When the hospitality of Mme dpinay proved to entail much the same social round as that of Paris, Rousseau retreated to a nearby cottage, called Montlouis, under the protection of the Marchal de Luxembourg. for a group? Wed love to have you back! When the hospitality of Mme dpinay proved to entail much the same. Rousseau worked as a clerk to a notary, and then was apprenticed to an engraver. By the time his Lettre dAlembert sur les spectacles (1758; Letter to Monsieur dAlembert on the Theatre) appeared in print, Rousseau had already left Paris to pursue a life closer to nature on the country estate of his friend Mme dpinay near Montmorency. In Emile, Rousseau refers to the illustrious Montesquieu, but criticises him for being content to discuss the positive right of established governments, and not treating, therefore, the principles of political right. Indeed, Rousseau, who elsewhere can be quite critical of England's political life,Footnote66 in this particular instance undertakes to defend the English by arguing that the social separation of the sexes in England does not, in fact, diminish individual happiness but rather deepens the profundity of society and therefore fosters a truer pleasure: Thus both [sexes], withdrawn more into themselves, give themselves less to frivolous imitations, get more of a taste for the true pleasures of life, and think less of appearing happy than of being so.Footnote67 Rousseau thus maintains that with the exception of family life, the two sexes ought to come together sometimes and to live separated ordinarily.Footnote68 But this separation is certainly not observed in France: The society of the two sexes, having become too usual and too easy, has harmed both men and women in his view, as the general spirit of gallantry [galanterie] stifles both genius and love.Footnote69 Men, he says, are affected as much as, and more than, women by a commerce [commerce] that is too intimate; they lose only their morals, but we lose our morals and our constitution [constitution].Footnote70 He urges sardonically: Imagine what can be the temper of the soul of a man who is uniquely occupied with the important business of amusing women.Footnote71 Finally, he elaborates on the harm that such frequent social interactions have on women: They are flattered without being loved; they are served without being honored; they are surrounded by agreeable persons but they no longer have lovers; and the worst is that the former, without having the sentiments of the latter, usurp nonetheless all the rights.Footnote72. 50 Kapossy, Iselin contra Rousseau, 39. This awareness of presenting oneself to be viewed and judged by others fosters politeness, manners, and the joie de vivre that Montesquieu speaks so highly of in France.Footnote64. In this manner, Rousseau adheres closely to Montesquieu's language, even if their ultimate judgements on the phenomenon differ. Her frustration with the lack of control she has over her passions drives her to perpetuate the calumny against Hippolytus so that he may be banished forever, and therefore beyond the reach of her uncontrollable lust. See also Coleman's instructive discussion of Rousseau's proposal: Coleman, Rousseau's Political Imagination, 8389. $24.99 [4], Towards the middle of this final section Rousseau reasons that the theatre does very little good for the poor, who cannot afford the taxes required to support a theatre. Through examining Montesquieu's commentary on the theatre in the Persian Letters, as well as his discussion of Phaedra in The Spirit of the Laws, it becomes clear that Montesquieu teaches that the theatrical art can have a positive effect on individuals and thus on society. For a discussion of those who opposed the theatre in France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, see Jonas Barish, The Antitheatrical Prejudice (Berkeley, CA, 1981), 191220. Rousseau is, however, reluctant to engage this discussion in depth.[3][6]. Rousseau also describes the weather and geography of Geneva, and argues that it is not particularly conducive to supporting a theatre. 52 Rousseau may be elaborating on Muralt's only description of tragedy in his Lettres: Elle convertit le Bon en Beau, sa maniere, en le faisant servir des Representations, des Peintures dont il n'est question que de savoir si elles sont bien faites; see Muralt, Lettres, 245. By focusing on his belief in the natural order and harmony of traditional sex roles and community, Rousseau writes to convince D'Alembert, and the public of Geneva, that a theatre is a threat to an ideal, natural way of life. If it did not exempt him from persecution, at least it ensured that his persecution was observed, and admiring femmes du monde intervened from time to time to help him so that Rousseau was never, unlike Voltaire and Diderot, actually imprisoned. In this different context religion plays a different role. 12 Forman-Barzilai, Emergence of Contextualism in Rousseau, 438, 442, 448, 45354; Pamela K. Jensen, Rousseau's French Revolution, in The Challenge of Rousseau, edited by Eve Grace and Christopher Kelly (Cambridge, 2012), 23052 (231, 238, 245); Mostefai, Le citoyen de Genve, 5, 8082, 90. Not by chance, one of his "potpourris" includes a copy of the letter, rewritten by Voltaire's Secretary J.