Matthew Arnold, GWF Hegel, and the State's Revolutionary Role

286 Pages·2015·1.14 MB·English

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Theses and Dissertations
Spring 5-2011
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Shannon N. Gilstrap
Georgia State University
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Gilstrap, Shannon N., ""A Revolution by Due Course of Law": Matthew Arnold, G.W.F. Hegel, and the State's
Revolutionary Role." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2011.
https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/theses/1
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“A REVOLUTION BY DUE COURSE OF LAW”: MATTHEW ARNOLD, G.W.F.
HEGEL, AND THE STATE‟S REVOLUTIONARY ROLE

by

SHANNON N. GILSTRAP

Under the Direction of Dr. Paul Schmidt

ABSTRACT
This dissertation examines Matthew Arnold‟s belief in the role the State must play in
actualizing the ideals of the French Revolution in Victorian England by exploring parallels
between Arnold‟s development and implementation of this belief and similar elements
present in G.W.F. Hegel‟s philosophy. Beginning with Arnold‟s early engagement with the
Bhagavad-Gita, moving into the preface to his 1853 volume of poems, and finally ending
with his more mature religious, political, and social works, this dissertation traces the
sources and development of Arnold‟s criticism of what he perceives as a widely held and
dangerous antipathy towards State interference in the civil sphere in Victorian England.
Believing this trajectory wrongheaded, Arnold asserts his belief in the connection between
a strong State power and the emergence of true subjective freedom within a polity. By
placing Arnold‟s texts and ideas alongside selections from Hegel‟s work, including On the
Episode of the Mahabharata Known as the Bhagavad-Gita by Wilhelm von Humboldt, the
preface to The Philosophy of Right, and some of Hegel‟s early theological writings, one
realizes that Arnold‟s belief in both subjective freedom and a strong State power
demonstrates a sustained and parallel engagement with Hegel‟s own commitment to both
the ideals of the French Revolution and the role that a strong State power plays in realizing
those ideals.

INDEX WORDS: Matthew Arnold, Victorian Literature, G.W.F. Hegel
“A REVOLUTION BY DUE COURSE OF LAW”: MATTHEW ARNOLD, G.W.F.
HEGEL, AND THE STATE‟S REVOLUTIONARY ROLE

by

SHANNON N. GILSTRAP

A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in the College of Arts and Sciences
Georgia State University
2010
Copyright by
Shannon N. Gilstrap
2011
“A REVOLUTION BY DUE COURSE OF LAW”: MATTHEW ARNOLD, G.W.F.
HEGEL, AND THE STATE‟S REVOLUTIONARY ROLE

by

SHANNON N. GILSTRAP

Committee Chair: Paul Schmidt
Committee: Michael Galchinksy
Paul Voss

Electronic Version Approved:

Office of Graduate Studies
College of Arts and Sciences
Georgia State University
May 2011
iv

DEDICATION
For the family members and friends who passed away before this dissertation‟s
completion.
v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I offer grateful thanks first to the committee. Thanks to Dr. Paul Voss, who stayed
committed to my scholarly development, even as my interests shifted from the
Renaissance to the Victorians, and who remains an inspirational teacher. I thank Dr.
Michael Galchinsky for the sincerity of his engagement with my ideas and his
enthusiastic recommendation of many avenues for further pursuit. Finally, I cannot thank
Dr. Paul Schmidt, my director, enough for his unfailing optimism about the project and
faith in me as a student. If I can achieve half of that which he feels I am capable, I will
consider myself a successful scholar, teacher, and person. Thanks to my entire family, but
especially to Dad, Mom, Cayce, Wes, and Wyatt for their unfailing support, their
consistent confidence, and for never asking what took so long. Several friends deserve
special mention, including Jennifer Basye, Dr. Chris Bell, Dr. Tim Lytle, Aaron & Tracy
Rathbone, Wade & Deanna Schuler, and Matthew Strickland. Thank you for encouraging
me in the project and, when appropriate, helping me to forget about it. I also extend
thanks to the colleges that have employed me during this endeavor. The faculty and staff
at Georgia Military College in Fairburn, Georgia, and Gainesville State College in
Gainesville, Georgia, have encouraged me as a teacher and scholar, and provided an
environment conducive to this project. Finally, thanks to my dog, Aslo, who often
patiently waited to play.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………..……………...v
CHAPTER
1 INTRODUCTION………………………………..……………………….1
2 SELECT CRITICAL RESPONSES TO ARNOLD, THE STATE, AND
REVOLUTIONARY IDEALS…..………………………….…………...50
3 THE BHAGAVAD-GITA, HEGEL, AND SUBJECTIVITY……....…….77
4 THE POETICS OF LIMITATION: MATTHEW ARNOLD'S PREFACE
TO POEMS (1853) & HEGEL'S PREFACE TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF
RIGHT…..…………….…………………………………………..…….126
5 A "REVOLUTION BY DUE COURSE OF LAW"……………..……..173
6 CONCLUSION….……………………………………………………...246
REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………272
1

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

I. Arnold and Hegel

“Hegel,” William Madden writes, “was the significant philosophical figure of the
century because, Arnold wrote, he had seized Heraclitus‟ single pregnant sentence and
„cast it with a thousand striking implications into the world of modern thought‟” (146).
Though scholars have this from Matthew Arnold‟s own pen, G.W.F. Hegel‟s sustained
influence on Matthew Arnold, especially insofar as it can help explain Arnold‟s
commitment to the ideals of the French Revolution, has received comparatively little
extended treatment in Arnold scholarship.
Not that Hegel‟s impact on Arnold has been entirely neglected. Most extended
scholarly works on Arnold mention Hegel‟s importance. Classics in Arnold scholarship
all reference Hegel. William Robbins‟s The Arnoldian Principle of Flexibility ties
Arnold‟s mental elasticity with Hegel‟s dialectic. Lionel Trilling‟s intellectual biography
Matthew Arnold remains by far the most Hegelian approach to all of Arnold‟s work,
seeking to expose the dialectical movement of Arnold‟s thought over his life. William
Madden, too, in his Matthew Arnold: A Study of the Aesthetic Temperament in Victorian
England, recognizes Arnold‟s indebtedness to the great philosopher, evidenced by the
opening quote. Park Honan‟s recent biography of Arnold also traces the influence of
German philosophy in general, and mentions Hegel in particular.
These touchstones of Arnold scholarship, however, often contain understated or
qualified references. Although in Trilling‟s work, for instance, Hegel, in the words of
another critic, “appears as an intellectual precursor of Arnold‟s,” Trilling references
Hegel and Arnold together only six times in 369 pages (Joseph 34 n. 26). Hegel appears