Spenser at Kalamazoo 2013

Paper abstract

Andrew Escobedo, Ohio University

On Not Committing Suicide

In the case of religious despair—e.g., Judas’s despair over the loss of salvation and the prospect of eternal damnation—suicide makes little sense: the despairing person illogically hastens the onset of the unbearable torment that he knows lies in wait. Someone suffering religious despair would have to be a bit of a moron to kill himself. It’s no surprise, then, that despite the example of Judas, who experiences despair and commits suicide, Christian theologians rarely connected the sin of despair with the sin of suicide. In fact, the link between despair and suicide emerges in literature and iconography, such as The Golden Legend, the moral interludes, and statuary on church architecture. Why did iconography and poetry embrace a connection between despair and suicide that theologians found rather unlikely? More specifically, why is this connection generally expressed in personification, or at least in prosopopoetic emblems?

With these questions in mind, this paper examines the Despaire episode of FQ I.9, where the appearance of a personification would lead us to expect the translation of passion (spiritual hopelessness) into action (self-slaughter). Yet these are suicides that do not quite happen: Redcrosse Knight tries to commit suicide, but is prevented, and Despaire tries to commit suicide, but fails. Spenser stages these almost-but-not-quite suicides, and their unexpected aftermaths, to decouple the act of suicide from the spiritual condition of despair. (Despaire is actually making two arguments to Redcrosse, a ridiculous one in favor of suicide, and an excellent one in favor of despair.) Avoiding suicide does not end your despair, and, more surprisingly, you cannot even end your despair by committing suicide. Suicide is an act of will, and you cannot manage despair with an act of will, Spenser suggests, because despair is a consequence of being a fallen creature of God.

Comments

• Atlanta Mobile Truck Repair Co. 4 months, 2 weeks ago

  Why did iconography and poetry embrace a connection between despair and suicide that theologians found rather unlikely?

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