-L. Wagnire (BV 11- 208). As a result, he advises that the greatest part of the penalty should be the infamy of suffering it.Footnote34 Furthermore, in Racine's depiction, Theseus is enraged at Hippolytus precisely because he regards his son's action as treasonous,Footnote35 and Montesquieu warns repeatedly that outrage at this particular crime can result in atrocious punishments for the guilty and innocent alike.Footnote36. Voltaire's propensity to organise theatrical performances at his residence in Les Dlices, just outside the city but within Geneva's territory, had occasioned concern among the pastors and the Consistory in 1755; see Graham Gargett, Jacob Vernet, Geneva, and the Philosophes (Oxford, 1994), 11520. They eventually became lovers, and des Warens persuaded him to convert to Catholicism. Marshall goes on to suggest that Rousseau's discussion of vanity, amour-propre, is inherently theatrical: the moment that people are aware they must present themselves for others, a theatrical consciousness is fostered such that the character and attributes that a person possesses become indistinguishable from what they seem to be.Footnote58 Rousseau laments that the introduction of theatre in an incorrupt society will induce people to substitute a theatrical jargon for the practice of the virtues.Footnote59 Of course, before Rousseau had offered this analysis, Montesquieu had comically depicted the tendency of social interactions to foster theatrical affectationseven theatrical masksin Rica's mistaken but understandable conflation of the actors and the audience in his description of the theatre in the Persian Letters. We thank Matthew Mendham who, as commentator, offered insightful remarks on that occasion. It is also halfway between a novel and a didactic essay. 1758 marked a break with many of the Enlightenment philosophers; his Letter to d'Alembert attacked d'Alembert's article in the French Encyclopedia on Geneva. Their exchange, collected in volume ten of this acclaimed series, offers a classic debate over the political importance of the arts. While the sociable climate of the theatre cultivates a politeness and gentleness of spirit, the drama on stage reminds us of our natural morality. He had no formal education, but read widely in ancient and modern authors, inspired initially by his father's collection of books. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Rousseau adhered to the belief that restrictions and censorship are often justified to maintain civil order. [6] Rousseau's views on the theatre are also thought to echo current concerns with global entertainment, television and Internet taking over local customs and culture. You can view our. [1] Rousseau relates the issue of a theatre in Geneva to the broader social context, warning of the potential the theatre has to corrupt the morality in society. Though the actor is not necessarily malevolent with his talents of deception, Rousseau goes on, the seductive, manipulative nature of acting could potentially be used by actors to do harm in society outside of the theatre. Love from Simone: Epistolarity and the love letter. This work made final Rousseau's public break with most of the philosophes. 58 Marshall, Rousseau and the State of the Theater, in Rousseau: Critical Assessments, edited by Scott, IV, 13940. Rousseau was particularly opposed to the adoption of French mores in Geneva; see Whatmore, Against War and Empire, 50, 59. All live together in harmony, and there are only faint echoes of the old affair between Saint-Preux and Julie. creating and saving your own notes as you read. Rousseau could never entertain doubts about God's existence or about the immortality of the soul. Il ne veut pas ressembler aux . 6 Rousseau authored many of the entries related to music in the Encyclopdie as well as the article Economie, in Encyclopdie, ou dictionnaire raisonn des sciences, des arts et des mtiers, etc., edited by Denis Diderot and Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert; see University of Chicago, IL: ARTFL Encyclopdie Project (Spring 2013 Edition), edited by Robert Morrissey, http://artflsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.4:599.encyclopedie0513 [accessed 18 June 2014]. Women naturally have power over men via resistance in the area of relationships and this power can be extended to the play, where women can have the same control over the audience. [2], Rousseau believed that the theatre took people away from the community, and replaced any patriotic, unifying spirit with artificial emotions. Rousseau describes them as scandalous, hedonistic, and compares them to jesters, who were more blatantly indecent and obscene. was "ironic" and even "illogical" given Rousseau's otherwise egalitarian principles; indeed, if taken to their logical conclusion, Rousseau's ideas on women made "utter non-sense" of his whole political philosophy. Although Montesquieu nowhere explicitly refers to France in this discussion, he reveals its identity if not through his depiction of a society that exults in a striking une joie dans la vivre, where men and women mingle together freely, then certainly through his use of the first-person plural.Footnote23 Nature, Montesquieu says, has given us a vivacity capable of offending and one apt to make us inconsiderate. As a dutiful daughter, Julie marries Wolmar and Saint-Preux goes off on a voyage around the world with an English aristocrat, Bomston, from whom he acquires a certain stoicism. Rousseau is often characterized as the father of Romanticism, as he opposed modernity and the Enlightenment and glorified the heroic ethos of Ancient Rome and Greece. 