Various styles of analysing, defining and describing life have been adopted in the 19th centuries
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Romanticisms and Realism
Various styles of analysing, defining and describing life have been adopted in the 19th centuries. These artistic approaches vary depending on the patterns and procedures that supporters of these systems believed in. People have different analytical mind, and vast difference in lifestyle depends on the way they understand and appreciate life. Civilization, religion, science, technology and self confidence are other factors that determine persons’ judgements in different aspects of life, For example, life in first world countries is totally different from the way people view life in most developing world, in terms of economic, social and to some extend leadership styles and development. The artistic ways that will be discussed this article are Romanticism and Realism. These two system dominated Europe in the 19th century (as mentioned earlier). This paper will discuss difference between these two systems in different perspectives. These artistic styles are mostly applied in music, filming, literature industries, social, leadership and to some extent; they had affected education systems in different societies.
Romanticism is an analytical style of art in which people take life in angle of point of view. People strongly rely on believes, imaginations and speculation about life. Romanticism approach dwells mostly on supernatural events or happening, that is believed to be beyond human control. These believe were passed from generation to generation in a society that practised romanticism. They believed that nature cannot be changed, but should remain the way it was. On the other hand, Realism was a reality based life analytical system in which people view, accept and appreciate life the way it is. Scientific and medical researchers provided defined life, and to be precise evidence of the research was provided.
The two approaches differed in many aspects. First of all Realism artistic style came into existence after the fall of Napoleon the great. Romanticism approach was characterised with storytelling, and stories completely lacked evidence. Identities of characters in such stories were not clearly illustrated, and they were described with such names as ogre and giants, bandits and killers. These tales were meant to discourage people in the society from doing some activities while rules and regulations were told to people just like old stories and people were expected to follow. Citizens were informed how they should follow rules but not why such rules were put in place. Romantics never had a room to impress free person opinion in leadership in any way. Leadership system, religion system and economical development system as well as arrangements were expected to remain the way they were all the time. Anyone who came up with an idea that suggested change in leadership style was taken in the society as a traitor. Realism approach on the other hand was viewed as era of civilization, enlightenment and change. These aspects of life were handled in different way. People were expected to understand rules on the country and be aware of repercussions that come because of breaking rules and regulations. Freedom was encouraged and people were expected to express their opinions without any victimization. Freedom to choose what to do was exercised, people’s rights were respected and it is during this era that gender equality existed.
Another common character during romanticism era was metaphoric way of addressing issues. Issues were not addressed directly, people always lived in fear and believe that doing certain things is bad just like that, no justifications were made and no clarifications. Many believed that going against the so-called rules and regulations would lead to one being haunted by either ancestral spirits or something supernatural might happen. However, realism system was a metonymic based. Most of the issues including national matters were expected to be addressed clearly by leaders. People lifestyle pattern was determined by climatic conditions, cultural activities as well as how such activities affect the environment.
Democracy was another factor that brought difference between these two forces of life. Romanticism system was commonly characterised by dictatorship and zero democracy. Most of countries who embraced this system were dominated by monarchy type of leadership, peoples were denied rights to elect or appoint ‘their respective leaders. Leadership just followed certain family line, and no citizen was expected to interfere with leadership patterns, which had been in place for a long time. In contrast, Realism system was public opinion counted, and believed that this was one way to save world from oppression. Krauthammer Charles in his article, Democratic Realism, supported Democracy when he said,”We will support democracy everywhere, but we will commit blood and treasure only in places where there is a strategic necessity “(Krauthammer 59).Unlike Romantics whose leaders were more of bosses, Realistic believed that leaders were supposed to listen to the people. This was the famous political phrase emerged, “by the common man, and for the common man”. America was a great supporter of Realism and for the fact, Democracy in America is Incomparable with any country currently in the world.
The freedom of speech was impossible exercise during the romanticism error, communication between people was minimized, and people did not only respect their leaders, but also feared them that are why most of leaders were purely dictators. Unlike Realism movement, this opposed doctorial leadership, the influence lead to several revolutions in 1848. “The rebellions began in February of 1848…spreading to other cities in Europe”. Realistic loved their country and always applauded the achievements of the country, this was a contrast feeling with romanticism, heroic vibe was common, and leaders were praised for what they have achieved through their hard work. Propaganda ruled Romantics and in most cases, artwork was used to spread wrong hypes about leaders. “Napoleon and the Bourbon kings before was purely propagandist through work of art”. Generally, the leadership concept was country for the leader not leader for the country. Patriotism was the key for the development of the country. People loved their countries, and worked hard just to develop their countries as a whole. This was different with Romanticism, as a citizen you had to work hard to please your leader. Patriotism was not a necessity, which made it not to be taken with regard.
Individualism versus communal lifestyle was another factor that brought contrast between the the two forces. In romanticism, people were encouraged to work together as a community for the development of a country as a whole. Several programs were put in place to pull peoples efforts during this era when the gap between rich and poor was not a sensitive issue, many felt comfortable with living standards because the system did not provide economical competition. On the other hand, Realism encouraged people to work as individual, develop their own homes. This increased completion among people themselves. Difference in social life increased and social stratification become more competitive as each individual worked hard to become rich.
