Storia dell'Inghilterra: La Restaurazione e Daniel Defoe, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica Storia dell'Inghilterra: La Restaurazione e Daniel Defoe e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! THE RESTAURATION Historical part - The early Stuarts James I He became the first Stuart King of England. He was Protestant but he believed in witchcraft. James reduced the danger of a civil war, but he ignored the Parliament believing that he was the representative of God on earth. He joined Scotland to England and Wales as one kingdom “Great Britain”. James held a conference to sign a peace treaty with Spain (no more wars against it). The king also met the representatives of the bishops and the Puritans (extreme Protestant) to solve the conflict between them. The Catholics were excluded from Hampton Court, so a group of them organised the Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament in 1605. The government encouraged public celebration at the failure of the plot, but one of this act's consequences was the emigration of many dissenters to America on the Mayflower. Charles I Charles I married Henrietta Maria, the Catholic daughter of the King of France. He ignored the Parliament and the Magna Carta cause he thought he was king by divine right: in 1635 he extended “ship money”, a tax on coastal towns, for their defence. He needed money to pay his army to fight a rebellion in Scotland, so he summoned the “Short Parliament”, which refused to give him money. A “Long Parliament” was elected in the same year (1640). A new middle class was born: the landowners, city merchants and the professions; they wanted the king to be subject to Parliament and it worked to assert control over the king. Charles declared war against Parliament, which prepared to fight back: the Civil War began. - The Civil War and the Commonwealth From 1642 to 1649 there were battles between the Royalists (tyranny) and the Parliamentarians (liberty). The two parties were also regionally different: ● Royalists= concentrated in Wales and west of England ● Parliamentarians= concentrated in London and eastern England The Parliamentarian army (New Model Army) was stronger cause it was made up of professional soldiers. The commander of the New Model Army was Oliver Cromwell (MP), who thought he had to free England from superstition. Charles was captured in 1648 and was brought to London: the king's execution was in 1649. Cromwell abolished the monarchy and declared the republic “the Commonwealth”. He also defeated Scottish Royalists, who crowned Charles II king of Scotland. Charles II escaped to France and Oliver gave himself the title of Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland. Puritan rules were introduced: abolition of games, dancing and theatre. Cromwell died in 1658, but England wanted to come back to monarchy: they called Charles II to come back from France and the monarchy was restored. - The Restoration Charles II Charles II came back to England in 1660. In 1662 Charles patronised the Royal Society, which was an association of intellectuals and whose motto was “nullius in verba” (on the words of no one). Some acts were passed, like the Test Act, which required employees to conform to the Church of England. Because of the Great Fire and the bubonic plague, Charles II wanted London to be rebuilt. France helped him financially. In 1670 he signed the Treaty of Dover for a joint war against Holland, but it also included an agreement that would restore Britain to Catholicism with the military aid of France. When Charles died, his brother James, who converted to Catholicism, became the king. James II He put Catholics in positions of authority. His heirs were Mary and Anne (Protestant). James married Mary of Modena (Catholic) and he had a Catholic son. The two opposite parties in Parliament, the Whigs and the Tories, were afraid of the possibility of another civil war, so they began to negotiate with William of Orange, Mary's husband. He marched across southern England while James escaped to France. In 1689 William and Mary became monarchs by a Parliament's decision (no more by divine right). This revolution is called the Glorious Revolution because there were no fights. Acts were passed, like the Bill of Rights, which stated the same freedoms of Magna Carta ones. In 1701, after Mary's death, Parliament passed the Act of Settlement which excluded Catholics from the throne, so Anne became the queen. Anne Through the Act of Union the kingdom of England and Scotland was replaced by the United Kingdom of Great Britain with a single Parliament in Westminster (1707), while Ireland was a separate kingdom. The Treaty of Utrecht was signed with France: it required the French to recognise the Protestant succession and gave England the French possessions in Canada and the monopoly of Spanish America. George I He didn't know and he couldn't speak English at all: in fact, he spent most of his reign in Hanover (Germany). He formed a Cabinet with some politicians, who were members of the Parliament. The king needed a leader in the Parliament cause it was in Germany: Robert Walpole became the first Prime Minister. The king allowed him to have a residence in London, which is the same as the current English PMs. Robert wanted to develop business and to not have war: for this reason this period is called the Golden Age (peace). George II George I died in 1727 and George II became the king. Spanish pirates damaged London's ocean trade and Walpole tried to negotiate with Spain, but war broke out. Then, James' grandson, Charles Stuart prepared a rebellion in Scotland, but it was defeated so he escaped to France. In 1756, a war between Britain and Prussia against France and Austria broke out and it finished in 1763. Daniel Defoe He was born in 1660 into a family of Dissenters, a Protestant sect (they refused the authority of the Church of England). He studied modern languages, economics and geography. He