"PERSIAN LETTERS, THE" (MONTESQUIEU).   Term Paper ID:25045 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Analyzes author's fictional critique of French society, people & politics of Enlightenment era.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Analyzes author's fictional critique of French society, people & politics of Enlightenment era. Paper Introduction: In his book The Persian Letters, Montesquieu observes his own society through the eyes of his fictional characters, the Persian travelers Usbek and Rica, whose views are expressed in their letters home. In this paper, I will show how Montesquieu makes use of this device to comment on his own society and to develop a satiric view of that society by using the Persians as substitutes, providing a safe distance between himself and his criticisms. This view will be developed by indicating how the Persians serve their creator as conduits through which to filter French society, allowing an insider (Montesquieu) to comment as an outsider (the Persians) and so to bring a fresh perspective on the issues raised. What Montesquieu thinks about life in his era is shown by means of the comments of the Persians in their Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. He made it the base for a searching attack on the whole system of the government of Louis XIV. At the time, as Usbek notes, some countries in Europe had subjectswho were submissive to their rulers, while others did not: "The English,for example, with their restive disposition, hardly give their king thetime to assert his authority."[6] The view that Usbek expresses regardingthe duty the ruler has to the people is similar to that expressed byEnlightenment figures such as John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and Jean-JacquesRousseau, ideas which would lead to the French Revolution late in the nextcentury: But if a ruler, so far from keeping his subjects happy, wants to tyrannize or destroy them, the basis of obedience is lost; nothing unites them, nothing attaches them to him; and they go back to their natural liberty. One result of this approach is to broaden the perspective of thereader to accept that human beings are more varied and have greatercultural differences than one might otherwise imagine and also to acceptthose cultural differences as different manifestations of being human, andthis can be shown in the way Montesquieu treats his material. The corruption of the Court, the privileges of the nobles, the maladministration of the finances, the stupidities and barbarisms of the old autocratic régime--these are the topics to which he is perpetually drawing his reader's attention.[4]Montesquieu can place certain ideas about the ruling class in the mouths ofhis fictional Persians and so make it seem that an outsider, one returnednow to his own country and so safe from reprisals, has made the comment.Usbek, for instance, writes that he has seen the new monarch and notes howimportant is the life of the monarch not only to France but to all ofEurope, for the death of a king brings disturbances. Peden, and Theodore H. [12]Ibid., 183. But the hardest thing of all to believe is how much it costs for a husband to keep his wife in fashion.[12]Usbek also finds it surprising how obsessed the French are with fashion,yet he also finds that this has not weakened the nation as some mightexpect: "If the French had been conquered it would not be hard tounderstand, but it is they who have been the conquerors."[13] Thus Montesquieu comments on the strengths of the French people evenas he cites the weaknesses of many of their leaders, manifested in a numberof ways and found in the different segments of the social order meant toserve as examples: There are three estates in France: the Church, the nobles of the sword, and the nobles of the robe. What Montesquieuthinks about life in his era is shown by means of the comments of thePersians in their letters home, letters in which they marvel at culturaldifferences and so see French and European society as if for the firsttime. Landmarks in French Literature. Usbek is especiallycritical of Catholicism and refers to several of its practices in termsshowing them to be corrupt. The movement can bediscerned in England in the seventeenth century with the writings ofFrancis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes; it is seen in France with the new emphasison unaided reason as expressed in the works of René Descartes. He views religion from an outside standpoint; he regards it rather as one of the functions of administration than as an inner spiritual force. [1 ]Ibid., 165. Von Laue (eds.), 78-8 . [14]Ibid., 98.----------------------- 3 Usbek paints a portrait of the court as a place whereindividuals and groups vie for power and control: They say it is impossible to tell the character of Western kings until they have been subjected to two great ordeals, their mistress and their confessor. New York: Penguin, 1993.Strachey, Lytton. The Enlightenment is associated with a materialist view ofhuman beings, an optimism about human progress through education, and ageneral utilitarian approach to society and ethics. [9]Ibid., 81. Each has supreme contempt for the other two. It will not be long before we see both of them hard at work to seize control of the king's mind; it will be a mighty struggle.[5]One of the ideas that emerges from this book is a concept that developed inthe Enlightenment regarding the proper relationship between ruler andruled. [2]C.P. [11]Montesquieu, 182. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1923.----------------------- [1]Marquis de Condorcet, "On the Progress of Humanity," in Sources ofthe Western Tradition, Marvin Perry, Joseph R. For example, a man who ought to be despised because he is a fool is often despised only because he wears robes.