...Ramy Gabal ENG2850 Professor Hale Sirin Due: February 26, 2015 An Essay on Religion During the late 17th and 18th centuries, a powerful movement spread across Europe that fundamentally changed European society. Widely referred to in hindsight as the Enlightenment, this era in European history showed a great emphasis on the glory of reason and science, dramatically shifting from the emphasis on religious doctrine that empowered Europe for centuries. Through this period of Enlightenment, new ideals were reflected amongst European society. Writers, scholars, and philosophers began writing fondly of the world and man’s capacity to understand the world around him without blindly following religion. Instead, people were encouraged to apply rational thoughts to understand nature and guide their human existence. Authors used their unique styles to criticize religion by identifying the pious man as a hypocrite. These different styles working toward similar goals can be seen in the very different expressions of the theme of religion versus rationality in Jean-Baptiste Molière’s Tartuffe and Alexander Pope’s An Essay on Man. Jean-Baptiste Molière, generally considered the greatest French comic playwright of all time, was born into wealth, his family being that of the noble court of Louis XIV. Due to his regal upbringing, Molière was afforded access to the best education of his day, studying under the Jesuits at the College of Claremont. Rather than accepting a position in the...
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