Among the Enlightenment’s many contributions to modern life was a new form of political discourse: the political cartoon. We see these in newspapers and on social media every day. At their best, political cartoons combine humorous images with political insight in an easy-to understand package. The era of the French Revolution produced some of the earliest and most famous political cartoons as artists and thinkers sought to mold public opinion to advance their various agendas.
This assignment asks you to analyze four cartoons dating from the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Era. For each cartoon, you must write a short (4-6 sentence) paragraph that explains both what event or situation the cartoonist is portraying and what the cartoonist thinks about the event or situation. I expect these paragraphs to be specific, well-detailed, and include at least one short quotation from the Pavlac textbook. The quotes should be cited by a simple parenthetical reference. Please see the attached PDFs for an example of what a full credit analysis should look like as well as a rubric for this assignment.
Remember not to “overthink” your answers. Political cartoons are meant to be understood relatively easily by the viewer, so don’t get too complex in your analysis.
Since all but one of these cartoons are French, I have provided translations of captions for you. Thank you, Susan Busek, for these translations. I have also given you the cartoons’ years of publication to help you with historical context.
Download the Microsoft Word template attached to this assignment and fill it out.
