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One does not have to be overly smart to realize that a strong ideological connotation exists between the ideas, contained in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s “Discourse on Inequality” and Thomas Cole’s artistic interpretation of this French philosopher’s concept of “paradise lost”, as seen in his paintings “The Savage State” and “The Arcadian or Pastoral State”. In his essay, Rousseau strived to expose people’s social inequality as the by-product of their existential sophistication, while suggesting that modern individual’s inability to attain a true happiness correspond to its life being subjected to numerous social rules and regulations that are artificial in their essence. According to Rousseau, people that lived during the course of Stone Age, were much happier, comparing to their civilized successors, simply because the existential passions of primitive savages were limited to self-preservation and feeling general empathy towards the others. In its turn, this allowed them to live in harmony with nature, without trying to impose their authority upon other people, as their foremost priority: “Man’s first feeling was that of his own existence, and his first care that of self-preservation. The produce of the earth furnished him with all he needed, and instinct told him how to use it” (Rousseau Part 2). In other words, even though he never suggested that modern people have to “return to the earth”, in order to be able to have their lives filled with the sense of purpose, Rousseau nevertheless implied it indirectly. Thus, Cole’s painting “The Savage State” can be thought of an artistic expression of this particular Rousseau’s idea. It depicts tiny figures of people, which seem to be living before the dawn of civilization (semi-naked, with bone-arrows in their hands), surrounded by the sheer immensity of nature. Whereas the upper left corner of this painting emanates peacefulness (sunset), the upper right corner of Cole’s masterpiece depicts the fast approach of a bad weather, which in its turn, explains why depicted people appear as being utterly worried. There is an unmistaken aura of structural wholesomeness about Cole’s painting – the way it portrays the expressions of nature leaves no doubt as to the fact that they directly affect “savages”, while leaving them with very little time to think of just about anything, except for seeking refuge from advancing weather. In its turn, this corresponds to Rousseau’s idea that only people, preoccupied with satisfying their immediate physical urges, can be truly happy, because such their activities are being perceived by them as “thing in itself”. This is the reason why even today, people who live in large cities, strive to get out into a countryside for a picnic, whenever is possible, because it is namely when they sit around the bon-fire, while waiting for their wieners to be cooked over the charcoals, that they experience an acute sense of inner peace. Just as one can never get tired of looking at the fire, it is quite impossible to get tired of observing Cole’s masterpiece, because it radiates the illusive sensation of perpetual motion. Even though that it is very doubtful of whether Cole considered himself as an ardent supporter of Rousseau’s rationalistic philosophy (Cole was romanticist), he nevertheless was able to depict the very essence of this philosopher’s outlook on life with utter exactness – the most pursuits, modern people occupy themselves with, while considering them as the pathway to attaining happiness, actually make these people less happy, because such pursuits have nothing to do with hunting-gathering: “So long as men remained content with their rustic huts, so long as they were satisfied with clothes made of the skins of animals and sewn together with thorns and fish-bones… they lived free, healthy, honest and happy lives, so long as their nature allowed, and as they continued to enjoy the pleasures of mutual and independent intercourse” (Rousseau Part 2). Thus, this particular Cole’s painting actually helps us to visualize otherwise purely abstract flow of Rousseau’s thoughts on the subject of what accounts for one’s happiness.
As we have mentioned earlier, in “Discourse on Inequality” Rousseau does not refer to civilizational accomplishments as such that needs to be ultimately disposed of, in order for people to gain back their original “innocence”, because it would signify the course of history being reversed backwards, which is impossible by definition. Even after social prejudices started to affect people’s lives in primeval societies, these people were still able to lead meaningful existence, because they remained in close touch with nature. Cole’s painting “The Arcadian or Pastoral State” provides us with the insight on Rousseau’s idealized concept of early communal living as being spiritually beneficial for people that participated in it. At the same time, this particular painting promotes Rousseau’s concept of social stratification as the side effect of people being entitled with more and more “life passions”, as time goes by.
“The Arcadian or Pastoral State” depicts the atmosphere of Western civilization moving through a “rural” stage of its development. In the distant background, we see the architectural composition that loosely reminds us Stonehenge. In the centre of a painting, there is a tiny figure of shepard, surrounded by the herd of sheep. In the lower left corner of “The Arcadian or Pastoral State”, we get to observe a fisherman, who appears as being withdrawn from surrounding reality, while waiting for the fish to take a bite. The girls in colorful dresses, to the right from prominently featured oak tree, are preoccupied with having fun (dancing), which suggests that the “pastoral society” is already being affected by social inequality among its members. Thus, we can say that this Cole’s painting actually emphasizes Rousseau’s idea that social stratification between people has been triggered by emergence of agriculture: “The cultivation of the earth necessarily brought about its distribution; and property, once recognized, gave rise to the first rules of justice; for, to secure each man his own, it had to be possible for each to have something” (Rousseau Part 2). There can be no doubt that “The Arcadian or Pastoral State” portrays people as having evolved out of the state of primeval savagery, as shown in “The Savage State”. However, they were only able to do this at the expense of being divided along social lines. This is the reason why in “The Arcadian or Pastoral State” we can find quite a few people who simply enjoy themselves by idling in rather bellyful manner. This relates to Rousseau’s idea that: “They (rich people) accustomed themselves to assemble before their huts round a large tree; singing and dancing, the true offspring of love and leisure, became the amusement, or rather the occupation, of men and women thus assembled together with nothing else to do” (Rousseau Part 2). It is not only the landscape in “The Arcadian or Pastoral State”, which seems to be much gentler, when compared to the one featured in “The Savage State”, but also the weather. This facilitates Rousseau’s concept of civilized society as being more pleasant to live in, but also as less “real”, when compared to savage society. When people find themselves in possession of little too much spare time on their hands, it causes them to experience new existential passions, which they address by establishing laws that refer to inequality as “moral”. This is the reason why, even though that the judicial principle of “private ownership” lays at the core of Western ethics, it is namely this principle, which becomes utterly irrelevant, in times of social upheavals, because on subconscious level, people can never recognize the notion of social inequality as moral, despite the fact that, ever since their time in school, they are being indoctrinated to believe in otherwise.
Bibliography
Rousseau, Jean Jacques “Discourse on Inequality”. 1754. Constitution Society. Web.
Thomas Cole. 2001. Romanticism. Web.
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