浪漫時期作品中之解放及壓迫

Liberation and Repression in the Writings in the Romantic Period

浪漫時期不論在社會及政治上皆有劇大的改變。法國當時發生了大革命，哲學思潮自由解放，民主思維孕育興起。而哲學思潮的澎湃發展亦導致了美國獨立戰爭的發生。在英國自由思潮亦沛然興盛，然而拿破崙的崛起則威脅了英國的國家利益及其『民用創立』的觀念及實踐。當時亦通過了審查法用以箝制媒體。很多思想自由的作家在惡法的威嚇下閉口封筆，雖然大部分的控告最後被撤銷，而作者也獲無罪釋放。Mary Wollenstonecraft 的著作Vindication of the Rightsof Man 當時受到廣泛的重視及討論。其另一本書Vindication of the Rights ofWoman 則是對婦女合理權力懇切的祈求，然而該書卻引發大眾嚴厲的批評和揶揄訕笑。作者如William Blake， John Keats 和William Wordsworth 也對法國大革命表達了他們的期望，然而當拿破崙自封為皇帝時，他們亦對法國大革命及其引發的恐怖表達了他們的失望。

The Romantic Period was a time of great social and political change. There wasthe French Revolution and the philosophies of freedom and liberty for all as well asthe rise of democracy. These philosophies led to the American War ofIndependence. In England the Establishment saw the rise of liberal ideas and therise of Napoleon as a threat to National interests as well as a threat to the CivilEstablishment. Censorship laws were passed to control the Press. A number offree-thinking writers were muzzled under these laws although in most cases thecharges against them were either dropped or they were acquitted. MaryWollenstonecraft wrote her Vindication of the Rights of Man, a work that was widelydebated. This was followed by her Vindication of the Rights of Women, a work thatis little more than a well-reasoned plea for reasonable rights for women. However, itwas a work that led to her being roundly condemned and publicly ridiculed. Otherauthors such as William Blake, John Keats and William Wordsworth also wroteabout their expectations and disappointments over the events of the FrenchRevolution, the horrors that the Revolution precipitated and their disappointment atNapoleon, one whom many initially regarded as a hero when he crowned himselfEmperor.