In Praise of Folly - Erasmus' Dichotomy
The Silenus box is a "case carved like an ugly Silenus" that can be "opened to reveal beautiful, precious objects" (Erasmus 43, footnote). This box appears in Erasmus' Praise of Folly as a metaphor for the central claim in the novel, which is that that which appears to be Folly (ugly) externally, is wise (precious) within. Erasmus reveals this dichotomy on three levels: in the image of the box itself, in his genuine praise of Folly, and in the structure of the novel as a whole.
Erasmus, using the female voice of Folly, introduces his reader to the image of the Silenus box early in the text, thereby allowing his reader to carry the image with her for the rest of her time reading (and see its metaphoric nature when appropriate). Folly makes the introduction, saying, "All human affairs... have two aspects quite different from each other." She then goes on to explain that this means, according to Plato, that things that "appear 'at first blush'... to be death, will, if you examine [them] more closely, turn out to be life... in brief, you will find everything suddenly reversed if you open the Silenus" (43). In more direct terms, something which on its surface seems one way (the 'bad' way), has opposite ('good') guts. In The Praise of Folly, the pair of opposites that Erasmus focuses on is that of folly and wisdom.
By including a passage dedicated to the description of the Silenus, Erasmus gives his readers a concrete picture to grasp onto that stands for the novel's link between this pair of opposites, which is that wisdom comes under the wrapping of folly. The passage allows the reader to understand this central concept more easily. The concept, in its many manifestations, c...
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...this same literary tradition, Rabelais utilizes this peculiar narrative technique in Gargantua and Pantagruel, where he too hides the wisdom in his work behind the veil of foolish, and even vulgar, language.
Erasmus' inclusion of the passage explaining the Selenus box allows it to be a metaphor for the central concept in the novel. Through its presence, Erasmus gives us, his readers, a tool with which to separate the layers of his text. Without it, we might be stranded (after reading) with the inaccurate belief that Erasmus was a babbling hypocrite, with contradictory ideas sprinkled throughout his work. But, I suppose, we could have just attributed that fault to Folly, who is always more than willing to accept such a title.
Work Cited
Erasmus, D. 1511. In Praise of Folly. (Translated by L. Dean and republished by Hendricks House Farrar Straus. 1946.)
In shipwreck Erasmus presents religious piety as though the people in the story have any piety because they pray to Saints instead of praying to God himself. In the face of danger the people on the ship turned to religion. To combat the danger they prayed to saints trying to make bargains. According to Adolf only one person aboard the ship acted honorably. This was a mother who Sat with her young child. Adolf says “She only neither bawl'd, nor wept, nor made Vows, but hugging her little Boy, pray'd softly.”According to Adolf and Anthony The entirety of the rest of the crew on board acted dishonorably. Because instead of putting their faith in God's hands the crew instead try saving themselves by bargaining with the saints. Erasmus hoped to
The name “Oedipus” means “swollen feet” in Latinized Greek. His parents, Laius and Jocasta, gave him this name while piercing a metal rod through the ankles of his feet, in order to prevent the fulfilment of the oracle’s prophecy. Despite this heinous act, their efforts were in vain as Oedipus’ free will conquered the theme of fate. In the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, the tragic hero, Oedipus, demonstrates hamartia, a fatal error in judgement, which brings about his own downfall. It was Oedipus’ hubris that was responsible for the tragic ending of this play. Evidence of this statement occurs when Oedipus’ determination towards solving the mystery behind Laius’ death ironically lead to the truth behind the oracle’s prophecies. Additionally, Oedipus’ overweening pride and ego resulted in the murder of Laius, which was a major stepping-stone in the prophecy. He illustrates his error in judgment through his pride, blindness, and foolishness and therefore is at fault.
Dodds, E. R. "On Misunderstanding the Oedipus Rex." Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex: A Collection of Critical Essays.
In his book Gargantua and Pantagruel, Francois Rabelais uses satire to address the dislocation felt by Renaissance Humanists. By providing an exaggerated fable, comical in nature, Rabelais poses a serious introspection into the extremes of both the Medieval and the Renaissance man. More importantly, however, he brings into question his own ideals of Humanism. Through an analysis of Rabelais’ satirical technique and by examining his social parody of the Medieval and the Renaissance man, we are able to better understand Rabelais’ introspection into the ideals of his own generation and to accept his argument that learning is transitory and often a necessary, yet futile, attempt to understand our world.
