Death by Invitation, Philosophy, College Term Papers.com


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Back to Subjects - Philosophy

Death by Invitation

Death by Invitation Michel de Montaigne’s philosophy on mortality is aging is an inevitable travesty because it leads to a more agonizing death, causes the deterioration of one’s mental health, and too much experience can be disastrous. When Montaigne wrote the selected essays* he was in his mid-fifties. He later died at age fifty-nine. Therefore, while writing the essays, the idea of death was a reoccurring thought that prevailed in Montaigne's head. His strong views of death most likely stemmed from the fact that he was aging and death was in the near future for him. Montaigne believes that the process of aging lends aide to a more painful death than a death occurring in one’s earlier years. He believes “that life should be amputated at the point where it is alive and healthy; he who repays not his debt to Nature in good time usually finds she exacts interest with a vengeance (page 203).” If a person is not let to live after time begins to take its toll then a tormenting death can be avoided. Also according to Montaigne, the older one gets, the more susceptible they are for serious illnesses and diseases. These illnesses cause great pain and suffering. This discomfort could be avoided if one dies before the illnesses start to appear. Montaigne is speaking of death on page 204 when he asserts that “the more closely it presses upon me and importunes me the less reason I shall have to be afraid to die. I had already succeeded in holding onto life only what life has to offer: my illness will abrogate even that compact; and may God grant that at the end, if the harsh pain finally overcomes my strength, it may not drive me to the other extreme (no less wrong) of loving and yearning to die.” He also feels that illnesses can prolong death causing one to suffer for a longer period of time. On page 396, Montaigne says that the sick live longer because they know that they are dying so they take better care of themselves and take medicine. Montaigne believes that medicine brings many bad side effects with it. On page 204 he pronounces that “a man can still find things bearable if his soul has cast off the weight of the fear of dying and the weight of all the warning threats, interferences and complications which the medicine stuffs into our heads.” To Montaigne, the perfect death would be one that is spontaneous and just happens one day, without any events leading up to it. He says on page 397 that “although you may not throw your arms about Death’s neck, you do, once a month, shake her by the hand. That gives you more reason to hope that Death will snatch you one day without warning.” Throughout one’s life one undergoes many near death experiences, and Montaigne wishes for his death to fall in that category. Through the course of aging, it is the opinion of Montaigne that one’s mental health and one’s wellbeing disintegrate. Montaigne has faith in the notion that there are four humours which fill the body and make up one’s mental state. He says that, “every day a new idea; and our humours change with the changes of the weather (page 126).” Once a person reaches a certain age though they have a rather constant melancholic humour. This humour makes a person dismal, joyless and not in the right frame of mind to live their former life. To Montaigne, this humour brought on by aging causes the mind to corrode and “apart from silly toitering pride, boring babble, prickly unsocialable humours, superstition, and a ridiculous concern for wealth when we have lost the use of it, I find that there are more envy and unfairness and malice; age sets more wrinkles on our minds than on our faces (page 246).” The effect of growing older on the mental state of a person also effects the person’s outlook on life. Montaigne is no longer the carefree youth he was. He is writing to help to relieve the melancholic humours that aging and misfortunes have caused him. Montaigne is firm in his belief that the process of growing old is unfavorable because the longer one lives, the more awful and depressing things one experiences. He says “we must learn to suffer whatever we cannot avoid (page 394).” The longer one prolongs their life though, the more suffering one has to endure. When a person is younger there is an equal distribution of good and bad experiences. On page 394 he speaks of these experiences, “Our life is composed, like the harmony of the world, of discords as well as of different tones, sweet and harsh, sharp and flat, soft and loud. If a musician liked only some of them, what could he sing? He has got to know how to use all of them and blend them together. So too must we with good and ill, which are one substance with our life.” As a person increases in years they encounter less good and more pain and heartache. The reason for this pain and heartache can be clarified by the sudden increase in illness when one grows older. Montaigne says “vice, death, poverty, illness are weighty subjects and they do indeed weigh on us (page 261).” The onset of years also allows one to see more death around them. It can be said that seeing people suffer causes people to suffer. The viewpoint of Michel de Montaigne is that growing older is inescapable and leads to an increase of discomfort through the latter part of one’s life. Though Montaigne has a strong dislike for the process of aging; he still finds comfort in certain things. Philosophy and children bring him great joy and encouragement. Montaigne states that “since philosophy is the art which teaches us how to live, and since children need to learn it as much as we do at other ages, why do we not instruct them in it? They teach us to live when life is over (page 57).” He needs to be drenched in philosophy and the youth’s innocence in order to survive the last few years before his demise. Bibliography:

Word Count: 1043