Monday, May 18, 2020
Shakespeares Othello - There Would be No Othello Without...
There would be No Othello without Iagonbsp;nbsp; nbsp; Though the name of the play written by William Shakespeare is called Othello, the character Othello is not the main character, but rather Iago is. Iago is the character who drives the play, he is the one who makes things happen. Without his greed and hated, there would be no play at all. The whole play is centered around Iagos revenge and in doing so, he is willing to make other peoples lives miserable. Through Othello, Iago uses the other characters to avenge the wrong doings which Othello has inflicted upon him, and will go to any means to do so. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; The play starts out with Iago not attaining the position heâ⬠¦show more contentâ⬠¦Iago used Roderigo till the end and felt no remorse for it what so ever. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Iago not only wanted revenge on Othello, but as well on Cassio for stealing his job away from him. If I can fasten buy one cup upon him, with which he hath drunk tonight already, hell be as full of quarrel and offense as my young mistress dog Othello. Act II. iii. 49-52. Iago got Cassio so drunk that he got into a fight with another officer, and when Othello found out about this, he quickly fired him. Iago, befriending Cassio, told him to speak to Desdemona about getting his job back and this was done for a reason. Iago states his motives clearly. He intended to use Desdemonas righteousness against her. For whiles this honest fool (Cassio) Plies for Desdemona to repair his fortune, And she for him pleads strongly to the Moor, Ill pour this pestilence into his ear: That she repeals him for her bodys lust; And by how much she strives to do him good, She shall undo her credit with the Moor. So will I turn her virtue into pitch, And out of her own goodness make the net That shall enmesh them all. Othello Act II. iii. 373-382. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Desdemonas handkerchief plays a large role in IagosShow MoreRelated Comparison of an Evil mastermind in Shakespeareââ¬â¢s Othello and MacDonaldââ¬â¢s Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)1433 Words à |à 6 PagesIago is one of the most renowned villains of pre-modern literature, as first introduced in Shakespeareââ¬â¢s Othello. His deceiving personality and complex nature is painted such that readers are amazed by his ingenious schemes. At the beginning of Shakespeareââ¬â¢s Othello, Iago is represented as trustworthy and honest, but readers soon realize that he is the opposite of what he seems. Even though Iagoââ¬â¢s personality and thoughts are revealed less in MacDonaldââ¬â¢s Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)Read More The Use Of Animal Imagery In Othello Essay1040 Words à |à 5 Pages In William Shakespeareââ¬â¢s play ââ¬Å"Othelloâ⬠the use of animal imagery was evident throughout the telling of the story. Shakespeare explained several characters actions by comparing them to similarities in animals. The characters in ââ¬Å"Othelloâ⬠were often depicted as having animal-like characteristics. Some characters were even compared to animals by other characters in the play. By defining characters in terms of these characteristics one can get a clear description of what the character isRead More Othello, The Moor of Venice Essay examples1319 Words à |à 6 PagesOthello, the Moor of Venice is one of the major tragedies written by William Shakespeare that follows the main character, Othello through his trials and tribulations. Othello, the Moor of Venice is similar to William Shakespeareââ¬â¢s other tragedies and follows a set of specific rules of drama. The requirements include, following the definition of a tragedy, definition of tragic hero, containing a reversal of fortune, and a descent from happiness. William Shakespeare fulfills Aristotleââ¬â¢s requirementsRead MoreA Malevolent Villain Essay1086 Words à |à 5 Pagesââ¬Å"Malice- a desire to harm others or to see others suffer; intent, without just cause or reason, to commit an unlawful act injurious to another or othersâ⬠(ââ¬Å"maliceâ⬠). Malicious characters or groups play a central role in many literary works, like the Headless Horseman in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Oââ¬â¢Brien in 1984, and white society in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. These characters threaten, attack, trick, and persecute the main character or another central character within their story. TheyRead MoreHis Moorships Ancient: Iago as the Protagonist of Othello1658 Words à |à 7 Pagesserve Shakespeares main characters by presenting them as realistically written men, and there