Romanticism lecture- guest speaker





Prometheus

The guest lecture was based around the concept of Romanticism and how many writers in the 19^th century were heavily influenced by the classical mythological God, Prometheus. Prometheus stole fire to give to people in society and was named the “bringer of fire”. For his actions he was punished by Jupiter and chained to a rock where a vulture attacked his liver for 30 years. It was this act of heroism that inspired many writers to celebrate his life and to an extent Prometheus brought together the ideas of Romanticism and shaped the way people viewed the movement. Writers such as Mary and Percy Shelley and also Ludwig Von Beethoven viewed Prometheus as the God of romanticism and there are many works of literature and art celebrating his actions. To them he symbolised freedom and resistance to tyranny and oppression as he tried to help society no matter what the consequences were and he can be seen as the spirit of “liberty, egality and fraternity”. This school of philosophy is called Promethenism and there are two main ideas: political and aesthetic Promethenism.         

Political Promethenism is best highlighted in the sonnet Ozymandias by Percy Shelley which was written in 1818. Ozymandias or Rameses II as he is also known was a 13^th century Egyptian ruler who was considered the “king of kings” due to his tyrannical approach to ruling Egypt. Shelley’s inspiration for writing the sonnet came from a visit to the British Museum in London where he saw a sculpture of Ozymandias. The sculpture was broken and stood alone in a cabinet and this is reflected in the poem. Instead of presenting Ozymandias as a hero and placing him on a pedestal which is a classical feature of a sonnet, Shelley undermines his strength and power as a king and highlights his downfall as due to his tyrannical actions he became a weak and broken person.

The Townley Vase, housed in the British Museum

Aesthetic Promethenism can be best seen in John Keat’s poem Ode to a Grecian Urn written in 1820. Keat’s inspiration came from a Townley Vase which he also saw in the British Museum like Shelley. The urn was a Roman vase which was found at a villa near Monte Cagnolo near Rome and can be seen as a paradox as the outside of the urn depicts figures and landscape which are typical subject matters of the Romantic movement whereas the inside of the vase shows images that can be associated with death and suffering.  The carvings on the vase demonstrate skill and Keats argues that this skill should be celebrated and this is reflected in the ode.  The urn is presented as having human qualities through the use of personification and it is suggested that the urn is a supreme object as it will outlive human mortality and its beauty will live on forever. The ode can also be viewed as a protest by Keats against the devaluation of art in the industrial society during the 19^th century when the industrial revolution was fully underway in England.

Seminar about Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft
27 April 1759 – 10 September 1797

The first seminar of semester 2 was based around chapter 4 of the essay entitled Vindications Of The Rights Of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft which was written in 1792. As a group we discussed how some of the ideas in her essay can be viewed by both society in the 18th century and modern day society. Women were percieved to be objects of beauty and their sole purpose in life was to marry and provide her husband with children to continue the family name. In comparison, women today are allowed to have very successful careers and are highly educated and this is accepted by society. I read the seminar paper to the rest of the group and was pleased with the feedback they gave me saying that I had managed to summarise the key points of chapter 4 very well and I hope to get a good mark for it! 

Seminar Paper (Semester 2)

Mary Wollstonecraft- Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Chapter 4)

In Vindications of the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft argues that women are degraded in society and are to an extent powerless in decision making and are thought of as second class citizens. Men stand in the way of women and reason and due to the power of men in society; they have very little influence in daily living. Women are duty-bound to men in a variety of ways such as decision making, marriage and to provide their husband with children to continue the family name.

In the chapter, Wollstonecraft uses the example of birds to describe the socially accepted role of women. They are shut up in cages day after day with no option but to plume themselves to look as attractive as possible so that men will take an interest in them. Therefore, passions of men have placed women on thrones like queens and they are seen as idols that can be worshipped. Until mankind becomes more reasonable towards women, there is a possibility that women will always be considered the inferior sex unless attitudes within society change over time.

