“God giveth and God taketh away”: Violence and Religion in Sir Isumbras
Violence is an important topic in many medieval narratives, especially those concerning travel. Sir Isumbras, written in the fourteenth century, is a travel narrative about a wealthy man, Sir Isumbras who is travelling to the Holy Land to atone for his sins of pride. Throughout his journey, Sir Isumbras and his family come into contact with many different varieties of violence, ranging from war to kidnapping. While the purpose of the narrative is to atone for sins and make it to the Holy Land, the plot would be nothing if it were not for the violence acts that were splattered across the story. In turn, violence and religion seem to go hand in hand throughout many narratives,
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And again, many are justified by explaining them as the will of God. All three of Sir Isumbras’ children are taken away by wild animals not returning until the end of the narrative when Isumbras finally makes it to the Holy land. His wife is later taken hostage by a heathen King. Again, connecting religion and violence, Sir Isumbras and wife would have been saved from violence had they renounced their faith and God. Since they did not, violent acts were committed. When the Sultan commanded to have Isumbras’ wife, Isumbras again returns to violence and exclaims “'I will not sell you my wife! You will have to kill me first! I married her in the sight of God and vowed to remain with her until my dying day, in sickness and in health.” He again connects religion and violence in the way that he would have to be killed in order to break any vow he made with God. Every character, at least once, experiences some form of violence, either by causing the violence themselves or acting as a victim of the violence. At the end of the narrative there is a war against the “heathen” people, the Saracens, for who is going to rule the Holy Land. The Sultan had been “rampaging around Christendom, causing mayhem and destruction everywhere” and violence ensued. The two groups, Christians verses Saracens would “meet one another in deadly struggle.” Even if a war is not needed and the story could go on without it, it makes for an interesting and highly entertaining plot. Violence, for a reader, is entertaining, despite what people like to
Believers of the Old and New Testaments claim that violence is a sin and can only lead to more brutality and death; poet Tony Barnstone firmly agrees. In his poem “Parable in Praise of Violence” Barnstone lambastes the American obsession with violence-- that it is often triggered by inevitable events which could be handled in different manners. The speaker in “Parable in Praise of Violence” reflects on all parts of his “sinful” culture and comes to the realization that people often use violence as a way to deal with emotions of grief and anger caused by events and concepts they cannot explain.
Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian” does a marvelous job of highlighting the violent nature of mankind. The underlying cause of this violent nature can be analyzed from three perspectives, the first being where the occurrence of violence takes place, the second man’s need to be led and the way their leader leads them, and lastly whether violence is truly an innate and inherent characteristic in man.
Mariatu, at the age of eleven, was raped by a man she knew and feared. “Salieu lay down beside me. I didn’t believe he would do anything to me if I appeared to be sleeping, but he started touching me all over, fondling my breasts and my hair, making his way in between my legs,” (Kamara 69). The young girl was so innocent she had not even understood exactly what happened to her. Not only did she not understand what trauma she had been through, she was also unaware that pregnancy and a child could come from rape, which it did. At the same age, Mariatu was tortured by rebel boys her own age. They cut off both her hands gruesomely. “I had no energy left as a boy took my other arm and held it down on the boulder. It took three attempts to cut off my left hand. Even at that, some of the flesh remained and hung precariously loose,” (Kamara 41). Subjected to torture, she was a victim. One could argue Ishmael was no victim, in fact he was a perpetrator and a killer, however the underlying goodness of this young boy’s heart proves his true desires and regrets. He was brainwashed into killing and committing sins he could not bare. He lost his innocence, something he could not regain. However his morality and values never left his side. In Ishmael’s book he writes a story about a monkey. Summarized, this story states; “There was a hunter who went into the bush to kill a monkey. When he was close enough to the monkey, he raised his rifle and aimed. Just when he was about to pull the trigger, the monkey spoke: ‘if you shoot me your mother will die, and if you don’t, your father will die.’ So what would you choose?” (Beah 217). Beah never revealed his answer as a child, but he always knew he would choose to shoot the monkey, because although he loved his mother and did not wish for her demise, if he shot this monkey, no other hunter would
Most can agree that random evil and suffering, such as accidents, war, illness, crime, and many more, have the power to disrupt human happiness. Most would also agree that it is not the evil and suffering that affects one, as much as it is how one responds to the evil and suffering that occurs in one’s life. It is undeniable that suffering occurs to everyone in some shape or form, and while others may not believe that it is suffering, it all depends on one’s life. There are many examples a reader can draw from in recent and ancient literature that provides examples of other’s suffering and how they responded to those stimuli. This essay explores how the problem of evil is addressed by Greek tragedy and by Western monotheistic tradition.
