Narendran Sairam-YaleMarch 14th, 2008

HistoryMr. Richard (Nick) Noble

Essay on the three quests of history

THE THREE QUESTS

The quests of history are portrayed many times during, before and after the enlightenment. The

quest for order was portrayed after the great fire of London. The quest for understanding and meaning

is very prominent during the enlightenment. They are displayed by people like Sir Issac Newton, John

Locke and Boyle. People began inventing, reforming and thinking out of the box.

"New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not

already common."

This quote by John Locke tells the reader that he and many other brilliant minds like him had

begun thinking of new things. The Salem witchcraft trials had made the people of this time less

dependent on religion and so they began to examine other aspects of life such as science, philosophy

and mathematics. These attempts that were mostly successful display the quest for meaning and

understanding of things that ad so far been believed to be a myth or a superstition or just plain non

existent. For example Sir Issac Newton's idea of there existing a force that kept thing on the ground

would have been completely ignored before the Witchcraft trials of Salem. But it was the change in

mindset of the people that forced them to accept the theory of Sir Newton.

"The composition of a tragedy requires testicles."

This quote of by Voltaire shows to what extent the people of this time though out of the box.

This is another thing that portrays the quest for understanding. I mean, if not for the through

understanding of the human mind, how can someone make that statement?

The quest for order and peace is appear before the enlightenment. They are shown during the

King Phillips War, The Glorious Revolution and the Great fire of London. During King Phillip's War,

King Phillip was trying to take over the neighboring English states so that he could have oder over the

land owned by his tribe.

The Glorious Revolution, an attempt to overthrow King James II, was another display of the

quest for order. The only Catholic Monarch was “taken out” by the parliament and his son Mary II and

William III became the king and queen of England. In this case the parliament is trying to restore order

because the King being a catholic was not very calming to the very religious people of England. So the

only way to calm them was to kick the king out. This tremendous task undertaken by the parliament

shows how much the people want order.

The Great fire of London is another example of the display of the quest for order. After the fire

had destroyed almost half of London the people began to try and return order and peace back to their

homes. Thousands lost their homes and even more were hurt. The amazing thing is that the effort that

the people of London took made it possible for them to return to their normal life. The Great Fire of

London is perhaps the best example of the quest for order.

In conclusion, the three great quests present themselves very often during, before and after the

enlightenment. The quests for understanding and meaning were portrayed by the people that thought

and tried to understand things that had previously been a assumption or superstition or simply non-

existent. The initiative taken by these brilliant minds shows how much they wanted to understand and

know the meaning of things. The quest for order appears During the Two important wars of the time.

The king Phillip War and the Glorious Revolution. In both cases the attackers a re trying to restore

order and peace to their people.