"noble savage"

(noun)

A literary stock character who embodies the concept of an idealized indigene, outsider, or "other" who has not been "corrupted" by civilization, and therefore symbolizes humanity's innate goodness. In English, the phrase first appeared in the 17th century in John Dryden's heroic play The Conquest of Granada (1672).

Related Terms

Examples of "noble savage" in the following topics:

  • Feral Children

    • The implication is that because of their upbringing they represent humanity in a pure and uncorrupted state, similar to the noble savage.

  • Romanticism in America

    • These works had an emphasis on heroic simplicity and fervent landscape descriptions of an already-exotic mythicized frontier peopled by "noble savages".

  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau

    • He asserted that the stage of human development associated with what he called "savages" was the best or optimal in human development, between the less-than-optimal extreme of brute animals on the one hand and the extreme of decadent civilization on the other.
    • Rousseau’s "noble savage" stands in direct opposition to the man of culture (however, while Rousseau discusses the concept, he never uses the phrase that appears in other authors' writings of the period).

  • Savage Inequalities

    • Savage inequalities, written by Jonathan Kozol, is a book that examines inequality in education.
    • Savage Inequalities, a 1991 book by Jonathan Kozol, examines the class- and race-based disparities in education.
    • Savage Inequalities, a 1991 book by Jonathan Kozol, examines the class- and race-based disparities in education.
    • Savage Inequalities, a 1991 book by Jonathan Kozol, examines the class- and race-based disparities in education.
    • Reproduce Kozol's argument in "Savage Inequalities," using a real life illustration

  • The Noble Gases (Group 18)

    • The noble gases are a group of chemical elements that make up Group 18 on the periodic table.
    • It has been possible to prepare only a few hundred noble gas compounds.
    • Noble gases have the largest ionization potential among the elements of each period.
    • The excimers used for lasers may be noble gas dimers such as Ar2, Kr2, or Xe2, or, more commonly, the noble gas is combined with a halogen in excimers such as ArF, KrF, XeF, or XeCl.
    • "Neon Lights" is the common term, but any of the noble gases can be used.

  • Taxes and the Three Estates

    • The taille - a direct land tax on the peasantry and non-nobles - became a major source of royal income.
    • Exempted from the taille were clergy and nobles (except for non-noble lands they held in "pays d'état;" see below), officers of the crown, military personnel, magistrates, university professors and students, and certain cities ("villes franches") such as Paris.
    • Peasants and nobles alike were required to pay one-tenth of their income or produce to the church (the tithe).
    • The tax was generally "personal," which meant that it was attached to non-noble individuals.
    • The tax system in pre-revolutionary France largely exempted the nobles and the clergy from taxes.

  • The Rise of the Nobility

    • Louis was willing enough to tax the nobles but unwilling to fall under their control.
    • Lacking royal subsides and thus unable to keep up a noble lifestyle, these rural nobles often went into debt.
    • While these two categories of nobles were often at odds, they both sought to retain their privileges.
    • Although membership in the noble class was mainly inherited, it was not a closed order.
    • Sources differ about the actual number of nobles in France, however, proportionally, it was among the smallest noble classes in Europe.

  • Painting and Sculpture

    • The movement showcased the range of talents within African-American communities, and included artists such as Aaron Douglas, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Charles Alston, Augusta Savage, Archibald Motley, Lois Mailou Jones, Palmer Hayden, and Sargent Johnson.
    • Sculptors associated with the Harlem Renaissance included Richmond Barthé, Augusta Savage, Elizabeth Catlett, Martin Puryear, Jerry Harris, Thaddeus Mosley, and Richard Hunt .

  • The Aztec People

    • The political sector of the economy centered on the control of land and labor by kings and nobles.
    • Many luxury goods were produced for consumption by nobles.
    • Rulers and nobles enjoyed wearing these more exotic goods and having them fashioned into expressive headdresses and jewelry.
    • Commoner housing was usually built of reeds or wood, while noble houses and religious sites were constructed from stone.
    • The feathers most likely came from a tropical rainforest far away, and the headdress was probably owned by an elite or noble.

  • Formulas of Ionic Compounds

    • Ionic formulas must satisfy the noble gas configurations for the constituent ions and the product compound must be electrically neutral.
    • The charge on the cations and anions is determined by the number of electrons required to achieve stable noble gas electronic configurations.
    • In order to achieve noble gas configurations, the magnesium atom needs to lose its two valence electrons, while the bromine atom, which has 7 valence electrons, requires one additional electron to fill its outer shell.