Stories From The Mistakess Of History, By Michel De Montaigne

Humans have engaged in storytelling to help make sense of the world around them for centuries. Even our most primordial ancestors engaged in some sort of storytelling, it has almost been ingrained into our DNA to tell stories. If you asked someone why they want to hear other people’s stories, a plethora of possible reasons will come to mind. That is because the reason is different for everyone. Stories can be used to entertain, inform the audience, or be used as a persuasive technique. Stories from the dead can provide great insight for the living on how to approach, or how not approach, different events. As George Santayana says, "If we do not learn from the mistakes of history, we are doomed to repeat them." There is a lot of truth behind this statement, as it can be applicable to prodigious world events like war and government issues,
Michel de Montaigne wrote his essays during the French Renaissance, in Bordeaux. As one of the most notable philosophers of the French Renaissance, Montaigne’s nonchalant style has allowed his essays to pass the test of time, and still be exoteric hundreds of years later. His lack of ignorance increases the validity of his statements. His essays have a delicate balance of general knowledge intertwined with personal opinions on different topics and ideas, making the essay approachable and relatable. During this time, the rise of new religions was proliferating to more than just Catholicism. Now, mental perfection was idealized and anyone with a disability was revealed to the public as a spectacle to be gawked at.
In his essay “Of Monstrous Child”, Montaigne takes a stance on equality and the fundamental rights of all humans. He elaborates on what was considered “normal” during the French Renaissance. Surprisingly, by today’s standards of “normal”, not much has changed. He says, “What we call monsters are not so to God, who sees in the