DBQ

During the second half of the nineteenth century, Europe went through transformations. The changes affected the working middle class the most of any people in Europe. In figure 1, a women is breast feeding her child in public. In earlier times, this never would have been painted. Classical nudes were the only accepted naked paintings by the majority of the population. Pictures such as this caused and uproar of emotions from people who viewed it. In figure 2, the painting is not a close up of people. In the back of the painting, people are walking around with their backs to the viewer. This was another change during the second half of the nineteenth century. New ways a painting were just a small portion of the changes going on. Socialism was coming about during this period. People like Karl Marx had ideas for a better life style for middle class people. The idea of Socialism was a good idea to create a perfect society; but a society cannot be perfect full of imperfect people. Different biases about ideas during this time stopped Socialism from being successful. During the second half of the nineteenth century, transformations were prominent. Transformations in art and culture help society grow; but things such as Socialism led to radical new ideas that bettered the present but worsened the future.

In the 19th century, middle class people were over worked and under appreciated. They were also underpaid, with the minority of the population having the majority of the money. Marx thought this was backwards and wanted to transform society. He wanted a society where everyone was even. This is the idea of Marxism, a subsection of Socialism, with slightly different ideas. This idea would take affect on the middle class the most. The majority of people in Europe were a part of the middle class, yet they took orders from the smallest group of people. In a factory there is one owner in charge of numerous workers. If all the workers came together for a common good, they could over throw the factory worker that took advantage of them. This is the idea of Marxism. The idea was good for the moment, but over time turned into a nightmare. After the middle class came together as one, somebody had to become the leader of the group. This brought everyone back to square one. Without a leader, the group will have no direction and fail. With a leader, people will always be unhappy and want more for themselves.

Other transformations took place within the culture of European society during this time period. The art work before this time had been about nobility and religion. Now, people were beginning to paint things everyone could relate to. Figure 2 has middle class people walking around in a town. A simple painting that spoke volumes to the people at the time. Paintings of Kings and Queens, Gods and Goddesses could not be related to the average person. The working class was thought of at some points as uncultured, but that was because culture failed to include them. The transformation of art types opened new cultural doors for people. They were suddenly interested in art because at any point in time, they could substitute themselves into the scenes. This helped to bring the people of the middle class even closer together. This had its advantages and disadvantages. And advantage would be a more cultured society. A large disadvantage would be more people coming together to accept things such as Socialism, which cannot work in society.

The culture of Europe definitely had been changed forever by these new ideas. People bought into the ideas because at the time they seemed like a good thing. But bad came out of the ideas also. People were killed in mass numbers in something called "the bloody June days". This was a scary time where revolution again tried to change culture more than it needed to be changed. The change in culture through art was an advantage and helped people come closer together. Things like Marxism and Socialism tried to do the same, but on a more radical level. Like the radical Jacobins of the French Revolution, their ideas were not successful.

Romantics free response

To what extent did Romanticism challenge Enlightenment views of human beings and the natural world and how did this challenge illustrate changes between the Enlightenment and Romantic views of the relationship between God and the individual?

During the Enlightenment period, human beings viewed the world with the words of religious leaders in their minds. When Romanticism started, people began to focus on more natural ways of looking at the world. Individuals thought more of their own feelings rather than the feelings they were told to have by their God. Romantics thought more of the spirit of the human person in an Earthly life, focused on all the feelings that rush into a persons mind and body. This was a new way of thinking that became popular through out society. Some Romantics were extremely popular because of the new way of thinking about life and religion that they imposed on society. Romanticism challenged Enlightenment views of the human person and natural world by going against the traditional way of thinking that personal feelings and imagination needs to be suppressed for the public; furthermore showing that a life lived through feelings and imagination can be more satisfying than a life lived through God.

Shelly was a Romantic poet during this time period and challenged Enlightenment views in his works. He went after other women while he was married to another women, something that was frowned upon. He expressed his choice by saying that there is no God, no Heaven, and no Hell, therefore the choices made in life should satisfy a person in the present, not looking forward to the future. This contrast the Enlightenment way of thinking where everything was done for a specific reason that was thought about for a period of time. Romantics did not think, they felt with their emotions and dreamed with their imaginations to make choices that pleasured them during their life span.

Romantics did not need a greater being to look up to, to realizes their purpose in life. They searched deep within their soul to find the meaning they personally had for their life. Lord Byron was very popular during his time, especially with women. He was a dark, mysterious character that used his poetry to heighten the senses of others and himself. He found the meaning of his life not through God, but through his popularity. During the Enlightenment, nobody had ever thought like this, and life was more secluded. Bryon along with other Romantics opened the doors to new ways of life. New ways of life broke up the monotony of daily life, making an imaginative life more fulfilling for many. A belief in God was no longer needed, as people were realizing that they were satisfied by paying attention to feelings the experienced through nature and life itself.

Not all Romantics thought of life the same way, but all knew the importance of emotions. Enlightenment ideas were nearly all the same with no originality at all. Even the music during more classical periods had a specific formula to make it work. Art and music during Romanticism was more appealing to many because it told a story. Romanticism was something people could easily relate to, because it was within themselves, where as during the Enlightenment, people went by what they were told, not by what they felt. The people of the Enlightenment really knew nothing, they only learned what they were told. Romantics knew everything the wanted to know, because they learned it from their inner spirit.

Romanticism changed the view of people on the natural world and religious world. People now had an idea of independence and originality that was not present before this period. People were no longer afraid to try new things, allowing new discoveries and ideas to come about and enhance society. A life through emotions and imagination proved to be sufficient to make the people on the fringes of society feel more certain of their existence. Romanticism challenged the views of the Enlightenment but was able to put its own stamp on the way of life.