Sunday, 20 September 2020

VOLTAIRE

Voltaire (Francois Marie Arouet) was born in 1694 at Paris. His father was a Notary and belonged to the middle class. Voltaire was born with a weak and unhealthy constitution. The midwife who delivered him said that he would not survive more than 4 days but Voltaire lived for 84 years despite always being unhealthy. 

Voltaire looked ugly with a long nose, a long face with spots on it, sunken eyes and flat cheeks. But the ugliness is only in looks but not for the mind. His roving mind was incisive with scintillating intellect that is uncompromisingly brave.

From the time he entered into his teens till the time he died Voltaire did not put down his pen and did not shut his critical mouth. From his pen flowed novels, plays, short stories, histories, musical plays, essays, philosophical and scientific treatises. Apart from those he wrote about 10,000 letters to many people.

Wherever there is Voltaire there have to be scholarly discussions. The discussions were brightened by his incisive and incessant wit. 

Voltaire did not write in vain, he always had a purpose for his writings. In his writings he tore to bits the contemporary society, its evil practices, its decadence, its superstitious beliefs, religious practices and also the tyranny of the king himself. He used his pen as a sword to tear the system apart and his words shot out like lances landing deep into the hearts of the people.  

Voltaire’s time was the 17th & 18th centuries and to utter and write such things required lots and lots of guts. In France Louis IX was the monarch and he considered himself as the state. Any dissent was ruthlessly suppressed and confined to the Bastille prison which was a living hell. 

Finally the French had their revolution in 1789. The minds of the people were made ready for the revolution mainly by Voltaire and Rousseau. Of course there were many others too who contributed but these two had the primacy in shaping the people’s minds.

Rousseau and Voltaire although contributed to the same cause are like the North and the South poles, diametrically opposite in ways of thought. Voltaire was an intellectual who relied on the mind while Rousseau was a thinker who relied on the heart. Both of them have made philosophy available to the common man by way of stories, novels and other means propelling the people’s minds towards democracy.  

Voltaire’s writings not only entertained the people but they also made them think about the contemporary systems as he himself did. It is said that possibly till date the French language did not have another proponent as clear, beautiful, powerful and astute as Voltaire. Of course today his writings seem outdated and no one reads them as they addressed the contemporary society at that time. Yet, his works like Candide, Micromegas, Zadig and  his innumerable letters still entertains people.

Voltaire was educated well by his father. He was joined in the Jesuit College. His father wanted him to go into business and should get married to a rich man’s daughter. However, Voltaire did not listen to his father. He believed that literature is his field. His father chided him that literature does not give food. 

His father felt that Voltaire could not start a business and joined him in an employment with the French Ambassador at The Hague. There Voltaire fell in love with a poor girl and wanted to run away with her but his father threatened him that he would get him arrested and brought him back to Paris.  

Voltaire is continually critical of things be it orally or in his writings. He is constantly using his wit on everyone, especially on the courtiers of the King and also his family members. His words used to get circulated all over Paris and any comment on a courtier was taken to have originated from Voltaire. By that time Louis IX died and the infant Louis XV became king. A critical comment on the Regent ruling on behalf of the king was attributed to Voltaire and he was arrested and thrown into the Bastille where he remained for 11 months. He changed his name to Voltaire in the prison and took the opportunity to write his great epic “Henriad”.

After getting released from prison too Voltaire’s criticism on the intolerance of religion and the tyranny of the king did not stop. He was fearlessly brave and did not pull any punches. At that time he wrote a tragic play “Eedip” which was enacted in a prominent theatre of Paris. His play was a great success and the French realized his brilliance when he was only just 23-24 years old and money just poured in. From that time onwards there was no stopping Voltaire and both his fame and money grew. Voltaire was as brilliant in speculation, as he was in literature; he invested the money wisely in speculation and made even more money.    

He once had a quarrel regarding a woman with an aristocrat named Chevalier De Rohan. One day when Voltaire was with his friends Rohan came and insulted him. True to his brilliance Voltaire insulted him right back. Next day when Voltaire was alone Rohan got him beaten by 6 hooligans. 

Voltaire was very angry and learnt sword fighting in the night. Next day he invited Rohan to a one to one sword combat. Rohan did not want to take a chance and reported the matter to the police and so Voltaire went back to the Bastille again. The officials later released him but expelled him from France for 3 years. Voltaire chose England for his exile. 

After reaching England, in just 3 months time Voltaire learnt to read and write English. He read the top English literature and the scientific treatises. Shakespeare’s plays did not appeal to him and Volatire found them to be coarse. He read the philosophy of John Locke thoroughly and got influenced by it. He read the scientific treatises of Newton (who died after Voltaire reached England) and considered him as his guru.  

