Literature of the Enlightenment
The literature of the eighteenth century was influenced by the principles and ideas of the Enlightenment that appeared in England, under the influence of the scientific revolution of the XVII century, and later the movement spread to France, Germany and other European countries. Rationalism and free-thinking were the bases of this movement. The main idea of the Enlightenment is the negation of all divine; especially it affected Christianity that was considered as the primary source of mistakes and superstitions (Brewer 12). The writers of the Enlightenment believed that humanity entered in the period of reason, goodness and justice. They struggled with the church, demanding for equality of all citizens before…show more content… The play caused a storm of indignation from the influential aristocrats and clerics. In the image of Tartuffe, society saw a satire on its members and made the prohibition of the play. The comedy “Tartuffe” had a great social implication. Moliere portrayed one of the harmful social vices - hypocrisy. In the “Preface” to “Tartuffe”, the most important theoretical document, Moliere explained the meaning of his play. He declared that “If the function of comedy is to correct men's vices, I do not see why any should be exempt” (Wilbur 215). Hypocrisy was the main vice of the French government of the time when Moliere lived and created, and it became the object of his satire. The author represented a deep picture of what happened in France. Hypocrites such as Tartuffe, despots and scammers dominated in the country and made different crimes with impunity. Moliere painted a picture aimed to alert those who ruled the country. The author used a wide variety of devices: the elements of farce (Orgon hides under the table), a comedy of intrigue (story about box with documents), a comedy of manners (the scene in the house of a rich bourgeois), and a comedy of characters.
Another masterpiece of the Enlightenment is the work of Voltaire “Candide”, where the author presented feudal society in critical manner. Voltaire, disappointed by his own…show more content… The main idea of the “Candide” consists of work, allowing a person to forget his/her pitiable condition by getting rid of “the three great evils: boredom, vice and need” (Pearson 28). Wandering of the characters was the occasion to ridicule the government, theology, military science, literature, art and metaphysics. Voltaire derided the church that was looking for the causes of the imperfection of the world in people's depravity. Even the appearance of the Lisbon earthquake was explained by the Church as the consequences of heresy. In his work, Voltaire claimed that a person's life is hard, but supportable, so people can not fall into despair. The main formulation of Candide life is the statement: “We must cultivate our garden” (Pearson 19). These famous words of Voltaire expresses the result of the Enlightenment’s thought: everyone should clearly limit its field of activity, their “garden”, and work on it steadily, constantly, cheerfully, without discrediting the usefulness and meaning of their activities, as well as a gardener cultivated his garden every day. The key to the whole work of Voltaire is in this statement. Social optimism of the author, his belief in the “eternal tree of life”, representing progress of