The story of Crispin charts how he moves from being
extremely bound by his views of God and religion at the beginning of the tale and
gradually, thanks to the encouragement of Bear, exchanges this for a more liberated
world view. For example, in Chapter 12, when he runs away from his home village
recognising that he has been declared a Wolf's head and that there is little chance of
his successful escape, he shows his religiosity by
praying:
At
length I flung myself upon my knees and prayed long and hard to Our Saviour Jesus, to
His Sainted Mother, Mary, and most of all to my blessed St. Giles, for mercy, guidance,
comfort and
protection.
Crispin shows
himself bound by his world view because he is unable to go against anything that he has
vowed to do in the name of his religion. For example, after Bear has shrewdly made
Crispin swear a vow to serve him, Crispin reflects that he would love to run away, but
unfortunately he feels that he would go straight "to Hell" if he were to break his vow.
Crispin's world view at the beginning of the novel is therefore best expressed as being
dominated by his belief in Christianity, which results in his repression in various
forms.
No comments:
Post a Comment