Voltaire was impressed by England. He termed England as a nation of merchants but was impressed by the freedom of speech, religious tolerance and compared them to that of France which was way below on them and felt bad.  

After his exile of 3 years Voltaire came back to Paris and for some time lived comfortably. Suddenly someone got hold of the letters wrote by him to his friends and got them printed as a book. As usual Voltaire did not pull any punches in his letters on the system. The officials then got copies of the book burnt and issued a warrant to arrest Voltaire. For a change this time he decided to flee. 

Voltaire fled to a place called “Siree” in the state of Champagne where a tributary king Marquis Du Chatelet gave him shelter in his court while his wife Madame Du Chatelet gave him a place in her heart. Not only was the Madame beautiful, she was a French Natural Philosopher, physicist and mathematician herself. She translated Newton’s Book “Principia Mathematica” into French. 

While the Marquis was busy in wars and was traveling, she had a good time with Voltaire. This news spread all over France. The Marquis knew about the affair too but chose to keep quiet. 

Voltaire spent 17 years in Siree. The entire day by the Madame and Voltaire was spent in their rooms busy in their writings, and scientific experiments. Men of learning came to the estate from all over Europe to meet Voltaire. At 9 PM in the night both Voltaire and the Madame presented themselves before the visitors. Then there were discussions on many topics. Voltaire used to present to them his own plays and also use to act in them. Slowly the Madame lost interest in Voltaire and gave shelter to a young poet. This made Voltaire jealous but anyway the Madame fell ill and died. Her death shook Voltaire and grieved him very much. He wanted to go back to Paris but the officials did not let him set his foot there. 

Voltaire was unable to decide what is to be done when Frederic the Great of Prussia invited him to Prussia. Voltaire went to Berlin. He lived 3 years there and again continued with his writings, discussions and his criticism.  

Slowly Frederic got fed of Volatire and Voltaire came to know about it. He searched around, but did not get shelter anywhere and finally, he settled on the border between France and Switzerland named Ferney. 

He purchased a big estate there and built a garden. As usual many philosophers and writers visited him in Ferney and again the discussions continued. By that time he became old and was over 60 years, but in his case as his body atrophied his mind flowered more and more. His writings became more varied and diverse. In the last 20 years he stayed at Ferney, he wrote many novels, dramas, stories, letters, histories, philosophical treatises, and other writings and rained them on Paris. The French people got soaked in Voltaire’s writings and were strongly influenced by him. He tore apart the religious superstitions of the time and also the meanness and crookedness of the human race. His famous novel “Candide” written during the time strongly reflects this tendency. He also financed, managed and turned Ferney into a watch making town. 

At that time a French Encyclopedia was being compiled by the Encyclopedists led by Diderot. The idea behind this is to present to the general public the scientific developments, to inculcate in them a spirit of rebellion, to tear apart superstitions and even present a sort of atheism. Voltaire wrote some parts of the French Encyclopedia. 

Voltaire felt that there was a God. He said that it is very clear from nature. He asked as to if there was no God then how did creation come about? He felt like Plato much before him that if there is no God then it is necessary to invent him. 

As per Voltaire God has created the world, but then left it to itself and does not interfere in it, and the world goes on by itself. God does not interfere in either the world or in the lives of men. He does not listen the prayers and care about the welfare of mankind. Such a belief is known as “Deism.” 

He himself was born in a Roman Catholic family but was highly critical of Christianity as well as Judaism and Islam. Voltaire praised Hinduism stating that Hindus were a peaceful innocent people, equally incapable of hurting others or defending themselves.    

Voltaire then created a Philosophical Dictionary. He took all the aspects of philosophy then present and used all his enormous knowledge and his experiments and presented in it. This single handed effort to create a massive encyclopedia in beautiful prose gives the incisiveness and breadth of his thought. 

He was 84 years old and was slowly moving towards his death. He wanted to visit Paris before he died. He took his latest play “Irene” and started for Paris in a horse drawn carriage despite the warning of his doctor not to do so.    

Paris laid the Red Carpet for him and he was massively popular. France was then ruled by Louis XVI and the entire populace of Paris paid him their respects and showed their following towards Voltaire. When his play “Irene” was played in a theatre it was absolutely full and after the play there was a thunderous applause. The people surrounded him respectfully and did not let him move. Voltaire was shaken by the immense love Paris had shown to him. His weak body could not take in the intensity of it and he fell ill. Finally he died in 1778 filled with honor and happiness. Perhaps very few people in the world could have a death like Voltaire’s. It is a great coincidence that his rival in thought Rousseau too died n the same year.  

The officials did not let the body Voltaire get buried in Paris and it had to be  buried somewhere else. When the French Revolution took place in 1789, the Bastille which was seen as a symbol of cruel tyranny was razed down by the people. On its remains the people laid the physical remains of Voltaire as his final victory over the French mind.  

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