An Essay on Man
... reason why man cannot know everything that is going on and cannot move up is because God put man down at the bottom because He is the only one in control. In addition, Pope is saying that we must look up to God because He is the best and trying to act or be like God is the downfall of mankind. The enlightenment is about how limited our thinking and reasoning are and how we must incorporate faith and religion to our world; bringing us to the Age of Reason. During this time, they believed that human reason could be used to combat ignorance, superstition, and tyranny and to build a better world. Pope believed that men were thinking too much and that they should just accept things the way they are. Pope describes life as being a “Mighty Maze.” In the poem “An Essay on Man”, Pope is saying that we can’t know everything; we are limited on what we can see. All we see is what is right in front of us, only God can reason everything else because he is above us all. Pope speaks of the arrogant man because he is disturbed at the fact that he cannot figure out all of life’s mysteries immediately. Pope brought out an issue that he and others were concerned about during the enlightenment on a man’s place in the universe. “Vast chain of Being! Which from God began, Natures ethereal, human, angel, man…” (237-238) Pope expresses his opinion that man’s place in the Universe is within “Natures Chain.” Hence, man is merely a link within that chain. He is ultimately saying that we must learn to accept our position in the Great Chain of Being as a “middle state”; under the angels but above the beasts, which will lead to happy and virtuous lives. He criticizes how people attempt to play God, he says we can’t play God; the outcome will not be a pleasant one. One can say that when Adam ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge, he was trying to be like God. Therefore, losing the “paradise” he once had. Pope’s view on life is that everything is made and positioned the way it is for a reason. Everything has a degree in life. In the ladder, we have God at the top, humans in the middle, and the animals at the bottom. We are perfect up to our degree and there is no way of changing that. Man is as perfect as it can be. You have a place in the chain and if you break it, then it will upset the chain and will cause ultimate cosmic chaos. In these lines by Pope, he states What if the foot, ordained the dust to tread, Or hand, to t...