always seems a degree, however small, of sympathy associated with their respective downfalls and tragedies. Othello, however, is an anomaly. While he is flawed by his paranoia and pride, Othello is only unstable and destructive after intricate deception. Indeed, he seems maddeningly perfect to his adversaries. Even Othellos greatest enemy, Iago, confesses in act I, scene i, Were I the Moor, I would notRead MoreBetraying and Lying in Othello by William Shakespeare1726 Words à |à 7 Pagesthe root of all evil today. People have made it an everyday thing to lie and betray people just because they like to see people broken in misery. People also lie and betray people because of jealousy they may have towards them. The tragedy of Othello explains why some people are not trustworthy. Just because some people feel like they are miserable, they try everything in their power to make the other individual miserable as well. Enemies come in different colors, shapes, and forms, making itRead MoreFrom Valiancy to Vengeance in Shakespeareà ´s Othello794 Words à |à 4 PagesHatred, in Shakespeareââ¬â¢s Othello, destroyed t he lives of so many innocent people, creating an atmosphere of fear and mayhem. Jealousy turned into a deep hatred, and liberated the beast in man (Blooms major dramatists).This mayhem caused a substantial amount of destruction and led to the demise of many. Hatred in Othello starts with Brabantio, who claims Othello is a noble, respectable man. However, Brabantio hates dark skin and foreign roots, two attributes Othello possesses. Brabantioââ¬â¢s hatredRead MoreEssay about Destructive Jealousy in Iago and Othello1006 Words à |à 5 Pagescharacters Othello and Iago to convey this message. Following the recent study of Shakespeareââ¬â¢s play ââ¬Å"Othelloâ⬠, we found a lot of information about the play and the theme jealousy. Shakespeare wrote tragedies, comedies and histories, all were in five acts of poetry. My definition of jealousy is where someone has something or is able to do something that another person can do. They are jealous because the other people are able to and have the things they want but canââ¬â¢t get. The play ââ¬ËOthelloââ¬â¢ is inRead MoreOthello - Deception and Vision Essay1500 Words à |à 6 PagesDeception and Vision in Shakespeareââ¬â¢s Othello Walter Scott once stated, ââ¬Å"Oh, what a tangled web we weave... when first we practice to deceiveâ⬠(Quotation). Scottââ¬â¢s statement is overwhelmingly evident in William Shakespeares Othello. Deception is a reoccurring theme in Othello, that touches each character individually and on various levels. The theme that affects Othello directly is vision. Vision is the ââ¬Å"ocular proofâ⬠that Othello demands from Iago, and how his actions are based on what he hearsRead MoreIago in Shakespeares Othello Essay1381 Words à |à 6 PagesWilliam Shakespeares Othello is a remarkable tale of trust, deceitfulness, lust and the most destructive of human emotions: vengeance and hatred. Iago better known as Othellos antagonist embodies vengeance and hatred to move an agenda to squash all who oppose Iagos plans. As defined by Merrium-Webster the definition of a protagonist is a principal character in a literary work or a leading actor, character, or participant in a literary work . Othello by Shakespeare is a play about Othello an example
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
George Orwell s Writing Style - 997 Words
The English language changes dramatically over time, effecting how English writers formulate their words; some argue that these changes are not for the better. In the essay ââ¬Å"Politics and the English Language,â⬠George Orwell evaluates both modern and past works, and elaborates on his views of how language degrades. He conveys that the modern writing style needs considerable improvement. Orwell wants writers and speakers, such as politicians, to adjust their phrasing to favor clarity. At first, Orwell uses modern language errors in his own writing to demonstrate their impracticality, then he reveals how modern writers dupe their readers, in the end Orwell warns his audience of the harmful effects of deficient writing. Right away, the author derides the modern writing style to establish the framework of his message. Orwell lists examples of ââ¬Å"badâ⬠modern phrasing throughout his essay. In one instance, he uses a mocking tone before listing a number of imprope r phrases, asserting that they ââ¬Å". . . save the trouble of picking out appropriate verbs and nounsâ⬠(Orwell 3). The author does not literally mean that the phrases he lists avoid the necessity of choosing the right words; he uses the words ââ¬Å"save the troubleâ⬠as a kind of joke. He applies a sarcastic tone to make his audience take