elite class, by impressing on them some sense of decency and civility, and thus pacifying them in the process so as they would not rise in arms and engage in a disruptive and violent political revolution against the dominant class. I think that somehow, through the use of literature, the masses in a way emulated the dominant elite class of their decency, refinement, and culture since it was the latter's kind of literature in the first place. As a consequence of that, the masses didn't find the need to rise in arms nor to engage in a violent revolution against the elite anymore. Again, it was because of the influence brought about by literature, which in turn brought some sense of decency into the minds of the masses. And to some extent, the masses were not able to resort to a violent uprising anymore. And also plus the fact that majority of the masses were illiterate if not uneducated to start with, which explains their, in a way, irrational, impulsive, and somewhat "barbaric" behaviour, which would have pushed them to rise up against their masters and engage them in a violent and bloody revolution. Literature then turned out to be the pacifier of the working class. That once they got hooked to the elite's kind of literature, they somehow realized that a gory revolution was not the solution to their woes and that there were other ways and means to which they can fight for their rights as human beings. And from the way I understand the text of Eagleton, he is saying that the best way to get to the masses, the best way to prevent the masses from rising up in arms is to get first to the middle class. Arnold recognized this urgency to 'Hellenize' or cultivate the middle class during that time by means of exposing them and transfusing into them something of the traditional style of aristocracy, who are already ceasing to be the dominant class of England during that time according to Arnold, so that they will feel that they are not ...
