Montesquieu
In his book The Persian Letters, Montesquieu ob
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In his book The Persian Letters, Montesquieu observes his own society through the eyes of his fictional characters, the Persian travelers Usbek and Rica, whose views are expressed in their letters home. In this paper, I will show how Montesquieu makes use of this device to comment on his own society and to develop a satiric view of that society by using the Persians as substitutes, providing a safe distance between himself and his criticisms. This view will be developed by indicating how the Persians serve their creator as conduits through which to filter French society, allowing an insider (Montesquieu) to comment as an outsider (the Persians) and so to bring a fresh perspective on the issues raised. What Montesquieu thinks about life in his era is shown by means of the comments of the Persians in their letters home, letters in which they marvel at cultural differences and so see French and European society as if for the first time. One result of this approach is to broaden the perspective of the reader to accept that human beings are more varied and have greater cultural differences than one might otherwise imagine and also to accept those cultural differences as different manifestations of being human, and this can be shown in the way Montesquieu treats his material. Montesquieu may criticize his era, but he is still a product of that period known as the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment is the name given to the period in European history when writing and thought
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seen the new monarch and notes how important is the life of the monarch not only to France but to all of Europe, for the death of a king brings disturbances. Kings are human, however, and do die. Usbek paints a portrait of the court as a place where individuals and groups vie for power and control:
They say it is impossible to tell the character of Western kings until they have been subjected to two great ordeals, their mistress and their confessor. It will not be long before we see both of them hard at work to seize control of the king's mind; it will be a mighty struggle.
One of the ideas that emerges from this book is a concept that developed in the Enlightenment regarding the proper relationship between ruler and ruled. At the time, as Usbek notes, some countries in Europe had subjects who were submissive to their rulers, while others did not: "The English, for example, with their restive disposition, hardly give their king the time to assert his authority." The view that Usbek expresses regarding the duty the ruler has to the people is similar to that expressed by Enlightenment figures such as John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, ideas which would lead to the French Revolution late in the next ce
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1660
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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