As with many plays from the same time period as Oedipus the King, there seems to be more to the story than the tragic story of a simple man. One way that Oedipus the King can be interpreted is as a political commentary about the str...
Despite Boethius’s initial resistance, Lady Philosophy shows that because Boethius did not own his wealth or position, he was subject to Fortune’s transitory...
This section finds great ironic humor in the folly of all types of conceit, pointing out that the most condescending of people have little reason for such egotism. Folly laughs at the conceit of “the general run of gentry and scholars” with their “distorted sense of modesty” (11) including “those who lay special claim to be called the personification of wisdom, even though they strut about ‘like apes in purple’ and ‘asses in lion-skins’” (13). Folly, of course, is guilty of this most of all in dedicating a whole book to praising herself, and she admits the great folly behind this when she asks, “What could be more fitting than for Folly to trumpet her own merits abroad and ‘sing her own praises’” (11). Erasmus jokes about this type of conceit because it is innocent and commonplace. His point is to en...
Erasmus, Desiderius. In Praise of Folly. Trans. Hoyt Hopewell Hudson, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1970.
Cloning, a topic that has recently caused mayhem all over the world, is possible, but will it be here to stay? The astonishing news that scientists had cloned a sheep a couple of years ago sent people into panic at the thought that humans might be next. "Cloning is a radical challenge to the most fundamental laws of biology, so it's not unreasonable to be concerned that it might threaten human society and dignity" (Macklin 64). Since most of the opposition is coming from the pure disgust of actually being able to clone species, it makes it difficult for people to get away from the emotional side of the issue and analyze the major implications cloning would have for society. To better understand this controversial issue, the pros and cons of cloning will be discussed.
Kemp, J. S. et al. Unintentional Suffocation by Rebreathing: A Death Scene and Physiologic Investigation of a Possible Cause of Sudden Infant Death. Journal of Pediatrics. 1993;122:874-880.
Sudden infant death syndrome has been around since the beginning of time (Mitchell, 2009). If you look in 1 Kings 3:19 it says, ‘‘And this woman’s child died in the night.’’ This verse implies that the child dies due to an abrupt event or possibly a disease such as, sudden infant death syndrome (Mitchell, 2009). “When a seemingly healthy baby less than 1 year old is put down to sleep and is later found dead, he’s a victim of SIDS if no other cause of death can be found. Although SIDS is unpredictable and unusual, it’s the leading cause of death in babies between 1 month and 12 months old.” (Maindonald, 2005, p.53). The most common age for a baby to die of SIDS is between the ages of 2 months to 6 months and boys are more likely to die than girls (Maindonald, 2005). Although SIDS was not actually a diagnosed disease until 1965, after sudden infant death syndrome was identified, as a disease, the diagnosis largely increased and SIDS were more prevalent (Mitchell, 2009). Nearly 3,000 infants die from sudden death syndrome every year. (CRIBS) The cause of SIDS has not yet be...
Murray, Gilbert. ?A Great Translator?s Reflections on Oedipus the King.? In Readings on Sophocles, edited by Don Nardo. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1997.
Principles of Consequences state that when looking at the end result, the correct action will be the action that produces the greatest amount of happiness (Ursery). To decide if human cloning produces the greatest amount of happiness we have one question still in need of an answer is "Are human embryos really human?" Well, the term 'human' proceeding the term 'embryo' should adequately answer the question. The embryo are cloned from human tissue, contain human DNA, thus there is likely a 100 percent chance that the embryos are indeed human, as opposed to being tadpole embryos. Therefore, biologically speaking a clone is no less a human than you or I. And using that human for tissue simply because he/she was cloned rather than conceived does not validate the notion, nor skip around the moral and ethical implications of taking the life of another human being. Death is not a happy occasion therefore it does not produce the greatest amount of happines to the majority of the popluation.
It has indeed been suggested that the logic of events in the play and of Othello’s relation to them implies Othello’s damnation, and that the implication is pressed home with particular power in the imagery. This last amounts to interpreting the suggestions of the imagery as a means of comment by the author – the analogy would be the choruses of Gre...
...re happy to proceed without violating the deep ethical harms and institutions of the human community" (McCuen 61). The last thing scientists want to cause is harm. They want to understand cloning more intensely, so they don't hurt the human populations.