started to write in Whig papers. He became a famous intellectual by writing political essays until the reign of Queen Anne: she didn’t like his liberal attitude and had him arrested and imprisoned. To not die, Defoe denied his Whig ideas and the Queen sent him to Scotland to make him become a secret agent for the new government. When he was about 60, he wrote novels: - In 1719, he publishes Robinson Crusoe - Captain Singleton - Moll Flanders - Colonel Jack - Roxana Defoe is called the “the first novelist” and the father of the English novel. In the 1690’s he came back to Ireland, where he became Anglican priest (Dean of Dublin’s St Patrick Cathedral). He kept defending Ireland and the Church and he started to write pamphlets denouncing the injustices that Ireland suffered from. - A Modest Proposal: Swift said that poor Irish people sold their children as food for rich people Swift is a controversial writer. He is seen as a monster or a lover of mankind. He was concerned with politics and society and his attitude was conservative. He wasn't proud of the English society at that time and he used irony and satire to tell us about it. Gulliver's Travels (→ he wrote it in the last part of his life) 1. Plot Book 1= Gulliver sails from Bristol on 4th May 1699; he is shipwrecked in the South Pacific. The inhabitants of the land carry his huge body to the capital and house him in an unused temple. Gulliver learns their language, their costumes and gains the favour of the king. Then he manages to return to England. Book 2= On 20th June 1702 Gulliver sails for India but finds himself in Brobdingnag. Here the natives are giants and Gulliver becomes the king's pet. The king enjoys talking with him about the system of government in England and Europe. Then Gulliver is dropped in the middle of the ocean and returns to England. Book 3= Gulliver finds himself on the island of Laputa, which flies thanks to magnetism. Its inhabitants are absent minded astronomers, philosophers and scientists. Gulliver visits their capital, Lagado, and its academy, where absurd experiments are carried out. The island drops Gulliver on Japan and he manages to go back to England. Book 4= Gulliver travels to the land of Houyhnhnms, who are horses. Their coherent, clean society is contrasted with the brutality of the Yahoos, who are beasts in human shape. He stays with the horses for many years and he never wants to leave. When he gets to know that the time has come for him to leave the island, Gulliver returns to England, but he feels appalled by other humans, including his own family. THE INVENTORY Gulliver's ship is caught by a storm and wrecks in a strange region called Lilliput. After the shipwreck Gulliver falls asleep. When he wakes up, he finds that he has been tied up by the Lilliputians, who are inspecting his clothes. When Gullivers wakes up, he finds that his arms, legs and Long hair have been tied to the ground with pieces of thread. He feels something over his chest, and he sees six-inch-tall people climb onto his body. The objects these tiny people find on gulliver are described in details. A handkerchief is described as a coarse cloth, a snuffbox as a huge Silver chest, some letters as a bundle of white thin substances, a comb is perceived as an engine, and a watch as a globe. Giliver is impressed by the Lilliputians' perfect organization. - The situation: Gulliver is reporting everything. It's like a journal. He landed on an island where there's the monarchy (imperator) - The citizens are so tiny, they are checking his body. They don't speak English, in fact they are not part of the British empire. - Comparison of little men with an English one - One of the citizens falls down into a chest, which contains tobacco so he starts sneezing - Objects that Lilliputians find on Gulliver's body: 1. A piece of coarse doth 2. Silver chest 3. Pieces of paper 4. Comb 5. Watch - Description: precise, realistic, detailed. THE PROJECTORS Gulliver is on the island of Laputa and visits the Academy of Lagado, where he meets the projectors. Gulliver is at the academy of Lagado. He witnesses several experiments, which he describes by showing their realistic details. He watches the projects of trying to extract sunshine from cucumbers, to reduce human excrement to its original food. In another room there are language projectors trying to abolish words. The aim of all projects is to improve some processes or human behaviors for the good of humanity. Swift expresses his interest in the nature of scientific study of absurd things. - Satire of royal society - He is on an island which is flying through the sky - The first scientist Gulliver mentions is a strange man and his description is not positive. This is a satire of what all the scientists tried to do in London. - The man didn’t finish his experiment cause he didn’t have enough money and cucumbers but he tried for 8 years. - Other strange fact: building houses from the roof - To talk with some people you don't have to speak, but to carry out the things you want to say - Women want to talk but they can't→ critic of royal society, where there were only men at that time - Problem= you cannot carry out all the stuff you need, but if you are rich you can pay servants→ idea of servants→ critic THE SMELL OF A YAHOO Gulliver has returned home from his voyage to the island of Houyhnhnms, the rational horses, and the disgusting Yahoos, the satirized European. - He's going to say goodbye to his readers→ it's the last page - Gulliver is back in London with his family. He doesn't mention his wife (he doesn't say anything about her): we understand that he's not happy at all. - He mentions horses, which are wise and virtuous. - Virtuo was so important that there's a word that doesn't exist in their language: pride. - Gulliver hates the smell of human beings and he prefers horse smells: he decides to sleep with horses. He doesn’t fit anymore with his old life, he hates human beings, he admires horses.