the use of these phrases less seriously. His wittiness makes the phrases that modern writers use seem almost laughable because they are so unclear in their complexity. Through his mockery, heShow MoreRelatedAnalysis on 19841207 Words à |à 5 PagesForeshadowing is often used to predict death or fortune and can be valuable for the reader s comprehension. In the novel 1984, George Orwell depicts a utopian society and a totalitarian government. Society is at constant war and freedom is crumbling. Death is everywhere along with poverty, and censorship. One can neither write their thoughts nor talk criticize the government. In his novel, George Orwell foreshadows death and decay of society to illustrate the theme of fate. Foreshadowing is usedRead MoreAnalysis Of George Orwell s Dystopia 881 Words à |à 4 PagesOne of the most prominent examples of the hot topic today, ââ¬Å"Dystopiaâ⬠, was a novel written and published in 1949 by Secker and Warburg. Its name being ââ¬Å"1984â⬠by George Orwell. ââ¬Å"Big brother is always watching,â⬠the language the author utilizes drops subtle hints from time to time about what could possibly happen in the real world in near future. 1984 still remains one of the most intense and powerful warning signals about the peril of total government control. TheRead MoreCritical Analysis and Evaluation of 1984, by George Orwell.1487 Words à |à 6 PagesGeorge Orwell 1984 The New American Library Copyright 1961 George Orwell George Orwell, whose real name was Eric Blair, was born in Bengal, India, in 1903. When he was eight years old, as it was customary, his mother brought him back to England to be educated. He was sent to a boarding school on the south coast, a school whose students were sons of the upper class. He was allowed in with lower tuition and not being from a wealthy background, he was subject to snobbery of the others at the schoolRead MoreAnalysis Of George Orwell s Everyday Life 1380 Words à |à 6 PagesFrom writing in our diaries to reporting on major political wars, we use words to express our ideas and spread news. However, what if those very same words were the source of dishonesty and lies in the world today? In his essay Politics and the English Language, George Orwell explains how language is used to hide facts that may sound displeasing to the public, while in his text The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (1901), Sigmund Freud proves how language is used to hide unacceptable tho ughts deepRead MoreAnalysis Of George Orwell s The Animal Of Power 1129 Words à |à 5 Pagestyrant evokes in money and dominance. George Orwell conveys his interpretation of greed by utilizing the aim and the purpose of a fable. A fable teaches a moral lesson to the world and usually uses characters that speak and behave like humans. Early in George Orwellââ¬â¢s novella, an example of greed is provided when the pigs steal the apples and milk for themselves under the false simulation of it being for the merit of the farm ââ¬Å"to preserve our [pigs] healthâ⬠(Orwell 52). Squealer decieted the farm animalsRead MoreGeorge Orwell Character Analysis1422 Words à |à 6 PagesEveryone has at least one person who has changed there life, either for better or for worse. There is that one person who made a difference. For George Orwell, it is easy to assume, that person was his first wife, Eileen Oââ¬â¢shaughnessy. She not only impacted his life, but also his writing, for examp le, 1984, and some of his female characters. Orwell first met Miss Oââ¬â¢shaughnessy in 1935 at a party that he and his landlord was hosting. He described her as ââ¬Å"talkative and livelyâ⬠and she had lifted herRead MoreJonathan Swift s Modest Proposal1562 Words à |à 7 PagesEmpire. Thesis: Jonathan Swift s Modest Proposal is the most effective in conveying its proposal against Imperialism as a universal theme. Directional Statement: Jonathan Swift s Modest Proposal successfully uses evidence to support its proposal and an effective style of writing. It also presents a clearly defined problem and solution compared to George Orwell s ââ¬Å"Shooting an Elephantâ⬠and Thomas Jefferson s ââ¬Å"Declaration of Independenceâ⬠. Point 1: Swift s Modest Proposal effectively usesRead MoreGeorge Orwell s Animal Farm And Ariel Dorfman s Rebellion Of The Magical Rabbits1893 Words à |à 8 PagesBoth George Orwellââ¬â¢s Animal Farm and Ariel Dorfmanââ¬â¢s Rebellion of the Magical Rabbits share the idea that peopleââ¬â¢s ignorance can contribute to their political and social oppression. These stories are both different, but at the same time are completely the same. The stories both have a different plot but have the same deeper meaning of ignorance leading to people s social and political oppression. George