Wollstonecraft argues that idea of women being the property of men is one of the most important questions that we should ask ourselves about society. When a man lawfully marries a woman then he is obliged to take care of both the woman and her children financially. If the woman remains faithful to the father of her children then she should not be treated like a prostitute and used just to provide children. In addition, the man and woman should live together in order to bring up their children, and the man should remain faithful to his wife at all times as a man must never have more than one wife.

In one particular section of her essay, Wollstonecraft presents the idea that men are able to get a well-paid job as they have been highly educated unlike women who have no means of education. The only way a woman is able to rise above her social class is to marry a wealthy man who will provide for her. She challenges the views presented by the French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau stating that being educated to the same level as men, women should not have power over men, only the power to be able to make their own decisions in life. This contradicts the viewpoint of Rousseau as he believes that if we educate men and women in the same way then men will lose some of their power and women may become the dominant sex in society.

Wollstonecraft concludes in chapter 4 that women should not be considered heroes for struggling and fighting to become equal to men. They should just be treated as normal human beings with rights and the freedom to do as they please without being under the strict control of men.  

Romanticism and Rousseau



Jean- Jacques Rousseau
(28 June 1712  – 2 July 1778)



The first lecture of semester two was based around romanticism and the ideas of Jean Jacques Rousseau. Romanticism began in the 19th century around Europe and it marked a shift away from objectivity to subjectivity. It was a reaction against the Enlightenment in the 16th century as it was seen as too scientific and the answers to life can be found within nature. Rousseau was a very influential figure throughout the movement and his ideas have been written about and interpreted by writers such Mary Wollstonecraft.

Rousseau was fascinated by nature especially mountains and he strongly believed that mankind could only find truth within nature itself and that everything before nature was lies and deceit. This idea was highly contraversal and Rousseau was forced to flee his town in Vienna and find refuge on an island off the coast of Vienna. He also argued that reason got in the way of human understanding and that the purpose of life is to experience nature and feelings and that civilisation had corrupted the purity of nature by evolution and development " man is born fre, but everywhere is in chains". Children are born as a free spirits but as they advance through life they are controlled by the rules of society and corrupted.  Primitive people who developed before civilisation are the the pure humans and that mankind today should behave in a more animalistic manner, however Rousseau realised that we couldn't move backwards and live like primatives as society was too developed in the 18th century. These ideas were written in a book and were sent to Voltaire, who was a prolific writer during the 18th century.  What Rousseau didn't expect was that his ideas about how the world could be changed were to be highly influential in politics to the present day especially during the French Revolution in 1879.

In his work The Social Contract,Rousseau outlined ways in which he believed society could change in order for humans to be allowed freedom. He argued that the government should not interfere with everyday life except when a person commits a crime and that laws should be passed which everybody agrees with. This means that freedom is not lost as everyone in society follows the same set of laws. On the other hand, this could be interpreted as an early form of dictatorship as anybody who disobeys the laws will forced to be free.

The ideas published in The Social Contract were put in to practise during the French Revolution. France was on the verge of bankruptcy and the King had become powerless so a meeting was called between the aristocracy, clergy and the common man in order to pass a law to raise taxes. The three classes in society were unable to agree on the amount of taxes so the people formed an independant assembly and announced their ideas (Declaration of the Rights of Man) which were largely based on Rousseau's theories. This sparked a revolution and at last it was time for the lower classes of society to rise above the elite and attack the old regime. Following the storming of the Bastille, things began to get out of hand as there was not a ruler in the country to take charge. People began to riot and kill each other (September massacres) and the government resorted to violence in what was later known as the Reign of Terror. There was severe paranoia as France feared anti -revolutionists mixing in society and people began suspecting their own friends and family and the end result was that tens of thousands of people were killed.

Mary Wollstonecraft can be seen as a key feminist during the Romantic period. She wrote a series of books in response to the ideas of Rousseau. She argued that poor women had no place in society and that education was the key to a woman's freedom as it made men and women equal and that they should just be human beings until they fall in love and only then can they be given an identity.