Romantics believed much in supernatural happenings and a supernatural force beyond human understanding caused things like weather focus, natural calamities like storm, Tornados, tides. Myths and scary stories about these natural happenings were believed to be true. ”works were mainly based on collected folk tales”. There was no evidence provided or any attempt to find out actually what was behind such things. Realism era opened up people’s minds; this system allowed climatic research, and everything was believed that it happens with the reason. Any statement was to be backed by clear evidence fully documented and put in public domain, and amendments to such evidence were equally encouraged.
Due to rigidity nature of Romanism system, it was difficult for any new development idea to penetrate the society. Industrial revolution was faced with a lot of rejection. The people believed in natural world, which should remain the way it was created. There was believe that industries would contaminate the environment and destroy natural environment, romantic considered the word to be beautiful the way it is. Even the benefits of establishing industries ware overlooked. Realists who believed in changing the world for better and impressed industrialization believed that the world should develop and grow. Close to the same issue of change in development, the two forces handle innovations in very different ways. To begin with, in romanticism leadership style scientists got rough time to practice their profession. Scientific research and innovation was not encouraged at all, without realism, Astronologists and other scientists would have found their work very difficult. Scientific innovations like digital weather focus, the discovery of air space, moon, new planets and satellite would have never seen the light. Several industries have come up, ranging from agricultural, food innovation, textile and lots uncountable, which have improved the life standards, thanks to realism leadership system. Romanticism supporter also viewed technological innovations as distraction and complications to the natural lifestyle setup. Realism had an opposite view, the system supported technological revolution and innovations like telephone systems in 1876 and transcontinental railroad in 1869 were the product.
Generally romantics viewed the world as perfectly designed and there was no way a human mind could change what was there, while Realist believed that human mind is flexible, and there other better ways to make the world a better place to live in. Romantic did not appreciate flexibility and the power in human mind, for them human being was not supposed to struggle to change the world but should work hard to maintain it the way it is. On the other hand, Realistic believed in power of human mind, and trusted that development is a continuous process, so people should work hard to change the world. (Krauthammer 46)
On religion matter, Romanticism was not friendly to it. Romanticism rejected any somewhat strong believes in Christianity, “Both Kings Charles X and King Louis XVII viewed the Roman Catholic church as a great supporter of Heavenly lifestyle”. Unlike Realism who believed in freedom of worship, each individual was free to worship in what he believed in. This resulted in mushrooming of several churches at the time. As discussed before, the issue of politics was handled and viewed from different angle, as mentioned before the political system for Romantics was purely monarchy type, but let us discuss what happened with realists. The political climate and all other issues surrounding politics changed at large. Although there was democracy and freedom in the political arena, money dominated and controlled the entire political system. The rich were considered to have enough political muscles, and political positions appeared to be bought and sold, something, which contradicted with the policy of freedom of choice. The issue of money running everything brought about corruption. People started believing in money, and all sorts of evil things could happen and the culprits walk away freely, as long as they have money they could bribe their way.
As industrial revolution ruled the world and industries were being constructed everywhere, economy and peoples economic power advanced. Realistic started experiencing other challenges, among them, people started to develop their own businesses, others preferred being self-employed to being employed, but this came with a price. Men dominated most of positions in the factories, case of human rights violations become common, for instance, women and children were intimidated, harassed and in most cases abused. Men viewed themselves as special people and not equal to women, these again resulted to gender inequality issue. Romantics recognized human rights, Activists emerged including women rights’ movements, and this was a great boost to the development of girl child as their rights were guaranteed of protection.
Romantics believed and practiced agriculture as a sole social economic activity. This was because agriculture was seen as a natural activity that does not interfere with environmental setup. Food was adequate but the land was not well utilized because large percentage of it was left fallow. When realism force replaced romanticism, industrialization took over, more employment opportunities were available, business industry grew and generally, life was improved. In some ways, industrialization also improved agriculture industry, as agricultural research advanced with technology.
As more industries emerged, a large number of people moved to the urban areas from rural areas especially in America. With time, urban areas become so populated and sooner slums started to mushroom. Those who lived in slums were poor while rich lived in well-developed estates. This clear boundary between the two social levels affected lifestyle in different perspectives. Robbery and other evil acts ruled slums creating tensions in urban areas. While during romanticism, there was less rural-urban migration most of people lived in their ancestral lands practicing traditional agriculture.
Romantics there no strict rules to be followed, people were mostly guided by instinct; there were some institutions which could guide people on what to do unlike realists whom had formal written laws and regulations. Example of such programs included constitutions, which was tailored to protect the interest of each country, and not an individual (Krauthammer 20)
In conclusion, both forces shaped the world, and the beautiful world we live in today is because of the struggle and concepts of the two forces. Romanticist played a big role in laying foundation for agriculture while realists played a big role in advancing agriculture through agricultural research. In addition, it important to note that leadership was sharpened by realistic, who were the founders of the current political system in most countries today.