Hello and welcome to the Discourse. An Essay on Man was published in the year 1743 in which Alexander Pope discussed the order of the universe on the lines of hierarchy or chain of beings that he termed the ‘chain of love’. In the first epistle, Pope discussed relations between humans and the universe; the second examines humans as individuals. The third addresses the relationship between the individual and society, and the fourth questions the potential of the individual for happiness. The subtitle of the fourth epistle is “On the Nature and State of Man, with Respect to Happiness.” The fourth Epistle is 398 lines long in which the narrator describes man’s various attempts to achieve true human happiness. The narrator then tries to establish that only a virtuous, good man can achieve such happiness.
Summary of An Essay on Man Epistle 4 :
Section 1 Lines (1-28)
Pope begins the fourth epistle by declaring that the purpose of human life is to achieve happiness.
“O HAPPINESS! our being’s end and aim!” He then says that it is not easy to know what is happiness as there are many contradictory ideas about it. He says that happiness is something for which we continue to live even with all our problems and burdens and can dare to die too to find our happiness. The narrator says that most people, including fools and the wise, hold the wrong meaning of happiness. The narrator asks that if happiness is a “celestial seed” that was dropped (sowed) below, in what kind of mortal soil, in what kind of human heart, would happiness choose to grow? “Where grows?—where grows it not?” The narrator says that if happiness doesn’t grow, it is not the fault of the seed, nor of the soil (or individual heart), rather it is the fault of the culture in which the individual is bound. “We ought to blame the culture, not the soil,” Pope says.
Happiness is very elusive and everyone has their own way to define it. Happiness is “nowhere to be found, and everywhere.” The narrator says that one cannot buy happiness which is “always free.” Some say that they find happiness in bliss, and some others find it in rest, however, no one has found a general definition of happiness that works for all.
Section 2 Lines (29-92)
The narrator says that happiness is man’s end, his goal and it can be achieved by everyone because God intends happiness to be available to all; thus, it must be social, governed by general laws. Since God wants everyone to be happy, an individual should not strive for his happiness alone, rather one should strive for the happiness of everyone. Since happiness is a social thing, it is necessary for the maintenance of peace, order, and welfare of society. However, happiness cannot be located in outer things. Though some people can be wealthier, healthier, more powerful, or wiser than others, their ability to feel happiness is equal—“all are equal in their happiness”. The narrator warns the readers not to fall into the trap of those who define happiness in a wrong manner and suggests that all people can reach and conceive of it using “thinking right and meaning well.” Furthermore, even if there are inequities among us in terms of giftedness, possessions or whatever, nevertheless there is an equality of “common sense” among all people which provides equal access to the garden of happiness.
The narrator says that God brings a balance of happiness in mankind through Hope and Fear. Reasonable people often wish for three things, “health, peace, and competence” as these three things ensure happiness. By competence, Pope means that one should be content with the rewards, gifts, or earnings that he achieves through his competence.
Section 3 Lines (93-110)
In these lines, Pope asserts that happiness is distributed among people according to God’s plan for whom all men are equal. He then raises the general questions that a man may ask, like why does a virtuous person die while the sinful man lives. The narrator says that accidents and illnesses can occur by chance but the good man will always have an advantage. The person who understands God’s greater plan follows virtues and avoids sinful behavior because he knows that true happiness lies in virtues. Yet, those who are virtuous and just may fall ill or die too soon, but their deaths are not caused by their virtue.
Section 4 Lines (111-130)
In these lines, Pope continues to discuss the issue of virtue and vice about happiness and says that it is inappropriate to question God’s plan and doubt it. God will not alter his laws to favor individuals.
Section 5 Lines (131-148)
In these lines, the narrator chides those who complain that virtuous people often suffer while the sinful cherish tastier fruits. The narrator says that it is not a man’s right to judge the goodness and righteousness of other men. This is the purview of God alone. Whichever men are most good and righteous must be the happiest. “The very best will variously incline, And what rewards your virtue, punish mine. Whatever is, is right.”
Section 6 Lines (149-308)
Pope endeavors to remove the doubts about the relationship between virtues and happiness and asserts that only virtues will lead to true happiness.
“But sometimes virtue starves, while vice is fed.” / What then? Is the reward of virtue bread?”
A virtuous man may not be as rich and powerful as a sinful man. Only fools lament that virtuous people are not rewarded. What is the reward of virtue? External goods? By some law or character of human nature (greed), we tend to think that the reward of righteousness should be riches, a foundational principle of “prosperity.” The narrator debunks this myth and says that the reward of virtue is an immaterial, inner sort of tranquility and joy. Virtue’s reward is not earthly in nature, and hence cannot be taken away or destroyed.
“What nothing earthly gives, or can destroy, / The soul’s calm sunshine, and the heartfelt joy.”
Pope suggests that all the earthly riches and materialistic pleasures that are ephemeral are nothing but trash which is unfit as virtue’s reward, either now or in some afterlife. The narrator says that materialistic pleasure cannot be the reward for a virtuous person whose sights and sensitivities are not adapted to these pleasures which are nothing but trifles for him that may even cause harm to his virtuous self. Such a virtuous person would personally avoid such materialistic pleasures.
“Rewards, that either would to Virtue bring / No joy, or be destructive of the thing: / How oft by these at sixty are undone / The Virtues of the saint at twenty-one!”
The narrator says that the mere possession of external goods alone-- fortune, honor, nobility, greatness, fame, and talent apart from virtue makes no one happy.
“Bring then these blessings to a strict account; Make fair deductions; see to what they mount.”
That is, even if a person has all these materialistic pleasures and much more, if they lack virtues, they cannot be happy.
Section 7 Lines (309-98)
In this last section, the narrator asserts that virtue alone constitutes the universal and permanent happiness of man. Only virtue can provide happiness which seeks to rise above the individual and embrace the universal. Such happiness will exist eternally. This perfection of virtue and happiness conforms to God’s order and represents the ultimate purpose of mankind. Pope says that while happiness is equally available for all, equality of wealth is opposed to God’s ways because it would breed discontent among those who deserve greater wealth and status. However, happiness is not dependent on wealth or other materialistic pleasures. The "first, last purpose of the human soul" is to love God and humankind. Thus one should even let one's enemies have a part of happiness. Pope asserts that being virtuous is happiness in itself. “Know then this truth (enough for Man to know) ìVirtue alone is Happiness below.”
Virtue translates into happiness when in a purely non-sectarian fashion a man through God recognizes his place in the chain of being, learns from his place in the chain his purpose, understands the origin of the cosmic values of the universe (faith, law, morality), and seeks to love both God and man. Virtue is perfected, and along with it happiness, when man settles himself in the chain of beings with containment. God has placed man “on the isthmus of a middle state,“ between the angels and the animals. He should avoid trying to mix with the angels, and he should avoid sinking to the level of the beasts.
The narrator says that while “God loves from Whole to Parts, the human soul must rise from the individual to the whole.” Thus man begins from “Self-love thus pushed to social, to divine,” that is, a love of the whole to which there is grateful resignation.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.
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