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The Age Of The Enlightenment - 1646 Words

The Age of the Enlightenment during the beginning of the 18th century was a revolution that vanquished the suffocating darkness of superstition that shrouded the Middle Ages. Revolutionary thinkers of the Enlightenment, such as Denis Diderot, Renà © Descartes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, led western civilization out of the darkness of ignorance with a small flame generated by the power of scientific and intellectual reason. For a while, it seemed as though the reason and rationality of Enlightenment thinking would be the harbinger of peace. However, this idea of peace was merely a conjectured fantasy that disregarded the rising discontentment of a newly oppressed people. This is displayed through the perversion of the French Revolution into an irrational and passion driven bloodbath. Towards the end of the 18th century, people felt that the rigidity of scientific reason instilled by the Enlightenment was bleeding the spirit, morality, and especially the passion out of exi stence. The small flame of the Enlightenment was ignited into a raging fire of oppressed passion generated through the power individualistic thinking. Rather than focusing on a unified peace, revolutionaries, such as Thomas Paine, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann von Goethe and Jane Austen, of the late 18th and 19th century emphasized the passion of self-expression within the individual. Thomas Paine exemplifies the passionate, individualistic expression of the late 18th and early 19th century inShow MoreRelatedEnlightenment : The Age Of Enlightenment And The Enlightenment782 Words   |  4 Pages The Enlightenment or The Age of Reason was an European intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries. The ideas during this period were about God, reason, nature, and developments in art, philosophy, and politics. The â€Å"Enlightenment thinkers† affected the development of the United States Government. The Declaration of Independence, Constitution Bill of rights and The Federalist Papers were all influenced by important enlightenment ideas of freedom, unavailable rights, and government. DeclarationRead MoreAge Of Enlightenment755 Words   |  4 Pages During the 18th century, a worldwide movement, more commonly recognized as the Age of Enlightenment, encouraged the spread of philosophical thinking, science, communications, and politics. This movement gradually branched out from Northern Europe and reached places such as the United States of America and France, encouraging the American and French Revolutions. The Enlightenment brought about a new age of philosophical and intellectual thinkers, such as John Locke, which helped shape and influenceRead MoreAge Of Enlightenment1210 Words   |  5 PagesThe Age of Enlightenment has historically been affiliated with drastic skepticism and revolution in politics, philosophy, science, and communications, amongst other disciplines. In the early eighteenth century, people began to challenge the idea that rulers, spirits, and Catholicism were dominant over other ways of life. Although the Enlightenment primarily prevailed in parts of Europe in countries such as England and France, it was als o crucial in determining several aspects of colonial AmericaRead MoreThe Age Of Enlightment : The Age Of Enlightenment1161 Words   |  5 PagesThe age of enlightenment took place in the 18th century. This was a time that was characterized by lot of aristocratic wars. Philosophers of that time agreed that war was among the greatest evils confronting mankind. The problem they faced with this conviction is that power lay with the aristocracy who viewed wars as a constituent of the society. The aristocracy treated wars as a necessity and as such it was treated as a normal and ordinary fact of life. These philosophers therefore devised waysRead MoreTheories Of The Age Of Enlightenment1026 Words   |  5 Pagesbeheaded, drowned, or stoned to death. This way of thinking and punishing offenders continued through the 1600’s until the Age of Enlightenment. It was during this time that Thomas Hobbes wrote a book proposing theories that would change the way many people think about oth er individuals and their actions. Thomas Hobbes’ most influential contributions to the Age of Enlightenment were his theories on an individual’s ability to rationally choose their own actions, free will, and the idea of social contractRead More Age of Enlightenment Essay2052 Words   |  9 Pages 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-rangingRead MoreThe Age Of Enlightenment In Frankenstein835 Words   |  4 Pagesand works of individuals during the Age of Enlightenment. Consequently, many of the ideas and theories that were expressed during the Age of Enlightenment are found throughout Shelley’s gothic novel. Furthermore, the Age of Enlightenment impacted the events depicted in Mary Shelley’s gothic novel, Frankenstein, such as man’s state of nature, as discussed by John Locke and Thomas Hobbes. Thomas Hobbes is considered one of the first major figures of the Enlightenment, and his major argument presentedRead MoreThe Enlightenment : The Age Of Reason1126 Words   |  5 PagesThe Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason, was an important period in the history of Western Civilization during the 17th and 18th centuries - a time of social turmoil where societies were divided between social groups and struggled for freedom, equality and democracy (Seidman, 2008: 6). This time gave rise to remarkable social thinkers, known as Enlighteners, who pioneered a new science of society (Seidman, 2008: 5). These highly educated Enlighteners believed the world could be