Topic:
Matthew Arnold as a critic of 18th century
Name:
Patel Kinjal
Paper
Name: The Victorian Literature
Paper
No: 6
Roll
No: 16
STD:
M.A. 1
SEM:
2
Submitted
to: Department of English Maharaja Krishnkumarsinhji
Bhavnagar University
About
Critic:
Apart
from his occupation as a poet and critic, Arnold earned a reputation during his
lifetime as one of his age’s most knowledgeable and influential advocates for
educational reform in England. Arnold became intimately familiar with the disadvantages
and inequalities inherent in the educational system from favored aristocratic
upper class to the ignored and impoverished lower class.
Essays in
Criticism:
The first
place among Arnold’s prose works must be given to the Essays in Criticism,
which raised the author to the front rank of living critics. His fundamental
ideas of criticism appeals to us strongly. The business of criticism, he says,
is neither to find fault nor to display the critic’s own learning or influence;
it is to know “the best which has been thought and said in the world,” and by
using this knowledge to create current of fresh and free thought. If a choice
must be made among these essays, which are all worthy of study, we would
suggest “The Study of Poetry”, “Wordsworth,” “Byron,” and “Emerson.” The
last-named essay, which is found in the Discourses in America, is hardly a
satisfactory estimate of Emerson, but its singular charm of manner and its
atmosphere of intellectual culture make it perhaps the most characteristic of
Arnold’s prose writings.
About
Essay:
Culture
and Anarchy is controversial philosophical work written by the celebrated
Victorian poet and critic Matthew Arnold. Composed during a time of
unprecedented social and political change, the essay argues for a restructuring
of England’s social ideology. It reflects Arnold’s passionate conviction that
the uneducated English masses could be molded into conscientious individuals
who strive for human perfection through the harmonious cultivation of all their
skill and talents.
Culture
and Anarchy:
Culture
and Anarchy (1869) contains most of the terms-culture,
sweetness and light, Barbarian, Philistine, Hebraism, and many others- which are
now associated with Arnold’s work and influence. The term “Barbarian” refers to
the aristocratic classes, whom Arnold thought to be essentially crude in soul,
notwithstanding their good clothes and superficial graces. “Philistine” refers
to the middle classes, - narrow-minded and self-satisfied people, according to
Arnold, whom he satirizes with the idea of opening their minds to new ideas.
“Hebraism” is Arnold’s term for moral education. Carlyle had emphasized the
Hebraic or moral element in life, and Arnold undertook to preach the Hellenic
or intellectual element, which welcomes new ideas, and delights in the arts
that reflect the beauty of the world. “The uppermost ideas of Hellenism,”
Arnold says, “is to see things as they are; the uppermost ideas with Hebraism
is conduct and obedience.” With great clearness, sometimes with great force,
and always with a play of humor and raillery aimed at the “Philistines,” Arnold
pleads for both these elements in life which together aim at “Culture,” that
is, at moral and intellectual perfection.
Plot and
Major Characters:
Although
Arnold does not create specific fictional characters to express his ideas in
Culture and Anarchy, he does infuse his essays with a narrative persona that
can best be described as a Socratic figure. This mentor also identifies and
classifies three groups of people who comprise contemporary English society.
The first group is the Barbarians or
the aristocratic segment of society who are so involved with their archaic
traditions and gluttony that they have lost touch with the rest of society for
which they were once responsible. The second group-for whom Arnold’s persona
reserves his most scornful criticism-is the Philistines, or the selfish and
materialistic middle class who have been gulled into a torpid state of
puritanical self-centeredness by nonconforming religious sects. The third group
is the Populace, or the disenfranchised, poverty-stricken lower class who have
been let down by the negligent Barbarians and greedy Philistines. According to
Stefan Collini, culture is “an ideal of human life, a standard of excellence
and fullness for the development of our capacities, aesthetic, intellectual,
and moral.”
Culture:
as a study in Perfection:
CULTURE,
which is the study of perfection,
leads us, Arnold in the essay have shown, “to conceive of true human perfection
as a harmonious
perfection, developing all sides of our humanity; and as a general
perfection, developing all parts of our society.
Culture
is considered not merely as the Endeavour to see and learn this, but as the
Endeavour, also to make it prevail, the moral, social, and
beneficent character of culture becomes manifest. Religion says: The Kingdom of
God is within you; and culture, in like manner, places human perfection in an
internal condition, in the growth and predominance of our humanity proper, as
distinguished from our animality.