Orwell used real life experiences of when political leaders took over the Soviet Union and createdRead MoreAnimal Farm Or Ussr Part II1243 Words à |à 5 PagesCliffy Smith James Hensley Pre-IB LA 10 10 April 2015 Animal Farm or USSR Part II Animal Farm written by George Orwell is a hopeful novel about a group of animals that overthrow their farmer and create an animalistic government. Much like All the Kingââ¬â¢s Men a novel by Robert Penn Warren, Animal Farm has strong political undertones relating to the the skewed government of Soviet Russia. Throughout the book many animal characters can be identified with the political leaders and influences throughoutRead MoreGovernment Surveillance And Totalitarianism In George Orwells 19841593 Words à |à 7 PagesCorrelation of Government Surveillance and Totalitarianism in 1984 During the production of 1984, author George Orwell never envisioned a tangible reality housing the society he constructed. He wrote the novel as a warning, a cautious exposà © showing those what could happen if society lost its sense of humanity; housed in a painfully relevant satire of totalitarian barbarism. In his novel 1984, George Orwell addresses the issue of government surveillance through his strategic use of point of view and tone
Romanticism in France Essay Example For Students
Romanticism in France Essay In France, romanticism is ï ¬ rst of all a revolt against a ï ¬ rmly entrenched classicism. In this respect, French romanticism is markedly diï ¬âerent from romanticism in England, Germany, or Spain, where classicism had been less in accord with the national temper and had not risen to the glorious heights of the century of Corneille, Racine, and Moliere. It is not surprising therefore that classicism, having produced so rich a literature of profound psychological insight, should have prolonged its dominance in France, to aconsidcrable degree,even into the early years of the nineteenth century. It is signiï ¬ cant too that in France, romanticism established itself ï ¬ rst in prose with Rousseau and his successors, then in poetry with Lamartine, and only at last in drama with the ï ¬ nal triumph of Hugoââ¬â¢s Hemamââ¬â¢ in 1830. This sequence corresponds to the degree of resistance in these three literary forms. The victory over the codiï ¬ ed rules of classic tra gedy could come in France only after a long ï ¬ ght extending over more than a hundred years. This explains why so much of French debate about the theories of romanticism turns about the drama. Jacques-Louis David, Marat Assassinated, 1793, oil on canvas, 165 x 64.96 cm (Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium) The history of this battle of old and new tendencies through the eighteenth century has been many times recounted. Foreign inï ¬âuences, Shakespeare, Ossian, Goetheââ¬â¢s Werlher, and others, play their part. There are critics who, resenting the triumph of romanticism, see in it a movement alien to the French spirit, an unfortunate apostasy from classicism due to the bancful inï ¬âuence of the literatures of England and Germany. This, however, is an emotional reaction, not a sound historical viewpoint. In refutation of such an interpretation, it may be pointed out that the eighteenth century in France early saw a resurgence of feeling in opposition to that rather perfect equilibrium between reason and sentiment which has been called classicism.ââ¬Ë Already at the end of the seventeenth century, quietistic mysticism, the ââ¬Å"torrents of tearsâ⬠in Fà ©nelonââ¬â¢s Tà ©lemaque (1699), are indications of a new orientation. Even before the Abbà © Prà ©vost, in a number of ways a forerunner of romanticism, had come in contact with England at the end of 1728, he had published the first volumes of his sentimental novel, the Mà ©mozres dââ¬â¢un 110mm: tie quaIilà ©. His next work of ï ¬ ction, Clà ©veland (1731ââ¬â39), drew more tears of sympathy from Rousseau, as the Confessionsââ¬Ë tell us, than even the lat- terââ¬â¢s own poignant sufferings. Prà ©vost himself lived in some measure the experiences of Des Grieux and of Manon Lescaut before he published in 1731 his masterpiece, which is one of the few French novels of the eighteenth century to live with a full life today. The â⬠weepy comediesâ⬠of La Chausstââ¬Ëe are another important indication of tendencies changing from within. Even before foreign inï ¬âuences began to make themselves deeply felt, it appears, then, that the current in France was already setting in a new direction. Moreover, it is now clear to historians of litera- ture that the seeds of inï ¬âuence, foreign or domestic, do not take root and grow until the soil is prepared to receive them. The French found stimulus in foreign works, in many ways so