Kent-Drury
ENG 202

Lecture #10. Notes on the Long 18th Century

The Long 18th Century is the term used by scholars of literature written in England from 1660 to around 1800, or sometimes, 1820.

Historical/Political Overview

Our historical overview of the Renaissance ended with the death of Elizabeth I, the last of the Tudor line. After her death, the throne passed to her cousin, James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England, beginning the Stuart line. James I was the son of Mary of Scotland, Elizabeth's cousin, who was executed by Elizabeth after Mary challenged Elizabeth's right to rule (claiming Elizabeth was illegitimate) and attempted to overthrow her.

James I is known from a literary perspective primarily for his sponsorship of the first official Bible written in English, the poetic King James Version.

When James I died, his son, Charles I took over as king. Whereas James I was very good at dealing with Parliament, Charles I was not. In addition, in the aftermath of Henry VIII's break with the Catholic church, Anglicanism became the official state church in England, but numerous dissenting sects proliferated. Eventually, Charles I became very unpopular with Parliament and eventually was overthrown by Oliver Cromwell, a commoner and general. Charles I was imprisoned in the Tower of London and eventually beheaded, after which England was under martial law during a time known as the Interregnum (which means "between the reigns"). Charles wife and children fled the country and spent several years in the Netherlands and in France.

In 1658 Cromwell died, and his son, Richard, proved to be incompetent. Leaders in England, some of whom had previously supported Cromwell, began to believe that removing the annointed King of England, who was believed to rule by divine right (i.e., the will of God), was a mistake. So Charles II was invited to return from exile, and the monarchy was resumed in 1660. This is known as the Restoration, when the monarchy was restored.

In literary terms, the period from 1660-1700 is known as the Restoration, whereas 1700-1800 is known as the Eighteenth Century. The literature from the two portions of the Long 18th Century is similar in some ways, and different in others. Restoration literature tends to be much more explicit in terms of sexual content, which fit into the aesthetic of Charles II's libertine court. It is also marked by the re-establishment of the theatre, which Cromwell had closed. Charles II had also observed the presence of actresses on the state in France, and he imported this practice to England; for the first time, then, women appeared on the stage in England. (In Shakespeare's time, women were played by young boys whose voices had not yet changed.)

Charles II married a Portuguese princess, Catherine of Braganza, but had no legitimate children by her, though he had 14 acknowledged bastards by other women who were his mistresses. Though he supported the Anglican church, he was probably a closet Catholic and is believed to have received Catholic last rites when he died. His brother, James II, succeeded him as king, but was overtly a Catholic and was quickly deposed by Parliament in favor of James' daughter, Mary II, who had been raised Protestant in the Netherlands and had married William of Orange, a Dutch prince. William and Mary reigned for several years, but died with no children. Mary's sister, Anne, also a protestant and married to a Danish aristocrat, succeeded her. Anne had 14 children, only one of which lived beyond the age of 11 and died at 12. Anne was the last of the Stuart line in England.

After Anne died, Parliament went far afield to locate the nearest Protestant relative and made George I, the first of the Hanovers, king of England. George was the son of Sophia, the Electress of Hanover, who died just before Anne died. George I spent most of his reign in Hanover, an area in Germany, and did not speak English well. Consequently, religion had become far more important than shared cultural heritage in a king of England. In addition, each monarch from Charles II forward gave up more and more control, as England became increasingly dedicated to more representative government.

George I was succeeded by his grandson, George II, who was in turn succeeded by his son, George III. George III was known as "Farmer George" for his interest in farming. George III was also the king of England when the American colonies declared independence. George III reigned until his son, George IV, was named Regent. This occurred because George III suffered from a disease called porphyria, an inherited chemical imbalance (though they didn't know it was inherited then) that is characterized by periods of madness and urine that is blue during those periods. George IV's early reign is therefore called the Regency, the period during which Jane Austen wrote her novels.

Literature & Culture

The British 17th and 18th centuries comprised a period of unparalleled social, political, religious, and economic change. The following are major trends:

  1. Patronage became less important for authors, as they became increasingly entrepreneurial and begin to arrange with printers and booksellers, as well as subscribers, to see their work published.
  2. Because 18th century writing served a public function, literature tended to address topical issues, such as politics.
  3. For the first time women could write and publish, so the idea of women's emerging voices made societal constructions of femininity and gender topics of discussion.
  4. Disparities in social class made the legal system, crime, and punishment, as well as labor and poverty, important topics.
  5. A merchant class, precursor to what we now know as the "middle class," began to emerge, blurring the lines between the upper and lower classes. In the mid 1700's, Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations, which can be seen as a manifesto for capitalism, then a new idea mistrusted by those in authority.
  6. Science as we know it became insitutionalized through England's Royal Society in the later 1700's.
  7. Prior to the 1750's, upper class people married, not strictly for love, but to further the position of their families. Parents thus had much influence over marriages. This began to change in the latter 1700's, as companionate marriage began slowly to replace marriage for interest. Notions of marriage and the family therefore were undergoing great change.

With so many insitutions in flux, satire became a dominant form of literature, as it often does during periods of tremendous change.

We will only have timte to scratch the surface in our course with the three works we will take up. The first is Aphra Behn's Oroonoko, a proto-novel written late in the life of Aphra Behn, the first woman to make her living with her pen. The second is Alexander Pope's Rape of the Lock, a mock epic in which the epic hero turns out to be a lock of hair. The third is John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, a satire of England's legal system, as well as its political and social structures.

 

Instructor

revised 11/19/2015