Although Montaigne's Essays are lengthy and combine a lot of wise words from historical figures past into a few hundred pages, they don't even begin to touch on the depths of what he was trying to get across. True, Montaigne's Essays do combine a lot of prevalent thoughts of different people together to support several pressing ideas. And in retrospect, because of the array of people and examples used, most of the topics of the Essays cover a lot of ground and give a strong insight as to different thoughts and ideas that occur. But those thoughts are only of a certain handful of individuals which lived at the time or before, and do not begin to explore the ideas of other peoples of the time, or even today. With Montaigne using an array of quotes and examples from other people, the Essays show that he was well-read and had a "stream of consciousness" type of thinking, which he shared with Jane Austen, though in a different manner.
At first glance, it might seem as if Montaigne's thousand-and-some page book of Essays covers all thoughts on all manners of life. And in all transparency, it does cover a good number of thoughts and ideas. However, it is simply impossible at this point in time to publish all mature thoughts on all subjects of matter. Even when Montaigne is able to quote several other great thinkers and write out hundreds of words to make a hundred-page chapter, the reader can still tell that his thoughts are not finished. And how could they be, when the mind is constantly thinking and observing and developing new thoughts? Even with the highest of vocabulary and the multiple sources, Montaigne's Essays are still nothing more than a mere stream of consciousness that will never be finished.
By the way Montaigne writes, the reader can assume that he is merely publishing an edited version of the somewhat random ideas that come up in his mind. Throughout the Essays, Montaigne keeps his ideas organized into subcategories and chapters. But in each chapter, he writes what he, and other philosophers he has read up on, think on certain subjects such as man, principle, knowledge, etc. These thoughts are displayed in a manner of organized chaos. Though they are divided into specific thoughts, he still seems to jump from idea to idea within the thought, using quotes, examples, references, and of course his own thoughts. This depicts that though the Essays are organized to an extent, Montaigne's thoughts still are shown through a stream of consciousness manner.
In Pride and Prejudice, Austen, like Montaigne, tends to somewhat use a descriptive sort of stream of consciousness to add to the story. Austen indirectly speaks for her characters in Pride and Prejudice, as she does with Elizabeth when she is dealing with different male figures in the story. That is, the characters seem to be very perceptive of certain things. This is like Montaigne in that he, too, was very perceptive of the world around him. Both Montaigne and Austen have certain opinions and ideas that they are able to express through text by implication rather than outright statements. Though the two works are vastly different in genre and overall type of writing, they share these characteristics and writing styles to a certain noticeable extent.
For what it's worth, Montaigne's Essays are able to depict certain thoughts and ideas to a certain depth, but to say that they captured all ideas behind the thoughts would be false. His thoughts manage to capture the essence of several world ideas thought up by many important philosophers, though the entire idea is impossible to grasp. Montaigne expresses these ideas through a stream of consciousness style, publishing his ideas along with quotes, examples, stories, and other points that he was able to think up. This shows an insight into his knowledgeable, chaotic mind. He shares this style of writing with Jane Austen, as they both express their thoughts in an indirect, perceptive manner. With Austen, she expresses her ideas through characters, while Montaigne expresses his through individual ideas. Regardless, the two are able to depict their seemingly minute ideas indirectly through text for the purpose of expressing ideas to a certain extent.
No comments:
Post a Comment