Alexander Pope Alexander Pope used the power of his pen to make up for the weakness of his body. He was undersized probably from having tuberculosis as a child. He also was a Roman Catholic, so not a member of the Church of England which meant he had to live outside London, could not attend university, or hold public office. Was he bitter about the blows life had handed him? He may have seemed bitter in some of his writing, but not about these things, but at stupidity, ignorant critics, and pretension to name a few. We read two of his works An Essay on Man and Rape of the Lock. Let's start with Rape of the Lock. Epics were written about wars and other important things, so Pope choosing to write an epic albeit a mock epic on an upper class battle over cut and stolen hair only makes the whole affair seem even more preposterous. Pope uses all the conventions of the epic including the invocation to the Muse, the trip to the Underworld, elevated language, and epic battle to tell the story, and like Swift's Modest Proposal before he never really breaks his tone. Read the letter he wrote to Arabella Farmer (you can Google it) to see that he treats her as an imbecile (she probably was one as evidenced by this whole episode) but always reverently. This poem tries to bring about change by using the epic form for such a trivial matter. The cutting of the hair (called a rape) scene is an epic battle of the sexes. We have no evidence that the parties involved ever realized that they were being made fun of. Is it hard to pick up on how ridiculous this whole affair was? Note his use of ironic juxtaposition which makes something trivial seem more important and something important seem trivial. An example is "stain her honor or her new brocade,/ Forget her prayers, or miss a masquerade." The trip to the Cave of Spleen represents the epic voyage to the Underworld. Enjoy this work for its humor and wit. Pope's Essay on Man is important for us to understand because we see a peek at the philosophy Voltaire is satirizing in Candide. I will quote a good explanation from the Norton Anthology of Western Literature, "The point is, rather, that the nature of God's plan--by definition not fully comprehensible to human reason--must allow evil for the sake of larger good. And human beings, to possess free will, must have available to them the choice of evil." This is philosophical optimism which we see ridiculed in Candide. "The belief expounded in An Essay on Man, on the contrary, allows the possibility that matters may turn out badly for individual men and women but assumes that personal misfortune takes its place in a larger, essentially benign pattern." Pope starts with man's relation to the universe and continues with man's relation to himself. In Pa rt III, Pope writes of man's relation to time. We cannot see the future only the present, but "hope springs eternal in the human breast." Next he talks about man's relation to happiness. We blame our unhappiness on God, saying He is unjust. We strive to go higher than our eternal place. Pope continues by noting that we should be happy with our place and in our time because God has a plan that we do not understand. We must then accept what is as the right. "WHATEVER IS, IS RIGHT." Explain what Pope means by "Whatever is, is right"? Use the rest of the poem and specific lines to make your argument as you explain. Write a three sentence answer. How does Pope use the epic form to make this trivial matter as trivial as it is? Give some specific examples from the work to show the humor of the situation. Write at least a two sentence response. Women's Issues Gender inequality is still an issue in much of the world today , but it first surfaced as a point of discussion in the western world in the late 17th century. Women had a place, and that was in the home, raising children. They did not receive an education because why would they need one? Some women who were part of a wealthy class went to finishing school where they learned important skills like sewing, walking, and etiquette. (Yes, I am being sarcastic.) Some of this group also could read, but the majority of women could not because they were never taught. We do not know much about Judith Drake. She was an intellectual at the end of the 1600s who was part of a group of new thinkers which included Mary Astell. Women writers did not use their real names, often because of criticism and backlash. The essay we read was originally signed just by " a lady". It was falsely attributed to other feminist writers. The whole title of the work was An Essay in Defence of the Female Sex, In Which are Inserted the Characters of a Pendant, a Squire, a Beau, a Vertuoso, a Poetaster, a City-Critick, &C. Drake lived in a time when things were changing a little bit for women. Feminism was a new idea, and as the Enlightenment started bringing with it a new philosophy of logic and reason and opening of minds that were previously closed, new and radical ideas such as women might have a mind that could be cultivated were accepted. Drake's essay focuses on the need for women to have the same learning opportunities as men. She contends that women could be a companion in conversation with proper education. Notice her argument in the essay that the Creator made woman to be a "helpmeet" to man, so those who deny her that role must believe that God made a mistake. Woman's only purpose can not just be to have children because surely the omnipotent Creator could have made men able to continue the species by himself. She also stresses that the animal kingdom does not acknowledge any difference between male and female. You might see a shift in tone when she argues that men cannot brag superiority over the women who they deny education to than they can "boast of his courage for beating a man, when his hands were bound." It is obvious, she maintains, that men have denied women equal education in order to subjugate them. Sophia makes some of the same points, but notice the difference in her tone. Nothing is known of this writer because she has never been identified. Her pen name denotes wisdom. She makes some mistakes in argument that would have appalled your EH 102 teacher. We see that at the beginning she clumps all men as unanimiously thinking of women as made "for their use." There would, of course, have been men who did not think this way. Next she argues that if men believe animals were made for them because man was made after animals, then men must be made for women since women were made after men. What other points does she make? We will break down her argument in our team forums. In order to understand the philosophy of many men that these female writers were arguing against, we need to read Rousseau's Emile. You may think that this piece is not serious because it seems so over the top, but it is a true representation of what Rousseau felt a perfect wife would be for Emile. Rousseau in Emile pictures the ideal woman for Emile. Decide on the main characteristics of his ideal woman. Then in two sentences argue what you have learned from his essay to show why our female writers needed to write their essays. In other words, what does Emile show of the male view of women at the time? What is the focus of the women's essays? Jonathan Swift's Satire In Gulliver' s Travels Jonathan Swift sends the surgeon Lemuel Gulliver on many adventures. In most parts, Gulliver is the sole survivor of a shipwreck on a fascinating land. Most readers have at least experienced some adaptation of Gulliver's trip to Lilliput. I am having you read the most difficult part, IV which shows the final journey of our main character which leads to his eventual insanity. Gulliver is in the land of the Houyhnhnms (sounds like a horse neighing) which represents the ideal world governed by logic presented by Plato in his Republic. The Yahoos are the humans in this land, and Gulliver does not even recognize them. They represent Hobbes' ideas of the sensual human devoid of reason, so purely sensual or physical governed by instinct and senses Most leaders of the Enlightenment would have considered this land a utopia. But what does Swift show is lacking in the land of the Houyhnhnms? Humans in our world have reason which is the primary distinguishing feature between them and animals. But sometimes our reason seems to leave us when another human feature takes over. What do we have as a composite of the Yahoos and the Houyhnhnms? What do the purely logical Houyhnhnms lack? Gulliver obviously considers this land perfect, but does Swift? Notice the dichotomy between the voice of the author and the voice of the narrator Gulliver. Notice, too, the difference between reality and perception. The Houyhnhnms value reason above all, but they are fooled by Gulliver's resemblance to the Yahoos into not seeing that he has reason, too, despite his appearance. Then when Gulliver returns to England, he cannot tolerate his own family and only wants to stay with his horses in the stable. How reasonable is that? We will focus on these questions in our forums. I had you read "A Modest Proposal", too. In this satire, Swift writes a perfectly logical argument proposing the unthinkable. He never once indicates that he is not serious. You can see his sarcasm even in his title because his proposal is far from modest. Swift was desperate because his previous essays explaining the plight of the Irish had been ignored. Did anyone pay attention to this essay? It became famous, and did bring some change in the fact that it brought awareness to the issue. What is lacking in the ideal land of the Houyhnhnms? How does Swift, the author. Show you, the reader, that this land is not perfect even though our narrator Gulliver thinks it is. Find specific places where you can see the author intrude.
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