strikingly diï ¬ erent from their own; but they took from them only what was increasingly in accord with the gradually changing taste of the time. French romanticism still remained French: it did not become English or German. The inï ¬âuence of Rousseauââ¬â¢s personality as manifested in the posthumousCon/essians published on the eve of the French Revolution, the great vogue of the Nowell: Heloise (1761), are well known. Rousseau offers a natural background to the wave of autobiographical and subjective literature which characterizes in France, as in other countries of Europe, the ï ¬ rst half of the nineteenth century. His contribution and that of his successor and disciple, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, to the development of a more colorful, more personal prose style need not he insisted upon. It is clear that much of what we now call romanticism is already in being, without the name, in the latter half of the eighteenth century. Thà ©odore Gà ©ricault, Portrait of a Woman Suffering from Obsessive Envy, also known as The Hyena of the Salpà ªtrià ¨re, c. 1819-20, 72 x 58 cm (Musee des Beaux-Arts de Lyon) But what of the origin of this word romantic, which had hardly yet ac quired literary existence? The word is found in the last quarter of the seventeenth century in France with the meaning of ââ¬Å"romanesqueâ⬠in a derogatory sense.7 In 1745 the Abbeââ¬Ë Leblanc quotes the English word romantic, applies it to the new style of English garden, and translates it as ââ¬Å"about the same as picturesque. Rousseau, in his Rà ©verier du Praââ¬Ë mensur solitaire (written in 1777), describes the banks of Lake Bienne as ââ¬Å"wilder and more romantic than those of Lake Geneva.â⬠The word came to him apparently from an English correspondent, Davenport.â⬠Admitted to the Academy Dictionary in 1798, the word romantic is there deï ¬ ned as applying ââ¬Å"ordinarily to places and landscapes which recall to the imagination the descriptions of poems and novels.ââ¬â¢Ã¢â¬ à ° It was only a step to reverse this application and employ the word to indicate poems, novels, works of art which evoke the type of picturesque or solitary scene generally thought of as romantic.ââ¬Å" But it was Germany, as it seems, which caused this word, introduced into France from England, to be used particularly in opposition to clarric. With such a meaning the word appears, for example, in Mme de Staels hook, De lââ¬â¢Allemagm, published after (leIay by the censor in 1813.12 During the next ï ¬ fteen years, deï ¬ nitions of romant icism abound in France. Meanwhile, however, the French Revolution had come and gone. The work of Rousseau, thediscussion of the Hamlet monologue with its theme of suicide, the vogue of Goetheââ¬â¢s Wmlm from 1776 on, the popularity of Youngââ¬â¢s melancholy Night Thoughts, all show that it was not the great political upheaval of 1789 alone which produced that ma! du rià ©cle, which is so important a characteristic of Chateaubriand and of his romantic successors. Literary as well as political change was already in the air. Temporarily, indeed, the Revolution seems to have checked the (levelopment of romanticism. With the decline of Revolutionary ardor, Napoleon had fought his way to power and laid his iron hand upon thought and literature under the Empire. Although in earlier years he had paced up and down in his tent enthusiastically declaiming Ossian, later he threw his support to classic taste, which was already evident in much of the oratory of the Revolution. The heroic characters of Corneille appealed to Bonaparte as the apotheosis of the dangerous love of glory which he wished to inspire in, or impose upon, his French subjects.ââ¬Å" The censorship ruled out free speech or discouraged startling innovations. Moreover, many a young man of potential genius left his bones on the battleï ¬ elds of Europe. ââ¬Å"For nineteen years, as Dumas said, ââ¬Å"the enemyââ¬â¢s cannon mowed down the ranks of the generation of men from ï ¬ fteen to thirty-six years of age.â⬠ââ¬Å" Of those who survived, how many must have used up all their energies in political or military activity! But the Revolution had also a positive inï ¬âuence in sweeping away the dead wood of the past. The Salon: which had scorned Bernardin de Saint-Pierreââ¬â¢s Paul at Virginie (1787) could not prevent its popularity with the general public. They had lost their dominance of literary taste. Moreover, during the revolutionary years of turmoil, the conservative inï ¬âuence of the schools was temporarily suspended. A new public had been created by the Revolution, 3. public tired of the old forms of classic tragedy based upon the three unities, a public which preferred the rapid action, the sharp contrasts, and