Essay #2: Montaigne/ Austen Essay

Montaigne’s essays are based off his thoughts and ideas written into an essay, as Foster says “what does on inside is just too fast,” his quote supports Montaigne’s writing in which the way his essays are incomplete thoughts and the essays are disorganized unlike Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. But Austen’s book related to few of the topics Montaigne overs in his essays. The Essays of Michel de Montaigne supports Foster’s notion Montaigne use in his techniques and topics and the comparison of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice to Montaigne’s style. “Man (in good earnest) is a marvellous vain, fickle, and unstable subject,” which is covered in Austen’s novel as how Fitzwilliam Darcy is characterized. The essays by Michel de Montaigne are written in a puzzled philosophical point of view.

Foster’s quote about the words interconnection and sketches support Montaigne’s techniques written in his essays. Montaigne’s techniques also consist of pauses, quotes, and his observations. Many of his written work is in his stream of consciousness; he writes what he thinks and as Foster states “sketch the outlines” clearly states the inter thoughts of Montaigne’s essays. Also, Montaigne’s essays don’t interconnect with each other. His essays tended to be almost a different topic after another since his mind worked in a “fast mode,” creating a jigsaw puzzle of essays. Montaigne’s window to thinking is his experiences and observations during the time he was alive all defined in to a single essay. He writes about how gentlemen should be and how a father should be, they are all his opinions and ideas. The “window” to his thinking connects with the style of his essay because the essays hardly relate to one another; his inspirations are all from his life.

Compared to Austen’s style, which is more planned out/ thought out rather than a mess of incomplete thoughts. Austen creates a fictional story rather than piling her train of thoughts on to a piece of paper. She describes Elizabeth as “beautiful and intelligent,” but Montaigne doesn’t have a “main character” in his essays instead they are about himself or other spontaneous people in his life.  The theme of Pride and Prejudice is about judging a person before you really know them; Elizabeth convinced herself that Darcy was rude and prideful, but she eventually realizes that it was a mistake.  Montaigne’s theme is overall about philosophy and what Montaigne believes. Austen’s novel is a traditional and modern type of book, compared to Montaigne’s that was written in the 1500’s, which is more difficult because of the use of old English. The relationship between Jane Austen and Montaigne’s book is that Montaigne wrote chapters about how gentlemen should be and Austen expressed the social standards and stressed the gentlemen in the book. Overall, Montaigne’s essay is written in a different era and the topics and techniques were different from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Austen did not put herself or personal events in her book.

The topic and techniques of Montaigne is complex just like what Foster said about thoughts and sketches of literature. His quote describes Montaigne’s technique in a way they are a diary full of theories and observation from his life. The essay itself differs from Austen’s work, her essay is thought out, organized, and doesn’t involve her personal events in to her book. The window to Montaigne’s mind has allowed him to produce an essay about his philosophical beliefs and aspects about life. Although, Montaigne wrote an “outline sketch” of his ideas, many more literature takes part in Montaigne’s original essays.