Genre
Philosophy
Setting and Context
18th Century
Narrator and Point of View
David Hume is the narrator.
Tone and Mood
Critical, deliberation, analytical, and philosophical
Protagonist and Antagonist
Sentimentalists versus Pragmatists
Major Conflict
Controversies regarding the basis of morals. Reasoning versus Sentimentalism binary.
Climax
Hume’s definitive conclusion about the foundational role that sentimentalism plays in the establishment of morals.
Foreshadowing
Timon tells Alcibiades, "Acquire the confidence of the people: you will one day, I foresee, be the cause of calamities of great calamities to them." The foreshadowing underscores the inherent maliciousness in the nature of humanity.
Understatement
Hume understates the implication laws that govern societies; “Such laws are, in a great measure, though not altogether capricious and arbitrary.” Laws are not utterly perfect. There are instances they are frivolous.
Allusions
Philosophical (such as Plato), historical and allegorical allusions.
Imagery
Hume presents contrasting imageries of melancholy versus joyfulness in section VII.
Paradox
Hume writes about ‘the banished statesman’ who states, “With what regret must I leave my friends in this city, where even enemies are so generous.” The generosity of enemies is a paradox that underscores the statesman’s preference for the city.
Parallelism
Titles for the subheadings of various sections begin with the preposition “of.”
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Men denote humankind.
Personification
N/A
