Romanticism Intro Tasks

The Sublime
- We hate being reminded of how we are small and insignificant.
- 18th C philosopher Edmund Burke thought these experiences were
wonderful and important
- To explain what we meant he developed the idea of the sublime
- Book: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the
Sublime and Beautiful (published 1757)
- Modern language sublime means very, very nice
- The actual meaning links to this but different
- For Burke a sublime experience is a nice one, but nice for a strange
reason, it makes us feel insignificant
- Being slightly humiliated is actually something we relish
- He picked up on a sector of human experience which before him had
been totally ignored
- Example: a storm  we feel powerless, we feel we’re nothing in the
face of the violence of nature, but this helps us put things into
perspective  the irritants of daily life seem less significant
- Burke liked Paradise Lost, which describes the cosmic battle between
God and Satan
- ^ stories like these make the inconveniences of ordinary life seem
idiotically minor
- Burke believes this is a good way to be made to feel small.
- When we feel small in some ways, we become better, good, and large
in other dimensions
- Bits of our ego and pride seem less impressive
- This makes us more tolerant, more thoughtful of the world around us,
and less wrapped up in our own concerns
- The sublime is a useful corrective
- It restores perspective and that’s why we like it
 - The sublime is a beneficial psychological maneuver
- Shows its utility when we get caught up in the details of an immediate
situation
- The sublimes role in life got a name, became clearer and used more
- The sublime immerged at first in connection to the arts and nature
- Very easy to access and see it here
- But the sublime is something we need to build into our lives on a daily
basis
- Religions (Christianity) used to set up meetings with the sublime every
Sunday
- ^ after working long days during the week gods sacrifice of his son, the
history in architecture, music that makes us feel connected to the
whole of and our humanity
- The sublime moves us more than the beautiful
- Beauty gives us pleasure
- Sublime terrifies us
- Sublime links to feelings of pain, we focus on living and surviving, not
small menial tasks

Frankenstein

- https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/frankenstein/

French Revolution (1789)

- France was in financial ruin but the rich stayed rich
- Upper class enjoyed upper living and fine dining, throwing parties
often
- 80% of the population were poor, worked hard for very little, rich lived
off their backs
- France went to war with Britain for 7 years and lost, now in debt

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 - They expected the peasants to make the money back, whilst the rich
kept enjoying upper class living, they reaped the benefits the poor
provided them with
- Age of enlightenment – began to question the way France was run,
why are the rich, rich - because they are born into it, do we need a
king? The system is unfair
- King Louie became king in 1774, he was a weak man and easily
manipulated by those around him
- Gave money to America to get revenge on the British
- Never got the money back
- More debt
- The queen spent all her money on herself – poor was angry
- Monarchy had no respect
- The poor got taxed so the rich could spend
- The harvest had to be given up by the poor due to taxes
- Peasants had to work days unpaid for their lords
- Tax collectors could be violent
- Tax laws weren’t consistent and the upper class had to pay very little
or none
- Harsh summers and winters killed the poors crop, they had no food or
money, the price of bread sky rocketed, and the rich has loads of
bread for themselves
- The poor were starving and get violent. They rioted.
- King made the estates general make the decision on what to do abut
the riots.
- Estates general were like a government, but it was purley an advisory
board and was rarely summoned
- It hadn’t been summoned previously for 175 years
- A government of the two upper classes and the poor was made
- Even though the poor was the majority of the population they got one
vote like the smaller upper-class groups. The poor were unhappy.
- They kept getting outvoted and taxed

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 - They couldn’t reform peacefully. Because they would be out voted.
They formed their own government with plans to take over the
country politically.
- The national assembly was formed
- The national assembly got kicked out the parliamentary building and
found their own.
- Tennis court oath – 1789 – pledge to not stop meeting until the king
gave into their demands for national reform and equality
- Two lawyers headed the reform attempt – Maximilien Robespierre
and Georges Danton
- Some upper class joined too
- Formed the Jacobin club
- They first wanted equality, then wanted to remove the king
- King got scared and called in the military around Paris
- The revolutionists feared the king would arrest them all and execute
them
- This fear turned to anger, and reform turned into revolution
- Upper class formed national guard and many members of the French
military joined
- July 14th, 1789, revolutionists raided military bas hotel les invalids and
stole rifles
- They then went to a prison, the bastille and stole gun powder
- They killed governor de Launay the head of the prison and took it over
- National assembly supported the murder, peace was gone
- Violence became normalized and led to the blood shed of the
revolution
- Jean Paul Marat – a social outcast – wrote and newspaper saying the
nobility will kill the people, so we must kill them first
- This became popular during revolution, increased fear
- With the help of Thomas Jefferson, the national assembly wrote ‘The
rights of man and of the citizen’
- Equal rights for me (ignored women)
- Women blamed this on them still starving and king doing nothing

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 - October 5th a large group of women confronted the king directly.
10,000s went.
- Members of the crowd broke into the palace, with the intent to kill the
queen
- She escaped but guards were killed
- The king had to partner with the revolutionary government after
talking to the women and went back to Paris with them
- The revolutionary government over years stripped away his power,
out of fear he complied
- Everyone now got taxed equally and the upper-class parties stopped
- King wanted to flee to wife’s country and take back his country
- June 20th, 1791, they disguised as servants and tried to flee to Austria
- They got caught and he was seen as a traitor
- 1791 new laws made him basically just a figure head
- The Jacobin club wanted him removed
- They protested this
- Military went to calm protest and killed revolutionists
- This shone a light on revolution divides
- Moderates wanted the king as a figure head
- Radicals wanted the king gone
- Radicals got popular
- (Side note) during revolution equality of execution was introduced, no
more cruel deaths, a quick and painless death, Joseph Guillotine
introduced the Guillotine (national razor) 1791
- Executions were called on anyone working against the revolution, this
included members of nobility (Jean Paul Marat was very much for this)
- Local lords became targets
- The upper-class French citizens fled France
- The countries around France feared ideas of revolution may spread to
them
- National assembly turned legislative assembly, feared these nations
may attack
- They (the revolutionists) France declared war on Austria in april 1792