rationallyRead MoreThe European Age Of Enlightenment1359 Words   |  6 PagesEuropean Age of Enlightenment, a period when great thinkers shared innovative thoughts on the governance and rights of man, slavery, the ultimate expression of human oppression, was widely practiced. The development of the Atlantic trade saw millions of Africans, enslaved by white European societies, shipped to the Americas to live a life void of liberty and dominated by misery, an existence starkly contrasting Enlightenment ideals. Despite the commonality of the practice, the Enlightenment movementRead MoreThe Age Of Enlightenment By Voltaire1572 Words   |  7 Pages1. Do some research on Voltaire and his beliefs as well as the era in which he wrote, which was the Age of Enlightenment. Be sure to cite your so urces of information. The Age of Enlightenment occurred from the 1620s until the 1780s. This movement began in England, and steadily spread almost worldwide before long. The term Enlightenment was used to contrast the Dark Ages, a time in which innovation and free-thinking was at an all-time low. Voltaire’s French philosophy included free-thinking and

Viewing Mrs. Dalloway Through the Lens of “Modern Fiction” Free Essays

In â€Å"Modern Fiction,† Virginia Woolf comments on the flaws of modernist writers such as Wells, Bennett, and Galsworthy.   Their narrow focus on the material and lack of affinity for the spiritual or realistic, is evidence enough that they have fallen short in the literary sense.   In Mrs. We will write a custom essay sample on Viewing Mrs. Dalloway Through the Lens of â€Å"Modern Fiction† or any similar topic only for you Order Now Dalloway, Woolf explores connections with truth, reality, and that which is above the material through her narrative techniques, complex imagery, and provoking themes, thus emphasizing through Mrs. Dalloway what she has so adamantly called for in â€Å"Modern Fiction.† Woolf possesses the ability to create a work of fiction that evokes a pleasant reading experience for the reader without utilizing a central plot.   In Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf chooses to explore the narrative possibilities of bringing several characters through one single day in time.   This narrative technique works well in a text that mainly focuses on Mrs. Dalloway’s world view, her inner workings, and her exploration and sensory experience of the world surrounding her. The organizational structure of the novel challenges Woolf to create characters that are deep enough to be realistic while dealing with only one day of their lives.   Woolf creates within the character of Clarissa the inherent sense of the magnanimity of living one day in time.   Clarissa â€Å"had a perpetual sense, as she watched the taxi cabs, of being out, out, far out to sea and alone; she always had the feeling that it was very, very dangerous to live even one day† (16). Through Clarissa, Woolf creates a sense of the complexity each day is capable of bringing to individual characters, thus calling her readers to â€Å"look within life†¦examine for a moment an ordinary mind on an ordinary day.   The mind receives a myriad impressions—trivial, fanstastic, evanescent, or engraved with the sharpness of steel† (3).   Clarissa, through her sensory perception of the world around her, feels the danger of living even one day. Woolf’s embrace of the realistic and spiritual aspects of the world, asserted in â€Å"Modern Fiction,† are set up within this novel so that those views will be challenged.   Through the character of Clarissa, struggling through one day in time, Woolf compels the reader to consider the possibilities beyond the material world.   This narrative technique moves the action forward, and simultaneously delves into the life and inner workings of Clarissa, baring her soul to the reader and opening up the possibilities and realities of the spiritual world. Woolf also employs imagery that similarly challenges the reader to explore the possibilities of what lies beyond the material.   The imagery of death is quite prevalent in the text, and these images are mainly viewed through Clarissa, as she makes sense of her life.   Critic Jacob Littleton, in his article, â€Å"Portrait of the Artist as Middle-Aged Woman,† asserts that because Clarissa possesses a â€Å"heightened view of existence,† she always possesses a â€Å"preternaturally vivid awareness and fear of the termination of the existence she loves so much† (38). Clarissa’s â€Å"fear of termination† resonates most clearly in her isolated attic bedroom.   The image of her bedroom symbolizes loneliness and death, and serves as a place where Clarissa frequently contemplates these subjects.   Her bed, â€Å"no longer the marriage bed symbolizing fertility, is symbolized by her fertile mind as shrinking into her world in a way that other outlooks available to her do not† (40).   She has no one but herself in which to rely, and this is evidenced through her continual fascination with the concept of death and the end of existence. Clarissa’s transcendental theory, which she uses as a reference to inform herself of the realities of the spiritual realm, causes her to surmise that â€Å"since our apparitions, the part of us which appears, are so momentarily compared with the other, the unseen part of us, which spreads wide, the unseen might survive, be recovered somehow attached to this person or that, or even haunting certain places after death†¦perhaps—perhaps† (79). The image of the spiritual transcending death through means of apparitions is another powerful image within the text, and interlocks with the image of death and presents itself simultaneously. In the case of Septimus, Clarissa is able to feel a connection with him after he has died that seems to transcend death.   