Misérias de um rei deposto: O ennui na apologética pascaliana

Pascal compares the human condition to the situation of a “deposed king” (un roi dépossédé) – a sovereign who has lost his kingdom, retaining only the reminiscence of it. This idea underscores the duplicity of human nature, great and wretched. In this paradoxical state, where greatness and wretchedness interconnect, the reminiscence of a perfect and fulfilling past collides with the imperfections and frustrations of the present, placing the human being in a dilemma: the incapacity to refrain from desiring truth and happiness, coupled with the impossibility of attaining both.