...ffection for his lover, in the novel they kill or act irrationally, in a conventional sense, for love. In their minds every action is justified by the love that they feel, whether it is for power and wealth, closeness, or maintaining the race. Love is all around them and drives them to be the people that they are. In all cases, including biblical, they cling to the love that inspires even the most absurd of actions and live their lives to fulfill their needs.
Violence is a means to an end. Violence is not something most humans resort to for enjoyment. Violence is, however, the right thing to be done in certain situations. With violence, comes great power. Power and violence walk together, hand in hand. When violence is exhibited, the power of the individual is shown to those around him. In both the Hebrew Bible and The Iliad, violence is depicted as a mode to reach goals. The reason for this is that violence allows an individual or a deity to flaunt their powers, while they simultaneously achieve their personal and communal ambitions.
At first glance, it seems that the abhorrent destiny of the main character is at the mercy of mischievous and cruel gods.
...ely with one another and lived in peace as partners, the ease of human transgression permits no romanticized view of this Agolden age.@ Finally B and this is a much more fragmentary conceptualization B the story refuses its hearers the luxury of demonizing, suppressing or repressing violence. Violence is not something that others do to us, but something we inflict upon others. The story consequently demands that we confront and internalize deeply the consequences of violence, and in this alone offers a profoundly important model of response.
In different circumstances using violence on behalf of religion has aided a reformation, or the spreading of the gospel. Other times, millions of people have died due to resistance. Some situations call for violence and others do not. However, there is a failsafe way of determining whether violence should be used on behalf of religion, or not.
Critics have already begun a heated debate over the success of the book that has addressed both its strengths and weaknesses. The debate may rage for a few years but it will eventually fizzle out as the success of the novel sustains. The characters, plot, emotional appeal, and easily relatable situations are too strong for this book to crumble. The internal characteristics have provided a strong base to withstand the petty attacks on underdeveloped metaphors and transparent descriptions. The novel does not need confrontations with the Middle East to remain a staple in modern reading, it can hold its own based on its life lessons that anyone can use.
This paper will present a rhetorical context for the use of violence in the short story, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” as she presented in her essay “The Element of Suspense.” The form of classical tragedy in this story will also be analyzed from the critical theories of Aristotle and Longinus. Tolstoy will be used to examine the use Christian symbolism. Nietzsche will provide a more well-rounded universal conclusion to the uses of tragedy and spiritual elements in this classic story.
Through this story we can see how oppression in certain cultures changes individuals differently, creates tension between those who do not wish to be subjugated and those doing the subjugating, and we see the integral opposition between the path of Catholicism and that of curandism. WORKS CITED:. Contexts for the Criticism. Ed. Donald Keesey.
Conflict is one of the main driving forces behind a story. Without conflict the characters in the story would have no reason to do anything. Because of this every story requires some type of conflict in order to progress. The types of conflict can range from a man enduring the elements, known as man against nature, or as one character against a larger group, man against society. In addition to the other styles of conflict, the most relatable and compelling is when one character is set against another, known as man against man. Kate Chopin’s story “The Storm” displays three examples of a man against man style conflict, Bobinot against his wife Calixtra, Alcee against Calixta, and Alcee against his wife Clarisse, these show how a nonviolent conflict can occur between characters.
Violence. Just mentioning the word conjures up many images of assault, abuse, and even murder. Violence is a broad subject with many categories. Some types of violence are terrorist violence and domestic violence. Violence can arise from many different sources; these sources whether biological, cultural, and social all can evoke violent behavior. All cultures experience some sort of violence, and this paper considers violence as a cultural phenomenon across a range of various settings. Violence plays a part in both Islamic and Indian cultures according to the articles “Understanding Islam” and “Rising Dowry Deaths” by Kenneth Jost and Amanda Hitchcock, respectively. From an anthropological perspective, violence emphasizes concerns of meaning, representation and symbolism.