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 - France got destroyed and Russia joined in the fighting
- The duke of Brunswick from Russia warned if anything happened to
the king he would burn Paris to the ground
- This made the people want to kill the kind. 1792 a massive attack on
the kings palace happened. He took refuge in legislative assembly.
- The monarchy got suspended
- Royalty made to live in prison to be watched
- Legislative assembly becomes national convention
- French national republic formed, society equal and good for awhile
- Cult of reason replaced catholic church – tension and fear rose
- Churches destroyed
- New calendar introduced
- San Culot arrested a lot of people for suspicion of treason (new leader)
- Foreign enemies were getting closer
- War broke out
- Prisoners were mobbed and tried/ executed on the spot
- The massacre spread across Europe
- The king was found guilty of treason and was executed
- The queen also died
- France was losing the war
- Everyone got conscripted
- Not everywhere outside of Paris agreed with revolution
- Counter revolution uprising broke out
- John Owl, lead revolution counter
- Dock city taken but taken back
- The second counter revolution tied people to ships and sunk them
- The economy got worse and there were lots of revolts
- The two revolution sides went to war against each other
- Politicians were arrested
- Charlotte Corday was horrified by the violence John Paul Maura
caused, she killed him, but he became a martyr
- The reign of terror: everyone turned against each other, anyone
against the revolution were killed.

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 - Government became a 12 man dictatorship
- September 1793 terror was the order of the day
- They ruled by fear
- Spies and secret police were everywhere
- If you disagreed you died
- Big or small ^
- 40,00 people killed
- People lied and turned on each other
- Marie 16th October 1793 died
- Food and military good
- Some tried to ease and be more peaceful
- Ros Piere (the revolution leader) went mental and killed anyone who
questioned him
- Created the cult of the supreme being
- Thought he was a god
- His committee turned on him and he was the final victim of the terror
- END OF THE REVOLUTION HISTORICALLY
- 1799 was actual end
- Government tried to calm situation but people turned on them \
- The directory was formed to stop people taking power
- People who wanted royals fought them
- Nepolian stopped the people from causing an organized uprising and
became general
- He took control of French armies
- Government wasn’t popular and bad
- Classes started mingling
- 1796 vienna attacked – nepolian won but signed a peace treaty
- Nepolian helped to stage a coup
- Took over the government
- Nepolian took over, restored France to peace and kinda how it was
before, but he did start the nepolionic wars

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‘The Terror’ of 1793-94
- Reign of Terror: A period of violence during the French Revolution incited
by conflict between two rival political factions, the Girondins and the
Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of “the enemies of the
revolution.” The death toll ranged in the tens of thousands, with 16,594
executed by guillotine and another 25,000 in summary executions across
France.

The Gothic
Gothic literature is a genre that emerged as one of the eeriest forms of
Dark Romanticism in the late 1700s, a literary genre that emerged as a part
of the larger Romanticism movement. Dark Romanticism is characterized by
expressions of terror, gruesome narratives, supernatural elements, and
dark, picturesque scenery, this links to the ideas of sublime, fascination in
horror from a distance, and the impact of nature on the individual.

18th C Enlightenment
- People used to believe natural disasters linked to god and the
supernatural 
- Though one earthquake caused the deaths of many, and the
destruction of churches, but many brothels survived. This changed
peoples views. 
- THE ENLIGHTENMENT 
- The enlightenment wasn’t just about calculations around the suns
orbit and theories about earthquakes. It was also quite social and
analysed the way people from other classes should relate to one
another, how people should relate to their government,and how
factories should function. 

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 - The “age of light” was where old views where brought to the light of
reason and questioned. It questioned the value of traditions. 
- This came around as Europe changed. People had luxuries like
chocolate, coffee, tea, and tobacco. Previously, Europe was a land of
famine but now with the transportation of food from other places like
America (such as potato and corn) meant new calories were coming in
and changed the previous ‘norm’ of the world being on the brink of
starvation. People also started to travel and see societies function
differently to them. Challenging their behaviours. 
- A key philosopher was Montesquieu who questioned outdated ways
of life. And made fun of it. Many people did this at this time. 
- Learning became more accessible too with encyclopaedias being
created. 

Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s ‘The Social Contract’

- https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/rousseau/section2/ 

Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s ‘Confessions’

- https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/rousseau/section4/ 

Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist known primarily for her six major
novels, which interpret, critique and comment upon the British landed
gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots often explore the
dependence of women on marriage in the pursuit of favourable social
standing and economic standing. In 1816, Jane began to suffer from ill-
health, probably due to Addison's disease. She travelled to Winchester to
receive treatment, and died there on 18 July 1817.

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  Mansfield Park (1814) 
 Northanger Abbey (1818)
 Sense and Sensibility (1811)
 Emma (1815)
 Persuasion (1818)
 Pride and Prejudice (1813)
(research these texts plots)

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