Reflection on the Enlightenment and Romanticism
The Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason, was a time when man began to use his reason to discover the mysteries of the world, casting aside the superstition and fear of the medieval world. Enlightenment thinkers abandoned a life of unreason, faith, superstition, and blind obedience because they believed using reason could solve all the mysteries that the universe holds and unveil the solutions to the problems people face. Enlightenment philosophy stressed that liberty and equality were natural human rights. Romanticism was the period that took place directly after the Enlightenment and was a reaction against it. The notion of Romanticism was that everything that was natural was good and it was against the scientific rationalization of nature. Romanticism was a way to explain things using natural which was very unusual for the previous age that needed to make sense of everything with reason.
Mary Wollstonecraft’s “A Vindication of the Rights of Women” expresses many of the ideas that were common with the Enlightenment thinkers. Enlightenment thinkers believed that every person had natural rights to life, liberty, and property. The Age of Reason moved people to envision a new world were all people were considered equal. In other words, Enlightenment philosophers also sought not merely to interpret the world but also to change it- indeed, they believed that it was their duty to do so. Wollstonecraft argues for the freedom of women. She believes that women should be treated as an equal to men. However, she states that the reason women are held to a lower standard is because they lack education. Therefore, she argues that women should be educated in the same way that men are. She uses, just like the Enlightenment thinkers, reason to try to persuade the reader that she is right. Like the great Enlightenment figures she is fighting for the liberty of women to be equal.
William Blake’s poem “The Lamb” corresponds with the ideas of Romanticism.