the new subjects of the melodrama of the boulevards, a public gradually preparing itself unconsciously for the Romantic theater of a Hugo or a Dumas. Eugà ¨ne Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People, oil on canvas, 2.6 x 3.25m, 1830 (Musà ©e du Louvre, Paris) It is at this time, when the way had been so well prepared, that Chateaubriandââ¬â¢s Atala (1801) came suddenly before a public eager to receive it. This idyl of primitivism gave to Rousseauââ¬â¢s ââ¬Å"noble savagesâ⬠a charm with which even he, working through imagination alone, had not been able to invest them. Moreover, all the color of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre passes into Chateaubriandââ¬â¢s brief novel, plus some of his own. Compare And Contrast Realism And Romanticism EssayAs for Italy, Mme de Stael, not only the literary critic, but also the author of the novel Corinne, au lââ¬â¢Ilalie (1807), had done much to promote the vogue of the country across the Alps. Venice will soon become the city par excellence of romantic lovers, like George Sand and Alfred de Musset. The Italian Renaissance particularly will offer a colorful setting for play and story. To Stendhal, Italy will appear the very incarnation of romantic energy. Under the force of inï ¬âuences at home and abroad, Hugo moves out of his neutrality. The romantic Ceââ¬Ënacle takes form about him as the strong, energetic chief for whom the new movement has been waiting. He publishes in 1827 the important romantic manifesto, the Prà ©face to Cromwell. Like Mme de Stael, Hugo too seeks a national drama. This new drama will be inspired with the dualism found in Christianity.ââ¬Å" Henceà Hugoââ¬â¢s celebrated theory of the Sublime and the Grotesque. Classic unity of tone is to give place to the mà ©lange des genres, thc sharp contrasts seen in life itself, the saints and gargoyles of the medieval cathedral. ââ¬Å"All in Nature is in Art,â⬠says Hugo.â⬠The triumph of Hugoââ¬â¢s colorful, romantic play, Hemam, follows on February 25, 1830. The story of that battle between classicists and ro- manticists has been too many times narrated to be told again here. It is sufï ¬ cient to remind ourselves that there were still ardent classicists in France and that the victory of romanticism was by no means assured. The ï ¬ ght was hot. But, with the increasing popularity of Hemam, it became evident that classic tragedy was at length dead. The great tragedies of Corneille and of Racine still live with a life of their own. But the power of the classic rules to impose their form upon all drama was gone forever. â⬠Romanticism,â⬠said Hugo, ââ¬Å"is Liberalism in literature.â⬠Let the nineteenth century, he had already written two years before, become identiï ¬ ed with ââ¬Å"Liberty in Art.ââ¬Å" Here again is one of the outstanding accomplishments of romanticism in France. It is deï ¬ nitelyamovemcnt of liberation in literature. But the greatest literary achievements of French romanticism are to be found neither on the stage nor in such colorful evocations of the past as Hugoââ¬â¢s historical novel, No!reà »Dame dz Paris (1831). Most romantic novels and plays of the period are psychologically false, built to formula, rather than in accordance with the complex truths of human character. It is in lyric poetry that French romanticism, like that of other nations, found its most enduring triumphs. Here depth of personal feeling, power of expression, the reviviï ¬ cation of the language, all united to produce the great poetry of Lamartine, Vigny, Hugo, and Musset. It is not without signiï ¬ cance that, to the French, Hugo is primarily, not a dramatist, not a novelist, but a poet. In poetry, his inï ¬ nite variety of expression and subject, his extraordinary mastery of language, the rich ï ¬âow of his striking ï ¬ gures of speech, his remarkable ability to run the gamut from the most biting invective or the heights of epic grandeur to the depths of tenderness and sentiment or the whimsical indulgent love of agrandfather for the vagaries of childhood, these unique qualities made him, in spite of defects, the dominant French literary genius of his century. There is no time to speak of the thoughtful, courageous pessimism of Vigny, of the Winsome, tragic charm of Musset. It is sufï ¬ cient to remind ourselves of the lasting contributions made by romantic poetry to the rich pageant of French literature. Brieï ¬ây, and with many necessary omissions, we have followed the de- velopment of French romanticism to the moment of its triumph. To what conclusions may we come? It is noteworthy that romanticism in France looks out upon the external world and at the same time inward upon manââ¬â¢s human and mystical longings. 