Arnold
mentions that the only purpose of Culture is in keeping the mark of human
perfection simply and broadly in view, and not assigning to this perfection, as
religion or utilitarianism assign to it, a special and limited character. The
notion of perfection as culture brings us to conceive it: a harmonious perfection, a perfection in which the characters of beauty
and intelligence are both present, which unites
‘the two noblest of things,’—as Swift, who of one of the two, at any rate, had himself all too little, move it happily cells them in his Battle of the Books,--‘the two noblest of things, sweetness and light.’ |
‘the two noblest of
things,’—as Swift, who of one of the two, at any rate, had himself all too
little, move it happily cells them in his Battle
of the Books,--‘the two noblest
of things, sweetness and light.’
Culture:
Sweetness & Light:
For
Arnold, Culture is connected with the ideas of Sweetness & Light. In thus
making sweetness and light to be characters of perfection, culture is of like
spirit with poetry, follows one law with poetry.
Culture,
however, shows its single-minded love of perfection, its desire simply to make
reason and the will of God prevail, its freedom from fanaticism, by its
attitude towards all this machinery, even while it insists that it is
machinery.
What is
greatness?
Greatness
is a spiritual condition worthy to excite love, interest, and admiration; and
the outward proof of possessing greatness is that we excite love, interest, and
admiration. The people, who believed most that our greatness and welfare are
proved by our being very rich, and who most give their lives and thoughts to
becoming rich, are just the very people whom we call Philistines.
Bring out
the distinction and difference among the Barbarians, the Philistines and the
Populace.
Introduction:
Three
great classes of England are the aristocrats, the middle class and the working
class. Arnolds the virtuous mean and would like to point out the excesses and
the defect of all these three classes of English people.
One great
defeat Arnold finds among the aristocrats is that very often their spirit lacks
enough courage’s for resistance. Helpless inaptitude is the besetting sin of
the middle class while the working class lacks ready power of action and genial
powers of sympathy.
The
Aristocratic:
The
Aristocratic class Arnold calls the Barbarians. They are champions of personal
liberty and often anarchical in their tendencies; yet they have their own
individualism, field sports and manly exercises are a fashion with them. The
sense of chivalry of the Barbarians makes the aristocrats practice politeness
in action and manners. Politeness and
grace in manners come directly inculcated by the Aristocrats from the
Barbarians. Even the culture of the aristocrats is skin-deep, external, lacking
in inward virtues.
The
Middle Class:
The
Philistines are the middle class, according to Arnold. By Philistines, in its
original German sense, is meant the uncultured people like most of the
shopkeepers. The philistines are worldly-wise men captains of industry busy in
trade and commerce. As a nation of shopkeepers, Philistines have brought all
economic prosperity and progress in the country. They have built cities, they
have made railroads, and lastly they have produced the greatest mercantile navy
the world has ever seen. Thus they are the Empire builders in colonies and so
long as the working class would join forces with them they would bring to the
land all material prosperity.
The
Working Class:
The
working classes who help the Empire builders are the Populace in Arnold’s
parlance. Poverty and squalor have dogged the footsteps of the Populace
wherever they are engaged in running the wheels of Industry. They are raw and
half-developed. They are being exploited by the Philistines and the Barbarians
so long. Now there is a stir and an awakening among the Populace. Democratic
awakening has dawned upon their poverty and squalor. The people of this class
are becoming politically conscious and are coming out from the obscurities to
assert “ an Englishman’s heaven-born privilege of doing as he likes, meeting
where he likes, bawling what he likes, braking what he likes.”
Thus
Arnold finds a sort of caste-system in England consisting of the Barbarians,
the Philistines and the Populace.
|
|
Light, sweetness,culture,
Barbarian
Hebraism
Philistine
Hellenism
Hebraism
is used for moral education. Hellenism welcomes new ideas and delights.
Hebraism:
Hebraism
is strict obedience exclusion of the use of intellect, strictness of conscience
and spontaneity of consciousness. The moral issue implies an implicit faith in
the world of God. Mr. Sidgwick points out the Hebraism are manful walking by
the best light of fire and strength.