43 Montesquieu, of course, acknowledges that a variety of factors can affect how any given people responds to a theatrical work; see, for example, Spirit, 14.2, 233. Christopher Kelly elaborates on a different aspect of Rousseau's critique of the theatre's moral obscurity, noting that whatever theatre does teach us about sympathy or morality towards one another, this emotional identification or fellow feeling is less pleasant once outside the performance hall because it demands that one take the trouble to help. After formally renouncing his Genevan citizenship in 1763, Rousseau became a fugitive, spending the rest of his life moving from one refuge to another. [6], The Letter begins by Rousseau establishing the respect he has for his friend D'Alembert. His thought marked the end of the . Letter to D'Alembert and Writings for the Theater. It is Rousseau's specific recognition of the advisability of changing mores through the introduction of other mores that explains his revision of his original position on the theatre. Believing that Thrse was the only person he could rely on, he finally married her in 1768, when he was 56 years old. The French government ordered that Rousseau be arrested, so he fled to Neuchatel in Switzerland. [4], The trend of the Enlightenment among philosophers, since Descartes and Spinoza, was to move towards a society with minimized restrictions. 51 Muralt's name does not appear in indexes of Montesquieu's works, including the Penses; neither does it appear in Catalogue de la bibliothque de Montesquieu la Brede, edited by Louis Desgraves (Geneva, 1954) nor in Robert Shackleton, Montesquieu: A Critical Biography (Oxford, 1961). Therefore, theatres are of little use. on 50-99 accounts. On Rousseau's awareness of these apparent paradoxes, see Jean-Jacques Rousseau, "Letter to D'Alembert on the Theatre," in Politics and the Arts, trans. Rousseau's relationship to the Enlightenment was not a simple one. April 18, 2023, SNPLUSROCKS20 How she smirched their marriage-tie?/ How could I, by disclosing everything,/ Humiliate my father and my king?Footnote37 Later, Theseus expresses regret for the hasty and ill-considered judgement and punishment when, learning of the true worth of the son he had so recently reviled, he laments: O bring me back my son, and let him clear/ His name! He writes that the actor is someone who is artificial, performs for money, subjects himself to disgrace, and abandons his role as a man. 66 For example: The English people think it is free. The particular play that Montesquieu selects for praise in this regard is Racine's Phaedra, which enacts many of Montesquieu's teachings and elicits the very sentiments he finds valuable. For example, d'Alembert selects for particular praise the type of welcome Geneva provided for Voltaire, recounting that the citizens of Geneva reveal their admirable sophistication by having provided haven for the beleaguered author and noting approvingly that these republicans bestowed on Voltaire the same marks of esteem and respect he has received from many monarchs.Footnote3 D'Alembert further observes with approbation that they now sanction in their environs the publishing of Voltaire's history, which condemns John Calvin for countenancing Michael Servetus's trial as a heretic within its walls and his burning just outside of them upon his conviction. He concludes that as a result of his new reflections, he embraces a conclusion directly opposed to the one I drew from the first, namely, that when the people is corrupted, the theater is good for it, and bad for it when it is itself good.Footnote81 Rousseau reaches this conclusion immediately after he transmits, without naming his source, Montesquieu's description of French society: Rousseau allows the point that in certain places [the theatre] will be useful for attracting foreigners [utiles pour attirer les trangers],Footnote82 just as Montesquieu argues that the politeness of a society attracts foreigners to it [une politesse qui attire chez elle les trangers].Footnote83 Moreover, whereas Montesquieu declares that the society of women spoils mores and forms taste [la socit des femmes gte les murs, et forme le got],Footnote84 Rousseau admits that the theatre, where women are made the preceptors of the public,Footnote85 is useful for maintaining and perfecting taste [pour maintenir et perfectionner le got] when decency is lost.Footnote86 Rousseau yet again deploys Montesquieu's ideas when he says that a theatre can be useful for increasing the circulation of money [pour augmenter la circulation des espces], just