EURO ST 10 Lecture Notes - Lecture 76: Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Jean Calas, Bourgeois Tragedy
Document Summary
While france had its revolution, this didn"t take place in germany or austria until much later in the 19th century. And even then it was not successful. The germans turned their revolutionary impulses inward and against themselves. For example, in the most famous bourgeois tragedy, emilia galotti by gotthold. Ephraim lessing (1759), the father kills the girl to saver her honor (not the prince) One of the key texts of the enlightenment is voltaire"s treatise on tolerance (1763) Response to the trial in toulouse of jean calas, who was convicted for the murder of his son, marc-antoine. Both were protestants (huguenots) in the province of (catholic) france. Note, voltaire"s treatise became a best-seller after the attacks on the satirical paper, charlie hebdo, in paris, january 2015. Two quotes in the name of (religious) tolerance: It does not require any great art or studied elocution to prove that christians ought to tolerate one another.