Self & Society: British Lit @Hood College

"Adam and Eve with the Serpent, (Genesis IIIA, verse 6" engraving by Francesco Villamena https://art.famsf.org/francesco-villamena/adam-and-eve-serpent-genesis-iii-verse-6-19633036286     The opening lines of Paradise Lost contain the traditional invocation of the Muses, as the poet calls upon the Divine to inspire his tale. The rest of this section describes the insurrection of angels in Heaven, their punishment, and the continuing plot to subvert the creations of God. Is it just me, or is the difference between some of these demons/fallen angels really unclear? It feels like no two stories can agree. Some versions have Beelzebub, Lucifer, Asmodeus, et cetera presented as seperate entities, while others claim these are all names for the same being known to different cultures. Is this the result of Christianity absorbing so many other religious traditions during its history? 

When Love with unconfin e' d wings Hovers within my gates, And my divine Althea brings to wisper at the grates; stock image, hands of prisoner on prison bars, istockphoto.com

Lady Macbeth, contemplating the sleeping King Duncan. image from Wikipedia           In act 2 scene 2, Macbeth tells his wife that the two servants had awoken before he could kill them  (lines 30-44). Included in this section of dialogue is more proof that he knows is actions are wrong "As they had seen me with these hangman's hands, List'ning their fear. I could not say "Amen" when they did say "God bless us". (lines 37-40) On line 44, Macbeth says that the Amen "stuck in his throat". what he did was murder, and he knows it so deep within the core of his being that his voice rebels at this false act of piety. His later inability to sleep is a further expression of this guilt.       Later, in scenes 3 and 4, we learn that Macbeth's claim that he discovered the servants in the act of murder and killed them, has been accepted, and that Donalbain and Malcolm are suspected of ordering the assassination, since they fled out of fear

"The Norns" by Johannes Gehrts, 1889 In act 1, scene 3 of Shakespears' Macbeth, the three Witches reunite, and discuss punishment for a sailor's wife who was too greedy to share a chestnut with one of them. In retribution, they curse the sailor to be lost at sea in a storm "Weary sev'nnights, nine times nine" (page 15, line 23), presumably meaning he will remain thusly cured for 81 weeks. Is this meant to give the witches, who already have some resemblances to the Norns and Fates of Norse and Greek mythology, some further conflation with the Eumenides?

"The Gallows" by Deviantart user AniqeAnuk "You need not wonder; for this manner of punishing thieves goes beyond justice and is not in the public interest. it is both too harsh a penalty for theft and an insufficient deterrent. for theft is not so hideous a crime that it should cost someone his life, and no punishment, however great, will deter that man from stealing, who has no other means of getting food."

The Black Adder episode 3 "The Archbishop" scene in link. Edmund and his cronies discussing "how to make a bit of money off this church thing"/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyF7YmHYhYc 920       I have relikes and pardon in my male              As faire as any man in Engelond              Whiche were me yeven by the Popes Hond             -the Pardoner's Tale, lines 920-922

from Monty Python anth the Holy Grail (1975)     With the Wife of Bath's tale, Chaucer continues poking the fear held by men in his time (and indeed, still held by many) of women in command of their own sexuality, lives, and property. The Wife's tale draws from the stories of King Arthur. A young knight rapes a ypung woman of Arthur's court, and Arthur gives the Queen the duty of deciding an appropriate punishment. To such men, who believe that one sex must be dominant, having their punishment for crimes against a womanbe decided by women would be their worst nightmare

Upon this nombre diffinicioun. Men may devyne and glosen up and doun, But wel I woot express, withoute lye,  God bad us for to wexe and multiplye; That gentil text can I wel understonde. -The Wife of Bath's Prologue, lines 25-29 the Wife of Bath, as depicted on a vintage Cadbury's biscuits tin, circa 1911. photo credit Flickr user Lynda Gray