She assimilates herself with him after he took his life.   She knows that â€Å"she felt glad that he had done it; thrown it away†¦He made her feel beauty; made her feel the fun.   But she must go back.   She must assemble† (185).   Mrs. Dalloway sees herself in Septimus, even though she has never encountered him face-to-face; she sees something in Septimus that she desires for herself. Woolf, through Clarissa’s transcendental theory and interactions with the image of Septimus, uses Clarissa’s experience to assert her own views on the spiritual aspect of reality.   There is something far above the material that causes Clarissa to feel this affinity with Septimus.   There is something beyond herself that calls her to him, thus causing her to desire his fate for her own.   The power of the imagery of death and the ability to transcend it is fully realized in the doubling of Clarissa and Septimus. Lastly, Woolf uses themes that connect reality with the spiritual realm in an attempt to further her thesis in â€Å"Modern Fiction,† for fiction to be modern and worth reading, it must explore that which is above the material world.   Woolf’s main concern in the novel seems to be the inner workings of Mrs. Dalloway, her thought processes, and how she engages with the world surrounding her.   Woolf juxtaposes Clarissa’s internal self with her external world, thus setting up one of the most prevalent, resonant themes within the text, and it is â€Å"against this system that Woolf places a world of private significance whose meaning is wholly irreducible to facts of the external world† (37). This struggle between the internal and external surrounds not only Clarissa, but her double, Septimus, and thus permeates the novel.   Personality, according to Ellen Bayuk Rosenmann, in her article, â€Å"The Invisible Presence,† seems to be a â€Å"private fact,† which is far â€Å"alienated from public and political culture† (77).   Society at large is able to neither appreciate nor understand the inner workings of the soul, and thus stands at a distance. Woolf asserts in â€Å"Modern Fiction,† that â€Å"Whether we call it life or spirit, truth or reality, this, the essential thing, has moved off, or on, and refuses to be contained any longer is such ill-fitting vestments as we provide† (3).   In essence, the separation between the internal (soul) and the external (material world) is not navigable.   Mrs. Dalloway is forced to break down the material barriers that bar her from knowing herself, and delve into the depths of her soul to find the spiritual, the truth. Another fascinating theme within the text is the intriguing concept of human interaction.   Characters within the novel are being continually merged together through their experiences and through their own imaginations and memories as well (Littleton 39).   One of the most interesting examples of this is the relationship between Mrs. Dalloway and Septimus.   Clarissa never visually sees Septimus, yet he is the most significant part of her day.   Clearly, Woolf is merging the two characters together, yet she blurs the lines a bit, thus furthering her assertions in â€Å"Modern Fiction,† that â€Å"life is not a series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged; life is a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end† (4). Septimus is a part of Clarissa’s consciousness, even though she does not realize it.   His life has a large impact of Clarissa, and he is the sole character that compels her to remain true to her soul. Critic J. Hillis Miller, in his article, â€Å"Repetition as Raising the Dead,† explains that â€Å"no man or woman is limited to him or herself, but each is joined to the others†¦diffused like a mist among all the people and places he or she has encountered† (173).   The characters are connected on various levels, and Woolf shows this connection quite acutely through the lens of Lady Bruton as she muses about the way in which Hugh and Richard remain with her after they leave, â€Å"as if one’s friends were attached to one’s body, after lunching with them, by a thin thread, which†¦became hazy with the sound of bells, striking the hour† (112). This statement furthers Woolf’s ideal that there is an inherent spiritual connection within human beings, a â€Å"thin thread† which connects humanity.   The interaction between the characters is remarkable, as Woolf continues to assert that there is a spiritual connection between human beings that surpasses any material, physical connection (8). Through means of narrative technique, fascinating imagery, and compelling themes, Woolf continues to assert her thesis in â€Å"Modern Fiction,† that fiction must be concerned with the reality of life, its inherent truth and spirituality.   If fiction is only willing to explore the material, it will do a disservice to humanity, for there is a world beyond the material that begs to be explored.   In Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf explore this other world, and brings to light fascinating possibilities that lie far beyond that realms of the material. Works Cited Littleton, Jacob. â€Å"Mrs. Dalloway: Portrait of the Artist as a Middle-Aged Woman.† Twentieth Century Literature. Hempstead: Spring 1995. 41:1, 36-48. Miller, J. Hillis. â€Å"Repetition as Raising the Dead.† Virginia Woolf. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea, 1986. Rosenmann, Ellen Bayuk. â€Å"The Invisible Presence: Virginia Woolf and the Mother Daughter Relationship.† Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1986. Woolf, Virginia. Mrs. Dalloway. New York: Harcourt, 1925. Woolf, Virginia. The Common Reader. 1st edition. 1925. How to cite Viewing Mrs. Dalloway Through the Lens of â€Å"Modern Fiction†, Essay examples