Transcript Background Notes:

Background Notes:
The Restoration Period (1660-1800)
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In 1660, the English monarchy was restored after
nearly 20 years of civil war and repressive Puritan
rule.
Then the plague descended, followed by a
devastating fire in London.
The English were ready for a period of stability in
which the conservative values of order, decorum,
and clarity were of the utmost importance.
Despite the loss of the American Colonies, the
reinvigorated British military forces established
new settlements around the Globe.
Though life for many was wretched, the middle
class grew.
William Hogarth
Marriage a la Mode
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Throughout this period, British men and
women also produced many brilliant works
of philosophy, art, and literature.
This period has been given many names: The
Restoration, the Age of Reason, The
Neoclassical, and the Enlightenment.
Labels like “The Age of Reason” and “The
Enlightenment” reveal how people were
gradually changing their views of themselves
and of the world.
People began asking how instead of simply
why
New scientific and rational explanations of
phenomena gradually began to affect some people’s
religious views. If comets, for example, were not sent
by God to warn people, perhaps God didn’t interfere
at all in human affairs. Perhaps, the universe was like
an immense piece of clockwork, set in motion by a
Creator who more or less withdrew from this
perfect mechanism and let it run by itself.
 This view led people to believe that “Whatever is, is
right” as noted by Alexander Pope. This ideology is
called deism.
 The French writer Voltaire ridiculed this idea in his
novel Candide though.
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A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery
Joseph Wright of Derby
Politics determined people’s religion. Charles II
reestablished the Anglican Church as the official
church of the country.
 Charles II had a number of illegitimate children,
but no legal heir. When he died in 1685, he was
succeeded by his brother James II, a practicing
Roman Catholic. Most English people were
utterly opposed to James. After all, it was widely
believed that Roman Catholics had not only set
fire to London and caused other disasters, but
were also actively plotting to hand the country
over to the pope.
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Life among the Have-Nots:
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For the poor, life is always hard, but during
the Restoration and 18th century, the poor
lived in deplorable conditions, without the
aid of doctors or police, and beyond the
reach of education, religion, and charity. They
also lived under the threat of debtor’s
prisons, where torture was common.
Overcrowding in London’s tenements and
workhouse reached an all-time high. Entire
families lived in one-room garrets or cellars
infested with rats, lice and bedbugs.
William Hogarth
Gin Lane
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Adding to the filth and discomfort,
household garbage and human waste were
thrown out into the streets. Butcher shops
and slaughterhouses tossed bloody remnants
into open drains that intersected with
streets and walkways.
In the worst years, more than 74 percent of
London’s children died before the age of five.
Many of those who survived were forced to
work for a living as soon as physically able
and they often suffered abuse from their
guardians or employers.
The Age of Satire: Attacks on
Immorality and Bad Taste
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Today, Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift
are regarded as the most accomplished
literary artists of the early 18th century.
Although Pope addressed his works
exclusively to the educated and leisure
classes, he also attacked the members of
these classes for their immorality and their
bad taste.
Pope loved order, discipline, and
craftsmanship; both he and Swift were
appalled by the squalor and shoddiness that
underlay the surfaces of life.
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Swift shared many of Pope’s attitudes and
ideals, and his exposure to the mean and
sordid in human behavior.
Both writers hated the corrupt politics of
the time and the growing commercialism and
materialism of the English people.
Poets of this time wrote poetry of “wit.” For
example, a poet might decide that a certain
type of behavior, or even a certain
conspicuous person, should be exposed to
public ridicule. The poet would then write a
satire.
Jonathan Swift
Swift, who grew up poor but received an
education thanks to his uncle, was fated to live in
Ireland, though he desperately wanted a career in
England. As a priest, he was assigned to remote
parishes in the Irish countryside. Ireland seemed
to be inhabited mainly by Roman Catholic
natives-people whom Swift neither admired nor
respected.
 He did not write for fame or for money; most of
his books and pamphlets were published
anonymously. Nor did he write to entertain;
Swift’s aim in writing was to improve human
conduct.
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Gulliver’s Travels (a collection of satirical dystopias
and utopias) attacks many different varieties of
human misbehavior, vices and follies.
 Eventually, Swift became pro-Irish and defended
the Irish against the oppressive policies of their
English rulers.
 The most famous of his pamphlets is A Modest
Proposal. Swift makes his proposal all the more
outrageous by assuming the voice of an economic
planner. It is the difference between Swift’s
objective, sober, and straightforward style and the
appalling content that gives Swift’s pamphlet its
force.
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Jonathan Swift