In An Essay on Man, Pope offers
a theodicy, arguing a philosophical position of belief in a divinely ordered
universe that allows for the existence of evil and seeming disorder in the
world. Elements of Pope’s argument include the great chain theory, the limited
perspective of human beings in comparison to divine perspective, and the arrogance
of humanity to question God’s perfect creation. Pope’s approach is unconvincing
because he fails to offer any real evidence to support his argument.
Pope references the 18th
century belief in the Great Chain of Being which places all elements of the
universe in a hierarchical structure with God at the top of the chain. “Where,
one step broken, the great scale’s destroyed: / From Nature’s chain whatever
link you strike, / Tenth or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike” (244-246).
Any disruption to the chain, as ordered in God’s plan, is enough to destroy the
entire system. Man, according to Pope, occupies the exact place in the chain
that he is supposed to occupy. Any movement brings chaos.
Man’s perspective is limited, which
Pope asserts is as it should be. “Tis but a part we see, and not a whole. / …His
knowledge measured to his state and place; / His time a moment, and a point his
space” (60, 71-72). What man perceives
as discordant and evil, from a divine point of view, exists as harmony and
universal good. Man cannot see with God’s eye, but “hope springs eternal in the
human breast” (95), and this limited perspective allows man to have hope for
the future.
Invoking man’s arrogance and pride,
Pope chides humanity for questioning the divine order, God’s perfect creation,
or his place within that creation. The argument here is that God is perfect and
“one truth is clear, Whatever is, is right” (294). Divinely ordered, the
universe exists according to a plan that man is in no position to question.
Pope’s arguments that allow for evil
and chaos in a divinely ordered universe are not convincing. Mosley suggests “Pope’s
problem is that he wants to look at the entire universe, and so he performs his
analysis metonymically and synecdotally, casting metaphors by looking at the
human body and at storms, by looking at stars and passions, making all of these
changes of scale analogous” (180). Pope’s approach is to “vindicate the ways of
God to man” (16) but he is unable to accomplish this task. Arguments that rely heavily
on man’s arrogance and limited perspective, in contrast to God’s perfection, fail
to provide convincing evidence for theodicy.
Works Cited
Mosley, George. “Alexander Pope’s Essay
on Man and Tribunalization.” Journal of the Georgia Philological
Association, 2008, pp. 176–183.
Pope, Alexander. An Essay on Man.
The Norton Anthology of World Literature.
Edited by Martin Puchner, Shorter 3rd ed., vol. 2, W.W. Norton &
Company, 2013. pp. 90-97.
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