as Montesquieu says that the prominent place of women and their tastes in society constantly increases the branches of commerce [on augmente sans cesse les branches de son commerce].Footnote87 Rousseau borrows and transmits all of these points of Montesquieu. As Kelly points out, scholars have noted that Rousseau on several occasions in that work paraphrases without attribution the language of Montesquieu's Spirit; see Kelly, Rousseau and the Illustrious Montesquieu, in The Challenge of Rousseau, edited by Grace and Kelly, 21, notes 8 and 9; Leo Strauss, On the Intention of Rousseau, Social Research, 14 (1947), 45587 (45860); Antoine Adam, De quelques sources de Rousseau dans la littrature philosophique (17001750), in Jean-Jacques Rousseau et son oeuvre, problmes et recherches (Paris, 1964), 12533 (127); Michel Launay, Jean-Jacques Rousseau et son temps (Paris, 1969), 93103. Updates? Because Montesquieu understands women as the judges and bestowers of a man's honour, when women are placed in the public sphere, men adopt mannerisms and behaviour to win their approval.Footnote63 Thus, women enhance the theatricality of public life, putting men (and themselves) on display for each other. (one code per order). She returns his love and yields to his advances, but the difference between their classes makes marriage between them impossible. He considered women, by virtue of their nature, to be the primary agents of moral reform, and that the success of the state depends on the harmony within private, domestic life. The accents of nature [les accents de la nature] cause this pleasure; it is the sweetest of all voices.Footnote31, Montesquieu's praise of Racine's Hippolytus, whom he describes as being accused, judged, condemned, banished, and covered with infamy, underscores the fact that to his mind this blameless young man is the victim of a judicial procedure that failed to disclose his true innocence. Despite being treated unfairly, Hippolytus adheres to a steadfast set of moral principlesand the playwright makes sure that the audience is aware of this. Letter to Monsieur dAlembert on the Theatre. [4], He extensively discusses playwright Molire's work, and uses the play Le Misanthrope to exemplify a comedy in which the audience derives immoral pleasure. While he concedes that the exchanges and interactions which occur when men and women congregate in the theatre are often artificial and result in theatrical behaviour far from the stage, he refuses to criticise such a form of sociability. When, in 1728, Rousseau found himself locked out of Geneva at night, he decided to travel abroad to seek his fortune. 46 In speaking of their thought generally, Larrre notes that whereas Rousseau agrees with Montesquieu about the difference between the monarchical and republican conditions of women, he does not agree with his normative assessment of these conditions; see Catherine Larrre, Jean-Jacques Rousseau on Women and Citizenship, History of European Ideas, 37 (2011), 21822 (218). 54 Letter, 271. It was in England that Rousseau found refuge after he had been banished from the canton of Bern. In a personal letter, Rousseau wrote that he was not ignorant that Voltaire had played a part in d'Alembert's entry, and indeed, he dedicates a substantial portion of the Letter to critiquing Voltaire's play, Mahomet.Footnote9 Thus, many scholars read his open letter to d'Alembert as a simultaneous response to Voltaire.Footnote10. 11 Paul A. Rahe, Soft Despotism, Democracy's Drift: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Tocqueville, and the Modern Prospect (New Haven, CT, 2009), 120. Earlier in the same book of Emile, Rousseau provides a quotation from the Persian Letters, but names neither the work nor the author; see Rousseau, Emile, Book 5, 451. 26 Michael A. Mosher, The Judgmental Gaze of European Women: Gender, Sexuality, and the Critique of Republican Rule, Political Theory, 22 (1994), 2544 (42). Download Letter to D'Alembert and Writings for the Theater PDF . At this time, Rousseau wants to serve that truth that contributes to the "public good," that is to say, to all individuals. No way do I wish, they say, to give to him encouragement; see Charles-Louis Secondat de Montesquieu and Iain Stuewart, Montesquieu in England: His Notes on England, with Commentary and Translation, translated by Iain Stewart (Oxford, 2002), http://ouclf.iuscomp.org/articles/montesquieu.shtml [accessed 12 June 2014], note 114. Thus, [i]n the theater we congratulate ourselves for our moral sensitivity while remaining isolated from irksome involvement with our fellows; see Christopher Kelly, Rousseau and the Case for (and Against) Censorship, in Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Critical Assessments of Leading Political Philosophers, edited by John T. Scott, 4 vols (New York, NY, 2006, first published in 1997), IV, 20122 (209). Dartmouth College Press. Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan! Rousseau refers to ancient Sparta, where the most virtuous and appreciated women were those who were modest and generally not spoken about. 