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How Does Edmund Burke Reflect On The French Revolution

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Through his book, Reflections on the Revolution in France, Edmund Burke provides his critiques on the sociopolitical climate in France during the French Revolution. The three essential concepts highlighted in this book that convey his negative outlook on the French Revolution include the possible development of a catastrophe in Europe, the importance in keeping the monarch, and the significance of retaining a country’s political history. A theme explored by Burke in his Reflections is his worry that revolutionary fervors that were taking place in France would, over time, lead to its expansion throughout Europe. As a result, Burke alerts the people of England to avoid going down the same revolutionary path through utilizing incidents occurring in France as examples. “But what is liberty without wisdom and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness” (Burke, 203). This quote states that the pleasure that comes with liberty is momentary and that it will bring forth catastrophe all around Europe as it is the greatest of all possible evils. Overall, he appeals to the people of England against being absorbed by the same enthusiasm for disastrous change that Burke saw infecting the citizens of France. …show more content…

Stated by Burke, “We are resolved to keep an established church, an established monarchy, an established aristocracy, and an established democracy, each in the degree it exists, and in no greater” (Burke, 76). This depicts that Burke believed in the strength behind the monarchy and the roles it carries as he saw it as a “natural” object of political disobedience and the symbol of national continuity. As the quote states, the church, monarchy aristocracy as well as democracy played a factor when making up society and Burke did not want to discard the established

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