Arnold
and God:
If
Hebraism means only the knowledge of the Bible and the Word of God, then Arnold
has come to the defense of culture and says-
No
man,
Who
knows nothing else?
Know
even his Bible!”
Essential
to Hellenism, is the impulse to the development of the whole man.
Hebraism only insists on perfection only on
strictness of conscience. The Victorian age boosts of British freedom, British
industry and British muscularity.
Hellenism:
Hellenism
sharpens one’s intellectual side. Sweetness and light of Hellenism fortifies
one’s mind to see things as they are and to realize the intelligible law of
things.
"What
we want is a fuller harmonious development of our humanity, a free play of
thought upon our routine notions, spontaneity of consciousness, sweetness and
light.”
It means
man must seek perfection by knowing and spreading the best which has been
reached in the world.
Arnold
exhorts his countrymen against the diseased spirit of cultivated enacting.
Aim of
Hebraism and Hellenism:
Hellenism
is to see things as they are where as Hebraism is conduct. Hellenism is
spontaneity of consciousness and Hebraism is strictness. Hebraism is doing more
than knowing. Hellenism is thinking clearly. Hebraism thinks of the original
sin of Man. According to Arnold Hebraism and is intelligible law of things.
Renaissance
and Reformation:
In
England we find both and intellectual awareness sharpened by Reformation and
Renaissance. Reformation was a cry to return to the bible and a movement to do,
from the heart, the will of god. Hellenic idea was the Platonic idea to study
the law and science of things as they really are. Thus enlightened
Protestantism’s attitude toward the Bible as the word of God is very much like
the conservative Catholicism looking forward in hope of salvation towards god’s
church instead of god’s words.
Renaissance
and Reformation in England brought in their wake Humanism, born of the great
reawakening of Hellenism. So Arnold thinks that as Hellenism is of
Indo-European growth, Hebraism is of Semitic Growth.
Again
Puritanism was the reaction in England. In the 17th century of the
conscience and moral sense of the English people. As in the early days of
Christianity, Hebraism had to fight and vanquish Hellenism and Puritanism gave
an effective check to Renaissance Humanism.
And ever
since the days of Queen Elizabeth I the main stream of man’s advance and the
central current of world’s progress had followed the path chalked out both by
Hebraism and Hellenism.
The rule
of life must be based on the actual instinct of seeing things as they really
are and guiding our moral impulses in unison with the intellectual impulse is
that we can serve the ends of Hebraism and Hellenism.
Man’s
perfection As the Final Aim:
The final
aim of both Hellenism and Hebraism is man’s perfection or salvation. The Grecian
culture as well as Jewish culture, in the final analysis, appears to aim at
that perfection through which “we might be partakers of the Divine Nature”.
This is the Pauline doctrine of Christianity and this is at the back of
Hellenic concept of seeing things as they really are; the human nature aspiring
towards perfection must embrace either Hellenism or Hebraism. Human life upper
the spell of Hellenism and Humanism urges man to see things as they really are,
and to see them in their beauty which would lead to ultimate truth so,
according to Socrates:
“The
best man is he who most tries to perfect himself and the happiest man is he who
most feels that he is perfecting himself.”
Danger of
Anarchy in Society:
Doing as
one likes may become an anti-social activity. Then liberty becomes license and
in an organized society Anarchy breaks out. Arnold’s ‘culture’ may bring about
a spirit of cultivated inaction. If this culture is blind to the existing evils
of society or this culture is in danger of being and enemy to all reforms and
reformers, then that culture is bound to become all moonshine. Arnold’s critics
believe in action and not in aesthetic detachment.
Arnold’s
contention is that to act properly one must think rightly; one must be able to
see things as they are Culture which is a pursuit of perfection endows a man
with a clear perspective to see things as they are. Without sufficient light it
is difficult to guide, the lovers of action plunge themselves in ill-calculable
harm to society. This action is liable to bring chaos in society.
Conclusion:
Thus to
include we may say that for Arnold, OUR BEST SELF which Culture, or the study
of perfection, seeks to develop in us is the eventual remedy for anarchy is
society. In his concluding paragraph Arnold quotes Bishop Wilson to prove
himself in asserting, how important intelligence is and reason to judge right,
in doing as one likes:
‘Firstly,
never go against the best light you have;
Secondly,
take care that your light be not darkness,’
Sources:
Net and Reference Book Words:
2,380
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