The Tradition and Evolution of the Demonic Image Sean Hill
2 The art and literature of Chaucer’s time often associate demons with filth and dirtiness. Despite its popularity, the New Testament evidence for this view is only partial. In the Bible, demons are not associated with refuse or scum, rather they are depicted as pure evil. The association of Satan with filth is a development of late antiquity and early medieval culture. Inversely, idealism became more strongly associated with radiance, and whiteness. I intend to show how medieval religious literature and art went beyond what is depicted in the New Testament in this regard and how it affected the works of Chaucer. I. Demonic Depictions in the New Testament Although we often think of the demons that Jesus cast out as “unclean spirits,” the text of the New Testament never describes a spirit as being “unclean.” Colossians 2 talks about Christ leading in triumph over “elemental spirits,” If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations- “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch (referring to things that all perish as they are used)-according to human precepts and teachings? “Elemental spirits” could refer to angelic beings, but their conflict with Christ in this passage suggests that they are the opposite. It would make sense that “elemental spirits” refer to demons since Christ died to the temptations of this world. In Mark 9, Jesus encountered a boy with a spirit that had made him mute since childhood. The spirit did detrimental things to the boy’s body: “And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him” (verse 22). In Mark 5, Jesus casts a legion of demons out of a man who evidently had incredible strength, being able to break out of chains and shackles, crying out day and night and bruising himself with rocks. Again, the demons in this instance
3 were not associated with filth, but tried to damage the body of the man they inhabited. In none of these instances were the demons related to filth or human sins. They were more depictions of pure evil, endangering the bodies they inhabited. II. Evolution of Satan’s Image Despite how the New Testament portrays demons, religious art and literature often associated them with filth or human sins. A possible connection between the two portrayals is the fact that throughout the Bible, Satan was a deceiver. His goal was to trick humans and entice them to turn away from God. Presumably, his minions are with him in doing this. Also, though there is no Biblical evidence for it, the notion that Satan originally sinned against God as a result of pride or jealousy is adopted by many church fathers. In his Summa Theologica, Thomas Aquinas ascribes to this theory. “I would answer that, without a doubt, the angel sinned by seeking to be as God,” (Book 1, Question 63, Article 3). Thus, when Christianity was still in its infancy, theologians began making connections between the devil and specific human sins. This notion was reinforced by Pope Gregory I when he put pride at the beginning of the list of the seven deadly sins. Morton Bloomfield comments on why Pope Gregory might have chosen pride: Then, Gregory, taking hints from others, put pride in first place…Pride is the sin of rebellion against god, the sin of exaggerated individualism. In a disciplined and corporate society, which the Middle Ages held as an ideal, exaggerated individualism, rebellion against the will of God, was considered particularly heinous. (Bloomfield, 75) By making pride the greatest of all sins, its connection to Satan, the original sinner, was greatly strengthened. Since Satan was the chief of sinners, people now had a chief sin with which they could associate him. Thus, the concept of linking demons with specific
4 sins was strengthened by Gregory’s decision. III. Satan in the Literature of Chaucer’s Time Besides Chaucer, other authors of the time depicted Lucifer in much the same way he did. One of the best-known poets of Chaucer’s period was the Gawain-Pearl poet. In his poem, Cleanness, the author addresses cleanness as an attribute of God and those who follow Him, while associating filth with those who are of this world and the Devil. Though the wretch had been so proud, with his beautiful garments, And his glorious beam that shone so brightly, As soon as God’s decree was passed upon him, Numerous thousands, violently thrown out of there, Fell from the firmament, very black fiends (line 220) This is the first of three misfortunes the author describes in his work. The other two, Adam and Eve’s first sin, and the flood of Noah, were both also a result of the “blackness” of man’s heart. The author makes a sort of timeline starting with Satan as the original owner of a blackened, dirty heart. From him springs the all blackness and filth of men. The poet even creates an image of Satan contaminating all of creation in lines 226-227: “Thus from heaven to hell did that deadly shower extend, on every side of the world, everywhere in the same way.” This seems to be the pinnacle of the association of Satan with filth. Not only is Satan the original “black fiend,” but he also spreads his foulness over the entire creation. The inverse of this blackness is shown by how Cleanness portrays idealism. In juxtaposition with the description of the ragged-clothed sinner is a description of an idealized king, probably God, the King of creation: He is so clean in his court, the King who controls everything,
5 And noble in his household, and appropriately served By angels enveloped in all that is pure, Both within and without, in garments very bright; Upon some brief “juxtology” of these two passages, it is apparent that “the man who, in filth, follows after him (God)” is presented alongside the clean King as his antithesis. Though no demons are mentioned in this section, the King juxtaposed with the dirty beggar presumes the presence of Satan. IV. Satan in the Art of Chaucer’s Time Despite not having a basis in the New Testament, artistic representations of devils had evolved so that, demons were commonly shown punishing humans according to the sins they committed in life. By Chaucer’s time, depictions of hell showed devils torturing people with the instruments they used to idolize, fondling promiscuous women, and stuffing food down the throats of gluttons. Satan or one of his minions were often shown eating people in hell and in many cases defecating them. This particular image of Satan ingesting humans is so common that one cannot help but wonder if it is commenting on Mark 7:18-21 Do you not se that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled? What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts. By perpetually eating and excreting humans, it is as if Satan was pounding this concept into the people he ate. These people had put their hope in keeping the laws of unclean food instead of paying attention to what was actually in their hearts.
