Discourse On the Origin of Inequality

Discourse On the Origin of Inequality Literary Elements

Genre

Political Philosophy

Setting and Context

18th-century Geneva; the history of Western civilization; the state of nature

Narrator and Point of View

Rousseau narrates from the omniscient perspective of the philosopher

Tone and Mood

Critical, Paradoxical, Nostalgic, hopeful

Protagonist and Antagonist

Protagonist: Man Antagonist: inequality

Major Conflict

Man's descent into inequality with the rise of civilization, and whether he will be able to return to a more free and equal state

Climax

Foreshadowing

Understatement

Allusions

Imagery

Paradox

Parallelism

Metonymy and Synecdoche

Personification

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