The Enlightenment in Europe

1
The Enlightenment in Europe

• Chapter 22, Section 2

2
Thomas Hobbes

• All humans were naturally selfish and wicked,
  therefore governments must keep order.
• People should hand over their rights to a strong
  ruler. This was what Hobbes called a social
  contract.
• Strong ruler should have total power (an absolute
  monarchy).
• This powerful government with awesome power is
  what he called a leviathan (sea monster)
  therefore he titled his book Leviathan (1651).

3
John Locke

• People were reasonable (though still selfish) and
  had the natural rights to life, liberty, and
  property.
• Purpose of government is to protect these natural
  rights.
• Government power comes from the consent of the
  people.

4
Voltaire

• Wrote more than 70 books of political essays,
  philosophy, and drama.
• Used satire against his enemies, especially the
  clergy.
• Beliefs
• Tolerance
• Reason
• Freedom of religious belief
• Freedom of speech
• I do not agree with a word you say but will
  defend to the death your right to say it.

5
Montesqieu

• Believed Britain was the best-governed and most
  politically balanced country of his own day.
• Proposed the separation of powers between
  executive, legislative, and judicial branches of
  government.
• Proposed checks and balances.

6
Jean-Jacques Rousseau

• Passionately committed to individual freedom.
• Believed man was born free and good but easily
  corrupted.
• Believed the only good government was the
  general will or direct democracy.

7
Cesare Bonesana Beccaria

• Beliefs
• Laws existed to preserve social order, not avenge
  crime.
• Accused should receive speedy trials.
• Torture should never be used.
• Degree of punishment should match seriousness of
  crime.
• Capital punishment (death penalty) should be
  abolished.

8
Mary Wollstonecraft

• Women should be equally educated along with men.
• Women should enter professions traditionally
  dominated by men like medicine and politics.
• Wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

9
Mary Shelley

• Daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft.
• Mistress and later wife of poet Percy Bysshe
  Shelley.
• Author of Frankenstein in the summer of 1816,
  Later published in 1818.

10
Frivolous But Interesting Information
11
Climate and the writing of Frankenstein

• April 1815, Mount Tambora on the island of
  Sumbawa, Indonesia erupts. This was the worlds
  largest eruption in 1,600 years. (7 on the
  Volcanic Explosivity Index)

12
Climate and the writing of Frankenstein
(continued)

• Immense amounts of volcanic dust ejected into the
  atmosphere.
• In the summer of 1816 temperatures in northern
  Europe, Canada, and the northeastern United
  States were at record lows. Crop failures
  occurred when a May frost destroyed crops already
  planted.
• 1816 has since been called The Year Without a
  Summer.

13
Climate and the writing of Frankenstein
(continued)

• Effects of this volcanic winter throughout the
  world
• Westward migration from the colder New England
  states in the United States in search of the
  richer soil of the upper Midwest
• Food shortages, rioting and looting of food
  stores in Europe which was also recovering from
  the effects of the Napoleonic Wars
• Storms and abnormal rainfall in Europe causing
  massive flooding of rivers
• Unusually low temperatures, including summer
  snowfall in China causing famine
• Brown and red snow falling in Hungary and Italy
  from the presence of volcanic ash in the
  atmosphere

14
Climate and the writing of Frankenstein
(continued)

• Inventions sparked by this volcanic winter
• Velocipede (now called bicycles) invented because
  of a lack of grain to feed horses
• Chemist Justus von Liebig, who experience this
  famine as a child, researched and introduced
  chemical fertilizers into agriculture.

15
Climate and the writing of Frankenstein
(continued)

• The Shelleys (Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin calling
  herself Mary Shelley though she is not yet
  married to Percy) spend the summer with Lord
  Byron at his villa by Lake Geneva in Switzerland.
• The weather being too cold to carry out normal
  summer activities, the group reside indoors
  staying up all night in intellectual discussions.
  They often sit around the fire reading German
  ghost stories.

Illustration from the 1831 edition.
16
Climate and the writing of Frankenstein
(continued)

• Lord Byron suggests that to entertain themselves
  indoors each of them write his or her own
  supernatural tale.
• During this time Mary Godwin conceived of the
  idea for Frankenstein.
• Therefore, being shut in due to the weather
  caused by a volcanic winter brought about the
  occasion of the writing of this famous novel.

Boris Karloff as the Monster in 1931.