V. Influence on Chaucer
6 From reading the Summoner’s Prologue, it becomes obvious that the theme of excrement has become a popular way of depicting Satan. In response to the Friar, who had just told a tale decrying the sinfulness of summoners, the Summoner tells sort of joke in his prologue concerning the corrupted nature of Friars. Shewe forth thy ers, and lat the frere see Wher is the nest of freres in this place.’ And er that half a furlong wey of space, Right so as bees out swarmen from an hyve, Out of the develes ers ther gonne dryve Twenty thousand freres in a route, And thurghout helle swarmeden aboute, And comen again as faste as they may gon, And in his ers they crepten everichon. (lines 1690-1699) It is interesting to note that this imagery of bees swarming around a hive is also in the Gawain-Pearl Poet’s Cleanness. He uses it to refer to Satan in his fall from heaven: “Whirling into hell’s hole like swarms of bees into the hive.” (line 223) It is very likely that Chaucer was aware of this imagery of Satan and his minions going into hell as bees into a hive. In the same way that Chaucer depicts Criseyde’s chamber as analogous to the holy of holies in the Jewish temple, he turns this imagery to the profane by making Satan himself a sort of “supreme chamber” within the “chamber” of hell. The Summoner’s attack on monks is so acerbic because it portrays them as inhabiting the most execrable place in hell: the very bowels Satan. In the same way that the Gawain poet contrasted the demonic image with an angelic one, Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde provides plenty of idealized images. In book two, Criseyde has a dream in which a white eagle swoops down, taking her heart and exchanging it for his. The eagle is an obvious representation of her lover, Troilus, and the fact that he is white emphasizes the idealism of the scene. Before Criseyde has
7 her dream, Antigone, Criseyde’s neice, sings a song about love. Til at the laste Antigone the shene Gan on a Troian song to singe clere, That it an heven was hir voys to here. (lines 824-826) The description of Antigone as “the shene” singing a “clere” song that could be heard in “heven” is another depiction of the ideal. Later on in book two, when Troilus is about to write a letter to Criseyde, he prays to Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom and craft: “So spede it; and thou, Minerva, the white, yif thou me wit my letter to devyse,” (lines 1062-63). In all of these instances, whiteness or brightness is a quality associated with the divine or the idealized. Both the Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde, exhibit the influence of centuries of angelic and satanic symbolic evolution. VI. Conclusion The religious literature and art of Chaucer’s time had a heavy influence on his writing. These religious works, in turn, were based on the New Testament. Though the New Testament does not depict demons in the same way medieval art and literature do, it is interesting to see their evolution over time. The association of demons with excrement was most likely linked to the relation of the divine or ideal to brightness and cleanness. By Chaucer’s time, this relation of devils to filth and excrement had become a popular theme. Inversely, the association of the ideal with whiteness had been strengthened. Consequently, one can easily see these links in Chaucer’s depictions of the demonic and the ideal.
8 Sources Cited Bloomfield, Morton, The Seven Deadly Sins, Michigan State University Press, 1952. Vantuono, William, editor. The Pearl Poems: An Omnibus Edition, Volume 1: Pearl and Cleanness, New York & London, Garland Publishing, Inc., 1984. Fathers of the English Dominican Province, translators. The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas, accessed 12/7/06, http://www.newadvent.org/summa/.