Seminar about A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

The final seminar of semester one was based around A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift. Personally, I found this essay rather entertaining as it was a ridiculous solution to the very serious problem of extreme poverty in Ireland in the 19^th century. Swift stated that the way in which this could be solved is for families to eat their own children for food or sell their children to be used as food as that way people will have money on which to survive. There were mixed reactions from my seminar group with some people saying that Swift’s idea was inhumane and immoral and how could a person even think of a solution to a problem as extreme as killing your own children as it is a parent’s role to protect their children at all costs not eat them for food. Whereas other members of the group believed that Swift was mocking Ireland and his essay was meant to be taken in a light hearted manner as the title of the essay A Modest Proposal suggests that the solution presented by Swift will be a subtle but effective idea such as developing the economy but as you read on it becomes clear that Swift’s idea is cannibalistic and shocking for readers both today and in the 19^th century when it was written.

Lecture about Adam Smith

Adam Smith can be considered as the founder of economics as we know it today and wrote the very first book based solely on economic theory called “The Wealth of Nations”. He wanted to research the reasons why one country was wealthier than other countries. He concluded that the amount of control a government has over its economy determines how much trade takes place both within a country and also internationally such as the slave trade. Smith used England as an example as the English Civil War from 1641-51 had changed the economic growth of the country dramatically. After the King was defeated in 1451, the state control of the economy collapsed and the mercantile traders, who until this time governed the trade industry in England, were forced to lose their power. This fall of power enabled free trade throughout England where everyone was allowed to trade and goods from the Caribbean such as sugar, cotton and tea were important as for the first time the country had a rich and health supply of goods to trade around the world boosting its economy and showing its power.

Smith also believed that if a government left its people to trade by themselves it would create a more stable economy and governments who prevent free trade do more harm than good as the economy becomes stagnant. If a person was a skilled metal worker and another person was skilled at woodwork then naturally they would trade their skills in order to make a high quality product such as an axe.  According to Smith this can help to explain human behaviour as people will not want to buy goods if they are poor quality but if they are good quality then people will want to buy them and they will recommend the product to others.

Seminar Paper on John Locke

Bertrand Russell -  History of Western Philosophy (Chapters 10-17)

During my reading of the chapters I was able to pick up on key areas of discussion which I will highlight during my reading of the seminar paper. These will be based around chapters 13 and 14 of the book which explain John Locke’s theories in the 17^th century. Hopefully discussing these chapters in depth will produce a debate about whether John Locke’s theory of knowledge and his political philosophies can still be relevant in today’s society or whether his theories are outdated and irrelevant.

Chapter 14 of Russell’s book focuses on Locke’s ‘Two Treatises of Government’ written in 1689 after the Revolution in England. Locke can be seen as a key figure during the revolution following the English Civil War as his theories changed the way in which governments were organised, finally giving power to the people. His ‘First Treatise’ outlined how divine right was no longer needed by Kings and rulers as they should be appointed by the people of a country. This came from an idea that God gave Adam the right to rule on behalf of the people, therefore God gave the people the right to choose their leader. In addition, Locke presented the idea that every human being in society had three fundamental rights, life, liberty and property and it was the role of the government to ensure that this was the case for people in England in the 17^th Century.

Locke’s ‘Second Treatise’ was based around the idea of a state of nature where everybody had the right to freedom and equality but subconsciously obeyed what he described as ‘natural laws’. These natural laws were centred on morality where everyone has knowledge of right and wrong. For example, murder is wrong and immoral but helping an elderly person across the road is viewed as being kind and moral. Locke also presented the idea that when a human is born they are like a blank canvas and as we progress through our lives we learn knowledge through our five senses. Chapter 13 explains this theory and the quotation “ Knowledge is the perception of agreement or disagreement of two ideas” is important as it shows how as human beings, we learn from the people around us such as our parents or teachers and we learn from our own mistakes in life which enables us to try and become better people.

Locke’s theories are relevant in today’s society for a number of reasons. One of these reasons is that governments in England are controlled by the people who vote for their chosen leader through democratic elections. Whichever candidate wins the highest number of seats is named as the Prime Minister of the country for four years until another election is held. A second reason is that children today are still raised by their parents teaching them what is right and wrong from a very early age so by the time they reach adulthood they are fully aware of how they should behave.