A Study Of English Enlightenment And Literature From1688to1755

This paper is composed of four parts. In the first chapter, it narrates and summarizes the historical transition from Renaissance to18century, in aspect of Physical science, Theology, Philosophy and the rise of Middle Class, which has caused numerous influence on the society. Meanwhile it analyses the schism between the English empiricism and the Continent rationalism, which can be regarded as the derivation of sorts of thoughts. Consequently, in the17th and18th century, those thoughts constitute the predominant cultural background. At the last part of the first chapter, the writer brings out the relationship between the rise of Middle class and the development of Novel. Afterwards, the writer takes the different attitudes to the Moral principle construction as the analyzing perspective and the cornerstone of this paper. Secondly, the writer brings out the novelist’s literature practice such as Defoe, Swift, Richardson and Henry Fielding’s, and he drew a appropriate time scope from1688to1755,as the territory for the narration of moral construction. The writer fills the chapter two up with the narration of Defoe’s "economic individualism" heroes, and the moral predicaments caused by their personal struggle. Defoe has written about those characters who guided by the rational economic individualism, about their colonial narration, at the same time, Defoe also focus on London city, which suddenly inflated into a huge city, focus on the Middle class live in there, focus on people’s happiness and bitterness, on their agony, regrets, and those moral irony and humanistic care within them. At the last part of this chapter, the writer paralleling Defoe with Swift, and educes out the biggest credit-humanness crisis——"South Sea Bubble", which reveals the absurdity and paradox of irrationality that under the guidance of instrumental rationality. In the third chapter, the writer narrates the moral right’s battle of Richardson’s epistle novels. Those complicate dynamic relationship in humanity, power, reason and virtue is one particular symbol of Richardson’s episode narration mode. Within these relations, we can see the irrational tragicomedy caused by the social violence, reason violence. Obviously, it’s right in these tragicomedy, we see Richardson’s contemplation and good hope of social moral revolution. In the fourth chapter, the writer points out that Henry Fielding as the opponent of Richardson, take a different, more precisely, opposite opinion to the rational moral concept. Fielding scrutinizes all the classes’ moral status from up to the down, by using "virtue" as the microscope. He uses his "Natural Sons" as a tool and cry out the voice of "Virtue" and "Sensibility" in the Rational era. Still, on one hand, he uplift the Sensibility while on the other hand, he is fully aware of natural reason——a different kind of reason that make no common in Defoe, Richardson’s instrumental reason——all that can be held as the bank to the flood of sensible moral. And only the "hybrid virtue" of sensibility and reason can be seen as the remedy to the world. What we should pay special attention to is that, during the narration from chapter two to chapter four, the writer do not neglects the social-historical changes, which can make a clear dent on the correspondent novelists.