Rousseau, The French Revolution and Mary Wollstonecraft

As the Enlightenment had been a reaction to Christianity, Romanticism was reaction to the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment had focused on reason; applying scientific thought to the world. Romanticism in contrast argued for the supremacy of emotions. A key figure in this movement was Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Rousseau believed in the divinity of nature and that this tranquillity was shared with man. He evidenced such a claim by talking of Tahiti, the tropical paradise where primitive people lived. Yet Rousseau whilst an idealist was also a realist and accepted the fact that man could never regress to such a lifestyle.

In his manuscript ‘The Social Contract’ Rousseau states ‘Man is born free, but everywhere is in chains.’ By this he means that society is unjust with the rich and the royalty above those who suffer in poverty. He argues that all men are born equals but people have been corrupted by the advent of civilisation which leads to inequalities both monetarily and in spirit i.e. rise of jealousy, greed and its effects on peoples’ self esteem.

In ‘The Social Contract’ he argues that because we cannot go back to nature we face the problem of forming an institution whereby the rights and freedom of the people is protected and defended. To this end he argues for a ‘General Will.’ A form of direct democracy, the law is formed by common vote and the forcibly applied to all persons. His ideas for the general will provoked criticism as many saw it as nothing more than a dictatorship of the proletariat, idealist in the fact that it ignored the power hungry nature of men to rule others.

The French Revolution showed the philosophy of Romanticism in action as the people rose to overthrow their rulers. However what followed was anarchy with the Reign of Terror, a guerrilla war and large amounts of executions which could be based off of no more than the word of a virtuous person.

During the turmoil of the revolution Mary Wollstonecraft travelled to France in 1792 seeing it as the perfect place with a good intellectual atmosphere to share her views and recently finished work. The ‘Vindication of the Rights of Woman’ as well as the previously completed ‘Vindication of the Rights of Men.’ She was a feminist and wanted men and women to be equal in the sense that most of the time there should be no need for distinction between them. In this she shared views with Rousseau of equality between people and also the negativity towards sophistication which she viewed as superficial and ultimately detrimental. 

Whatever influence she had accomplished with her works was quickly destroyed by Godwin’s memoirs which revealed his wife’s adultery, their illegitimate children and suicide attempts. Her reputation was ruined and she was ridiculed by other novelists which meant that her work was ignored by most of the masses in the 19^th century.