What enlightenment ideas are contained in Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's short novel, Paul and Virginia, first published in 1787 ?

Résumé du document

?The Enlightenment'', a philosophical movement preceding the French Revolution is hard to define as it is an amalgamation of different fields. A concise definition was suggested by Anchor which states that "it can be characterized roughly as a dedication to human reason, science and education as the best means of building a stable society of free men on earth." The idea of a ?universal free society' reached by reason, science and education is indeed characteristic of the philosophers' ideas. However, I think a more relevant definition is to be found in Roche's ?France in the Enlightenment' which defines it as "the triumph of man, belief in progress, expansion of concrete as well as philosophical individualism, a new material independence that changed people's understanding of nature and society". All these concepts influenced people to think in terms of equality, natural rights, freedom from coercion, non-conformism, relativism in religion and morality and primacy of the human reason.

Extraits

[...] He even adds that if she could speak, she would tell him: am placed far above the reach of all human evils, and you pity me! I am become pure and unchangeable as a particle of light, and you would recall me to the darkness of human This somewhat conservative conception of happiness reveals that the novel represents Christianity. In spite of their deism, the characters attend Mass every Sunday a highly paradoxical phenomenon, as “deism implies no action of faith”[29]. They are christened at the beginning of the novel[30], too. [...]

[...] What enlightenment ideas are contained in Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's short novel, Paul and Virginia, first published in 1787? The Enlightenment, a philosophical movement preceding the French Revolution, is hard to define because it concerns many different fields. A concise definition is suggested by Anchor: can be characterized roughly as a dedication to human reason, science and education as the best means of building a stable society of free men on earth.”[1] The idea of a universal free society, reached by reason, science and education is indeed characteristic of the philosophers' ideas. [...]

[...] Thus, passion, a theme defined and championed from the mid 18th century especially by Diderot[33] is perceived in a very negative way in Paul and Virginia. Another aspect I found interesting in the novel is the way slavery is dealt with. The mistreatment of slaves is criticised, in the episode of the Maroon slave[34], but slavery is never questioned, it is taken for granted. I think it shows very well the Christian idea of charity, which helps individuals on the basis of their misery, but does not question the inequalities of society. [...]

[...] In that sense, Paul and Virginia is ambiguous regarding ideas of the Enlightenment, as it does not clearly advocates nor denounces slavery. In conclusion, I would say that Paul and Virginia is a challenging reading. Indeed, it can be interpreted in many different ways. I chose to focus on a perhaps pessimistic and controversial interpretation: although it is definitely influenced by Enlightenment ideas, it remains ambiguous and sometimes contradictory to those ideas. The presence of Christianity is particularly characteristic of this ambiguous aspect, and in many ways I find it more conservative than the other Enlightenment texts I have read before. [...]

[...] This idea of happiness and tranquillity, achieved by a small community isolated from the rest of the world is the conclusion of Voltaire's philosophical tale Candide.[11] After a long journey through which Candide takes awareness of the misery of the world, he and his companions decide to settle down in a small estate, where they “withdraw from the world to enjoy the only happiness possible in it: a condition of bare, pristine self- sufficiency reminiscent of the Garden of Eden”[12]. Paul and Virginia's environment is also compared to the garden of Eden[13]. [...]