0n the one hand, as never before to the same degree, is the emphasis upon local color, â⬠la couleur locale,â⬠the sensitiveness to visual detail, to the sense impressions of sound, and, to a lesser extent than later in the century, to those of odor and perfume. In this respect, the romanticists descend no doubt from Locke and the French â⬠sensationalistsâ⬠like Condillac, but in description Rousseau, Bernardin de Saintââ¬âPierre, and Chateaubriand have deï ¬ nitely shown the way. On the other hand, reacting against the rationalistic scepticism of the â⬠ideologuesâ⬠of the eighteenth century, the romanticists are deeply conscious of the mystery of human life. The ââ¬Å"frisson mà ©taphysiqueâ⬠is frequently present in their work. A religion of feeling, if not of doctrine, is strongly evident among the typical romantics as it had been before them with Rousseau and Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. In this respect, eighteenth-century deism continues its inï ¬âuence, but made more attractive by the color and emotion with which the great romantic writers were able to invest it. If romanticism is in some respects to be regarded as a return to admiration otââ¬Ë the Middle Ages, it is also a natural continuation of the freedom and exuberance of the Renaissance. Rousseau was a profound admirer of Montaigne, and Sainte-Beuve found in sixteenth-century French poetry the ancestry of his contemporaries, the great romantic poets of the nineteenth.ââ¬Ë The individualism of the Renaissance reappears in the French romantic movement. Yet classic order and logic persist also in French romanticism. The sense for balanced form and composition still remains strong. In this respect, there is less of subtle mystery, less wayward caprice in literary style and structure, during the French movement, than in England or Germany.ââ¬Å" French romanticism, though varied, remains clear. The French of this period do not warmly welcome the metaphysical complexities of German romantic theory. The fantastic takes no deep hold upon the writers of outstanding genius. The great French romantics have no cult of obscurity, no great liking for the supernatural, no search or à the ââ¬Å"Blue Flower.ââ¬Å" The classicism against which romanticism was so deï ¬ nitely a reaction still continued to exert a potent inï ¬âuence in France. What of the results ofromanticism? Above all, romanticism established the right of a new literature to come into being. This in itself was a great achievement. It is henceforth to be admitted that literature must change with the times. New schools, even those directly opposed to romanti cism, owe it, then, a great debt. A cosmopolitan appreciation of exotic and foreign literatures, breadth of literary taste, are also anatural consequence. Moreover, romanticism does not end with the fall of Hugoââ¬â¢s Bmgnn-es in 1843. There is romantic ââ¬Å"mal du sià ¨cle in the tortured soul of Baudelaire, romantic color and yearning held in reluctant check in Flaubert. Zolaââ¬Ës magniï ¬ cent crowd scenes evoke the epic grandeur of similar scenes in Hugoââ¬â¢s Noireââ¬âDame de Paris. In fact, it is generally agreed that many of Zolaââ¬â¢s most striking qualities, particularly his power to seize the imagination with a kind of poetic vision of reality, his vivid personiï ¬ cat ion of inanimate objects, are essentially romantic. Moreover, il realism is a reaction against romanticism, it is also a direct outââ¬âgrowth of it. The romantic local color of a Chateaubriand or of a Hugo needs only to become more accurate and to deal with contemporary settings in order to give rise to the realistic descriptions of a Balzac. At the end of the nineteenth century, symbolist poetry in France goes at length beyond romantic eloquenceââ¬Å"5 to express more fully the mysticism and the sometimes obscure music which French romanticism, still inherently logical, as we have seen, under the long dominance of the Classic tradition, hinted at but did not completely accept, as it was more instinctively accepted in England and Germany.ââ¬Å" In this respect, the symbolists are a continuation and a natural culmination of the romantic movement. In the face of a certain number of violent enemies of romanticism, who have looked at it unhistoricallyââ¬â¢7 and too often have concentrated attention upon the ââ¬Å"lunatic fringeâ⬠of eccentric and secondary ï ¬ gures, we need only to imagine French literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries without a preceding romantic movement, in order to see how inï ¬ nitely poorer modern literature would thus have been, lessà olorful, less concerned with emotion, less sensitive to all the deep mystery and complexity of human life.
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