Commentary on \"Des Cannibales\", Montaigne PDF

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Commentary on passage from Montaigne's "Des Cannibales"...

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Charles Defries, St Hilda’s college Oxford

Commentary on Passage B from Des Cannibales in Montaigne’s Essais This passage appears towards the end of Montaigne’s famous “essai” on his controversial thoughts about a tribe of “Cannibales” from Brazil; the recently discovered New World which deeply intrigued 16th century France with its renewed vitality brought by the Renaissance. It marks a turning point in this text as his musings on the uncorrupted perfection of the indigenous Brazilians reach an important crux, and he sets himself up for his damning conclusion. The passage begins in the middle of a musing on the fact that we cannot find excuses or reason for the worst acts in our society, such as “la trahison, la desloyauté, la tyrannie, la cruauté, qui sont nos fautes ordinaires”, detailed on line 3 of the passage. These unredeemable acts, which represent the immoral underbelly of European society, are set in stark opposition to the act that seems most sinful to us in the society of the Brazilian savages: Cannibalism. Their cannibalism is however supported by Montaigne as being a justifiable act. For example he mentions in the excerpt preceding passage that “Ce n’est pas, comme on pense, pour s’en nourrir, [...] c’est pour representer une extreme vengeance”. Contemporary European society of Montaigne’s period is therefore already being criticised here because of the unjustifiable atrocity of its most terrible acts, which underpinned 16th century French society, compared to the cannibalism of the new world savages, viewed as unforgivable by the West, which is viewed as more excusable by the author. What follows this is one of the shortest sentences in the extract extending only from line 4 to line 5 which offers Montaigne’s only explicit opinion during this passage. He boldly asserts here that we surpass these so-called “sauvages” in every sort of barbarism and that it is therefore not permissible to call them “barbares” with respect to us Europeans as that would be supremely hypocritical. Here lies the crux that I mentioned in the introduction as they are barbaric “eu esgard aux regles de la raison”, however not in comparison to the advanced world as we are fundamentally far worse than them. The sentence length then shifts as Montaigne again proceeds to give us a lot of factual information about the tribe, in order to further prepare his concluding argument. He goes on to describe the nobility of their wars in lines 5-6 which have “autant d’excuse et de beauté que cette maladie humaine en peut recevoir”. Here if we analyse the languages we can find an important expression which points towards a condemnation of our very species. The phrase “cette maladie humaine” reveals a strong indictment of humanity: that it is ultimately deeply flawed and, moreover, an illness which is infecting the rest of the world. The salient point to remember here is that Montaigne is implying that the primitive South Americans are much less flawed than the westerners. Montaigne continues with the long sentences to inform the reader in lines 8-10 of the simplicity that the utopian world in which the Brazilians live has retained. He starts off here by describing it negatively, in terms of the absence of corruptive practices. For example the

Charles Defries, St Hilda’s college Oxford

fact that they are not “en debat de la conqueste de nouvelles terres” because of “cette uberté naturelle” which they enjoy in their own land, which provides them with all they need “sans travail et sans peine” such that they have no need of expansionism. A vital linguistic point here is that Montaigne chooses to mention in line 8 how “ils jouyssent encore de cette uberté naturelle”. The relevant word here is “encore” which is also used at the end of line 10 to affirm that “Ils sont enore en cet heureux point”. The repetition of the adverb denotes the natural abundance and happiness of the native “sauvages” as something which ‘civilised’ and ‘advanced’ French society has lost. This, in addition to the harmonious relationship evoked by the author between the tribesmen and nature, conjures an image of the Garden of Eden which implies that this new world is pre-lapsarian, while European culture has fallen away from the “douce liberté” that these South Americans still retain. The latter idea of the paradise being achieved “sans travail et sans peine” resonates strongly with Epicureanism and the idea that the highest pleasure is freedom from disturbance or pain. Their life is so perfect that “tout ce qui est au delà, est superflu pour eux” and they have a blissful ignorance of the outside world. Montaigne goes on to reiterate this idea of the indigenous people being closer to nature by referring to them as “ses creatures” in line 15. This particular use of language points to them being certainly more primitive but ultimately more connected to nature which evidently seems to look upon this civilisation more favourably than Montaigne’s own society as it benefits from a “uberté naturelle” and nature gives them everything they could want. The next section I would like to highlight is the one pertaining to Montaigne’s description of the details surrounding their form of war. As described in lines 16-18, for them, “l’acquest du victorieux c’est la gloire, et l’avantage d’estre demeure maistre en valeur et en vertu: car autrement ils n’ont que faire des biens des vaincus”. Montaigne is suggesting here that they are much more noble and honourable in war than the Europeans. They feel no need to go and decimate the villages of their defeated enemies, nor take their possessions as “ils n’ont faute de aucune chose necessaire”. They furthermore remain more honourable and noble than us in the treatment of their prisoners. In lines 20-22 Montaigne describes how “Ils ne demandent à leurs prisonniers autre rançon que la confession et recognaissance d’estre vaincus”. Unlike in Western civilisation, their prisoners are not tortured for information or imprisoned for years. They instead treat them with respect and offer them the chance to return home. We then learn of the “grandeur de courage invincible” which these “sauvages” possess in lines 23-25. The reader is informed in line 24 of the fact that “il ne s’en void aucun que n’ayme mieux estre tué et mange, que de requerir seulement de ne l’estre pas.” This narrative affirms that prisoners of war in Brazil are supremely brave and resolute as, when confronted with the dilemma of being killed and then eaten, or simply admitting their defeat and pleading for mercy, they always choose the former out of pride.

Charles Defries, St Hilda’s college Oxford

This however does not mean that they are subsequently treated like slaves. In fact, the opposite is true. As stated in line 25 “Ils les [the prisoners of war] traictent en toute liberté, affin que la vie leur soit d’autant plus chere”. This demonstrates that they are also more humane than Western civilisation in the treatment of their foes, and are therefore in fact not “sauvages” and “barbares” in the French sense of the meaning because, unfortunately, we are ultimately more worthy of the names ourselves. To conclude, at the end of his detailed description and considered evaluation of their customs in this passage, we can see Montaigne now move definitively towards his damning conclusion: that this primitive tribe which we view as barbaric and savage in fact serves primarily to demonstrate our own faults and, more importantly, our barbarism and brutality which far outweighs theirs. This passage sets the author up perfectly for that controversial conclusion as he has now covered every base in terms of fully examining the customs of this tribe in order to form a fully considered argument. This polemic culmination to the “essai” ultimately challenges the reader to overcome their own preconceptions when considering the savage cannibals as he himself did in order that they too may arrive at an equally well reasoned and thoroughly contemplated deduction themselves as he has after all, as shown by the incredible detail this passage goes into, given us all the information with which to form our own opinion....