This is a past event
The Confucius Institute of the University of Aberdeen is pleased to be hosting Professor Wang Aiju and Professor Wu Genyou from our partner university, Wuhan University, China.
Professor Wang Aiju is Professor of English Literature at Wuhan University, China.
John Locke’s Attack upon Patriarchy and Fathers in Eighteenth-Century English Novels
John Locke demarcated between paternal power and kingly power and defined fatherhood and filial obligations on the basis of freedom and equality. His attack upon patriarchy had a great impact upon the image of fathers in the Eighteenth-Century English novels which explored the relationship between fathers and children. While Daniel Defoe weakened and ignored patriarchy by orphaning his characters, Samuel Richardson described the tension between tyrannical fathers and their daughters. Goldsmith portrayed ideal fathers as those who took care of their children’s moral education and emotional needs and would have met the demands of John Locke.
- Speaker
- Professor Wang Aiju
- Hosted by
- Confucius Institute
- Venue
- The Sir Duncan Rice Library
- Contact