63 See Spirit, 28.22, 56162, where Montesquieu declares that men's connection to women is related, in part, to the fact that women are quite enlightened judges of a part of the things that constitute personal merit. Montesquieu's particular treatment of English women differs from Muralt's in several ways. Down below there is a crowd of people standing up, who make fun of those who are performing above, and they in turn laugh at those below.Footnote18, Eventually everyone goes off to a room where they act a special sort of play: it begins with bows and continues with embraces. 2. Contact us Once again looking to Greece and Rome as an ideal, he says that Sparta did not tolerate theatres, and Rome considered the acting profession dishonourable. He also wrote Rousseau juge de Jean-Jacques (1780; Rousseau, Judge of Jean-Jacques) to reply to specific charges by his enemies and Les Rveries du promeneur solitaire (1782; Reveries of the Solitary Walker), one of the most moving of his books, in which the intense passion of his earlier writings gives way to a gentle lyricism and serenity. The principle of the theatre is to please, it is not, Rousseau argues, functional because the characters are always distant from man. We wish to acknowledge the generous support of the Faculty Research and Awards Committee, the Undergraduate Research Fund, and the Department of Political Science at Tufts for the award of grants in support of this project. dAlembert sur les spectacles (1758; Letter to Monsieur dAlembert on the Theatre) appeared in print, Rousseau had already left Paris to pursue a life closer to nature on the country estate of his friend Mme dpinay near Montmorency. Rousseau restates many of his predecessor's insights and observations, including the importance of mores and the juxtaposition of French and English society, in order to oppose critical aspects of Montesquieu's thought and influence. Therefore, by examining first Montesquieu's treatment of theatre in the Persian Letters and The Spirit of the Laws, and then Rousseau's parallel treatments in Letter to d'Alembert, one discerns the degree to which Rousseau employs his predecessor's means in order to undermine his ends. Although he debated extensively with critics of his earlier work, First Discourse, Rousseau never mailed his replies to the major critics of Discourse on Inequality, Charles Bonnet (writing as Philopolis) and Charles Le Roy (writing as Buffon). As these two leading figures of the Enlightenment argue about censorship, popular versus high culture, and the proper role . To learn about our use of cookies and how you can manage your cookie settings, please see our Cookie Policy. Described by the author as a treatise on education, it is not about schooling but about the upbringing of a rich mans son by a tutor who is given unlimited authority over him. And indeed, Rousseau does seem to have recovered his peace of mind in his last years, when he was once again afforded refuge on the estates of great French noblemen, first the Prince de Conti and then the Marquis de Girardin, in whose park at Ermenonville he died. 13 Maurice Cranston, Jean-Jacques: The Early Life and Work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 17121754 (Chicago, IL, 1991, first published in 1982), 21315. Mostefai describes in some detail how d'Alembert's essay bears the marks of Voltaire's influence by mimicking Voltaire's own literary approach of criticising French politics and religion through the praise of another society and furthering Voltaire's interests of establishing a theatre in his neighbourhood which may fulfil the substance of Rousseau's accusation; see, for example, Mostefai, Le citoyen de Genve, 1718, 31, 3435, 41, 56. Thus, theatre serves to extenuate moral lapses. They say that however slightly one man knows another, he has the right to suffocate him. In addition, Montesquieu's treatment of the theatre seems to have been a fitting topic for Rousseau's engagement. 19 Montesquieu, Persian Letters, letter 28, 79. Rousseau was the eighteenth-century's greateast admirer, even idolator, of Sparta. He propelled political and ethical thinking into new channels. See also Thomas, Negotiating Taste in Montesquieu, 8182. 86 Letter, 298 (5: 59). In such a case, theatre is useful [] for covering the ugliness of vice with the polish of forms; in a word, for preventing bad morals from degenerating into brigandage.Footnote88 In speaking somewhat sarcastically about the positive role of theatre in such a corrupt society, Rousseau reveals that he would not recommend the proscription of the theatre in Paris and thus he is not such a one as to venture to constrain its women, make laws to correct their mores, and limit their luxury.Footnote89 Here, Rousseau acknowledges that theatre may, in fact, at least prevent what he sees as the debaucheries of Parisian society. [2], The Letter is considered to be highly personally relevant to Rousseau, whose patriotism and affinity for Geneva shows through as he writes to defend his country from moral decay. In October of 1758, Rousseau published the Letter to d'Alembert to refute Jean d'Alembert's suggestion that Geneva establish a public theater. 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