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Unit 3: The Age of Reason

  1660-1780

1. The Age of Reason in Europe

1. The Age of Reason in Europe
  •General intellectual and literary movement: Enlightenment 
            –Enlightenment: characterized by Rationalism 
            •Rationalism: a philosophy the emphasized the role of reason rather than sensory experience or faith in answering basic questions of human existence
 •Ideals:
     –Intellectual Freedom 
    –Freedom from prejudice and superstition in religion and politics 
 •As in all Ages: Behavior often did not match ideals

2. The Age of Reason in England

English version of Rationalism: experience & reason should be given equal place when examining the human condition
     –This made the English less “Rational” than the French and other continental versions 
    –Many of the most important writers of this period were opposed to the rationalist ideas of social progress and human perfectibility

3. The Age of Reason = The Neoclassical Age

•Many of the authors based their prose and poetry on classical models 
  •Classical here refers to Ancient Greece and Rome 
  •Classical writers are people like Homer, who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey, or Ovid wrote the Annelid.   

4. An Age Concerned with:

 •Manners and morals
•Understanding themselves
•Understanding the immediate world
•Understanding their relationship with others.

5. An Age Influenced by: John Locke

Picture
•John Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690), which argued that “our business here is not to know all things, but those which concern our conduct.”

Picture

6. The Age was also stimulated by great Scientists

  •Sir Isaac Newton: 
                –Principa (1687) first set forth the laws of gravitation
•It was a period that advocated the use of scientific method to test old theories and to develop new knowledge.

7. The Early Years, 1660-1700: The Restoration of the Monarchy

Picture
King Charles II

8. The Restoration brought many changes to England.

  •The Anglican Church was once again the established church
•Charles II reopened theaters, which that puritans had closed, and even sponsored a troop of actors 
•1662: Charles II chartered the Royal Society. 
    –This made scientific activities and investigations official 
    –The Society required the use of the scientific method in all of its investigations 
    –Required that reports be written in clear, simple prose.

9. London had been receiving a shift in population from the country to town.  It became a thriving city, yet it suffered two major disasters in rapid succession.

•Plague 
            –1665: sickness ran rapid through the city 
            –70,000 of London’s inhabitants were killed 
•Fire
             –1666: June –When the plague abated, fire broke out
             –It took 5 days to extinguish 
            –It left 2/3 of the population homeless

10. Coffee Houses

Picture
  •1652: The first Coffee House Opened in London

  - Here the middle and upper-class rubbed shoulders with writers and thinkers

  - It provided a place where men could meet, talk, drink coffee, and sometimes conduct business

By the end of the century several thousand coffee houses were in existence


11. Changes in Literature

Old

  •Love Sonnets

•Flowery and ornate writing styles

•Boy actors portrayed female characters

•Major plays were Heroic Tragedies

New

  •Satirical verses aimed at correcting people’s behavior in society

•The periodical essay was intended to be short and for the middle class

•Actresses played female roles

•The Restoration plays were licentious  and focused on multiple plots concerning infidelity and acting in ways that were unsuitable according to one’s station in life

12. The Middle Years: 1700-1744

 •Queen Anne: 1702-1714
    –Died without an heir
•George I of Hanover, Germany: 1714-1727
    –Great-Grandson of James I
    –Had Stuart Blood
     –Was acceptable to Parliament
    –Was Protestant –Spoke German and spent most of his time in Germany
•George II: 1727-1760


The absent Kings lead to a rise in the power of the Prime Minister

13. England's Two Major Political Parties

The Whigs

–Favored reforms and progress
–Preferred a powerful parliament over a powerful monarchy
- They wielded the most power during the middle years.
- They favored a new mercantile class living in London
- They fostered trade and contributed to the growth of cities and international trade. 

The Tories

–Were opposed to change
–Favored Royal power and the established Church of England.

14. The Rise and Growth of the Middle Class

•The middle class had begun to merge with landed gentry through:
     – Marriage
    –Concerns for wealth and property
    –Movement into a position of social dominance
Jobs were opening up in: Mining, Construction and factories.  All of these jobs were spurred by the invention of electric machinery, and this would eventually result in the Industrial Revolution.

Download the Power Point file to read the rest of the notes.

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