[14]Such statements are more possible coming from the Persian than from theFrench writer Montesquieu. "Montesquieu." In French Literature and Its Background, John Cruickshank (ed.), 3 -44. The former is bewildered by his poverty, and the latter by his wealth. Every ten years there are upheavals which plunge rich men into destitution and swiftly raise the poor, as if on wings, to the heights of opulence. The Enlightenment is the name given tothe period in European history when writing and thought in general wascharacterized by an emphasis on experience and reason. Introducing a new sect into society is seen as away of correcting the defects of the old sect. Anotherwriter of the period, Condorcet, shows faith in progress and in the factthat such progress has already taken place, and he contrasts the past withhis present: After long periods of error, after being led astray by vague of incomplete theories, publicists have at last discovered the true rights of man and how they can all be deduced from the single truth, that man is a sentient being, capable of reasoning and of acquiring moral ideas. [13]Ibid., 185. In his book The Persian Letters, Montesquieu observes his own societythrough the eyes of his fictional characters, the Persian travelers Usbekand Rica, whose views are expressed in their letters home. BibliographyCondorcet, Marquis de. In this paper,I will show how Montesquieu makes use of this device to comment on his ownsociety and to develop a satiric view of that society by using the Persiansas substitutes, providing a safe distance between himself and hiscriticisms. even if every religion in the world gathered together there it would not do him any harm, since every single one of them commands obedience and preaches respect for authority.[1 ] Much of the work, however, is given to commenting on certain fashionsand foibles of the French people. [5]Montesquieu, 196. as for all the varieties of fanaticism and intolerance, he abhors them utterly.[8]This relates not merely to government but to religion as well, and the factthat the Persians are Islamic is used by Montesquieu to promote ideas oftolerance for religious differences while allowing the Persians to commenton the lack of tolerance they find throughout Europe. They maintain that unlimited authority can never be legitimate, because it can never have had a legitimate origin.[7] Strachey notes that this sort of criticism is general rather thanspecific and so develops ideas as to the kind of government thatMontesquieu sees as ideal: All these discussions are animated by a purely secular spirit. [3]Montesquieu, Persian Letters (New York: Penguin, 1993), 39. [7]Ibid., 191. VonLaue (eds.)(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995), 78-79. . Kings are human,however, and do die. This view will be developed by indicating how the Persiansserve their creator as conduits through which to filter French society,allowing an insider (Montesquieu) to comment as an outsider (the Persians)and so to bring a fresh perspective on the issues raised. .[1] Montesquieu is a representative of this same mode of thought, and assuch he exemplifies a dedication to rational thought: Cosmopolitan in outlook, and fascinated by the diversity of human societies, he believed that behind this diversity there lay intelligible principles discoverable by reason.[2]His cosmopolitan attitude is evident as he develops his Persian charactersand presents a Europe in which people from different backgrounds andcountries are brought together. This meant therewas a mistrust of religion and traditional authority, and one result wasthe gradual emergence of the ideals of liberal, secular, democraticsocieties. Persian Letters. [4]Lytton Strachey, Landmarks in French Literature (New York: HenryHolt and Company, 1923), 122-123. Courtney, "Montesquieu," in French Literature and ItsBackground, John Cruickshank (ed.)(New York: Oxford University Press,1968), 3 . New York: Oxford University Press, 1968.Montesquieu. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995.Courtney, C.P. Usbek notes the way society changes inEurope from time to time, changes indeed on a nearly regular basis as oneclass revolts against another: In no other country in the world is fortune so inconstant as it is here. Rulers as well wouldbenefit: It is no use to say that it is not in the king's interest to allow more than one religion in the state. [8]Ibid., 123. Usbek says thata multiplicity of religions is good because every religion has preceptsuseful to society, so many religions will encourage people to live up to avariety of such precepts. Montesquieu makes the claim that thePersians are real people who lodged with him for a time and who showed himthe letters which make up his book so that he could copy them.[3] LyttonStrachey note that the structure of this book was not original, for otherwriters had made use of the device of outsiders traveling through a countryand commenting on the people they met: But the uses to which Montesquieu puts this borrowed plot were all his own. Montesquieu may criticize his era, but he is still a product of thatperiod known as the Enlightenment. He notes first that this is a religion"burdened with an infinity of very difficult observances" and then notesthat if you do not want to follow the precepts of the religion "you go to abishop or the Pope, who immediately gives a dispensation."[9] Usbek alsonotes the value of tolerance and even extols its virtues for rulers whocurrently believe that they must limit religious freedoms. the man who has just become rich is amazed at the wisdom of providence, and the poor man at the blind inevitability of fate.[11]The French are said to be especially interested in fashion, and Usbek findsthis amazing: They have forgotten how they were dressed this summer; still less do they know how they will be dressed this winter. [6]Ibid., 19 . Peden, and Theodore H. "On the Progress of Humanity." In Sources of the Western Tradition, Marvin Perry, Joseph R. . If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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