimacy of traditional authority. These philosophies were the foundation of modern, egalitarian, democratic societies which would later replace Louis XVI’s absolutist monarchy. Enlightenment ideals had profound effects upon the politics of the early and mid-nineteenth century. However, a severe backlash against rationalism and liberal ideologies in France caused the return of church-state power; while conversely, in the state of Prussia, Enlightenment ideals inspired a suppression of the church’s power.5 Whether or not Enlightenment ideals and values were able to root themselves permanently in society, the introduction and widespread acceptance of secular ideas created major changes across Europe.

The 18th century is referred to as the ‘Age of Enlightenment’. The trends in thought and letters from Europe to the American colonies brought a new light and attention upon mankind. This new movement described a time in Western philosophy and cultural life in which reason was advocated as the primary source and legitimacy for authority. ‘To understand the natural world and humankinds place in it solely on the basis of reason and without turning to religious belief was the goal of the wide-ranging intellectual movement’ (Hackett). At the heart o this age, a conflict began between religion and the inquiring mind that wanted to know and understand through reason based on evidence and proof rather than belief on faith alone.

The Enlightenment of the eighteenth century finalized the movement toward contemporaneousness that began with the writers and philosophers of the Renaissance age. The scholars and writers, or philosophes as they were called, of the Enlightenment Age seized these teachings and ideologies and used them to criticize and attack the medieval ruling establishment and to unseat the religious ruling class from their vaulted theological perch. This criticism of the theological sect loosened religions grip on science and allowed for the expansion of reason. Science would no longer be hindered by the authority of papal influence and power, but would operate independently on its own merit and by its own designs. Anyone would then be free to think,

            While Marxist critics must admit that they themselves are helpless to avoid the effects of hegemony, the critical project of Marxist literary criticism remains steadfastly committed to the attempt to identify and understand the mediating contexts in which the forces of hegemony exert pressure on a text, its author, and its audience. These contexts manifest themselves within specific historical, economic, political, cultural, etc... conditions. In order to discover such contexts, a work of art cannot be uprooted from the specific temporal circumstances in which it is read or created and regarded as an isolated purely original entity. Literature, for better or worse, is mired in history.