Discussion Question 400-450 words

In relation to our work with the medieval period, the Enlightenment was the first time that the notion of a separation of church and state was taken seriously. Enlightenment philosophers, such as David Hume, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, were a huge influence on the Founding Fathers in America, who made religious freedom and a lack of a state religion their basic principle.

One of the distinct characteristics of the Enlightenment period is the way in which so much art became political. Both Swift and Moliere are taking shots at their government and their religion and neither was persecuted or hanged as they might have been in the medieval period. They used satire, which was an exaggerated look at society in order to show its flaws. Modern satires include the works of Kurt Vonnegut and the faux-pundit personality of Stephen Colbert. You'll recognize the tools.

Swift's definition of satire was:

"Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own, which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it."

(Jonathan Swift, preface to The Battle of the Books, 1704)

There's a saying that "art holds a mirror up to the world." We saw this in Macbeth. The play causes us to think differently about fate, about love and marriage, and question our beliefs about human goodness and the depths of human evil.

Satire is a kind of funhouse mirror that is held up to the world. Everything we read this week will be a little exaggerated; you will recognize how Tartuffe is ridiculously hypocritical and how Jonathon Swift uses dark and disturbing humor to make a political point. If you read Hamlet, (you still love Shakespeare, don't you?) you will recognize how Polonius is a satire of men who think themselves wise.

Satire at its best pushes for political change. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is laced with satire, and it is one of the most important works on racism in America ever published. Look for the changes Swift and Moliére want to enact, and then ask yourself where the satirists are in our world today.

What parts of their society were Moliére and Swift criticizing? What kind of change do you think they were trying to enact? How does satire serve that function in our society today?