Riassunti di ingle George I - II PDF

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George IGeorge I was the first Hanoverian king of Great Britain, he didn’t speak English very well. During his reign the Parliament was divided into two parties: the Whigs and the Tories. Into the first one we remember the figure of Sir Robert Walpole, a Whig man that we usually consider the first P...

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George I George I was the first Hanoverian king of Great Britain, he didn’t speak English very well. During his reign the Parliament was divided into two parties: the Whigs and the Tories. Into the first one we remember the figure of Sir Robert Walpole, a Whig man that we usually consider the first Prime Minister. He supported a policy based on peace and because of this, his period was also called “golden Age”. He promoted social meetings of intellectuals (in Coffee houses) to discuss about different themes like philosophy, actuality, politic and to guarantee the diffusion of free and liberal thoughts. This atmosphere gave an incentive to travel around the world and also to import different traditions. Also developed a religious movement called Methodism, based on living a quiet life. George II When George II came to the throne, London’s trade entered in conflict with Spain and Walpole, who didn’t manage to find a solution to the war, was forced to resign. He left his place to William Pitt, who was elected by the Commons. During the same period broke out a revolt in Scotland, led by Charles Edward Stuart, also known as “Jacobite”, who wanted to restore the power of his family. Charles was defeated in the Battle of Culloden and because of this he found refuge in France. Britain also fought the Seven Years’ War with Prussia against France and Austria. The Age of Reason The Age of Reason was an eighteenth-century movement that included the Enlightenment. This period was important for the abandonment of superstitions, mysticism and fanaticism typical in the Middle Age. The rationality was the protagonist in the research of an individual happiness that the people can obtain only with the use of a good education. Is also really prominent the virtue of politeness that gave a boost to the birth of a class of authentic gentlemen, who often gathered to have public debates, helped by the spread of newspapers like “The Spectator”. People rejected the idea that the world was controlled by God to understand the important role of the human mind that can improve life’s quality and encourage the exploration of new lands, where we find the figure of the “noble savage”who, being innocent, lives in the “state of nature”. This kind of freedom represents the harmony between man and nature. In this period in England, also the women became quite independent; some of them in fact began to work as writers. Journalism In the 18 th century when in Europe developed the Enlightenment, in England there was a rapid diffusion of journal and pamphlets. This event was caused thanks to the spread of printed words, also it helped the people to show his point of view and to exercise political and individual freedom. The middle-class people had developed an interest for education and for news and because of this, journalism, in England, became soon a free profession. This development was also supported by the rise of coffee-houses and of a new postal system. The most important weekly newspapers were “The Tatler” and “The Spectator”, written by Richard Steele and Joseph Adison. These periodicals covered a lot of themes like religion, moral and political life, manners and public debated. “The

Spectator” also used a fictional method of presentation that implies the presences of an observatory that tells the facts. This structure was able to capture the attention of the readers. Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe gave to the readers a perfect portrait of an English man of the 18 th century thanks to the description of the figure of Robinson Crusoe. He was in fact a curious merchant, really expert in the economic politics of that period, he travelled to became rich and this reflected the age of Capitalism and the desires of the middle-class. When Crusoe’s ship was wrecked, the protagonist tested his intelligence in front of a lot of difficulties and his ability to solve problems. The importance of Individualism was also an important Puritan idea and it was connected with the use of an analytical vision and logical method to exploit the nature that was often able to improve the human life. This thought was called theory of utility and derived from Rousseau with the myth of the good savage. Robinson was a Puritan mind because was a rational and self control man, he was again the “otium” and he considered very important to survive his relation with God. Pamela written by Richarson Pamela; or Virtue Rewarded is an epistolary novel by English writer Samuel Richardson, first published in 1740. It tells the story of a beautiful 15-year-old maidservant named Pamela Andrews, whose country landowner master, Mr. B, makes unwanted and inappropriate advances towards her after the death of his mother. After Mr. B attempts unsuccessfully to seduce and rape her multiple times, he eventually rewards her virtue when he sincerely proposes an equitable marriage to her. Pamela, who is emotionally fragile and confused by Mr. B's manipulation, accepts his proposal. In the novel's second part, Pamela marries Mr. B and tries to acclimatize to upper-class society. The story, a best-seller of its time, was very widely read but was also criticized for its perceived licentiousness and glorification of abuse....