Religion Underlaying the Moral Clash: "The Bottle Imp"
The Bottle Imp suggests that religion in the Victorian Society was the main responsible for the existent moral contradictions of those times by promoting repentance as the excuse to commit immoralities and sins.
Even though there seems not to be any explicit reference to Victorian religious conceptions and beliefs in the story, the recurrent theme of repentance as the means to escape eternal punishment suggests that religion in that time compounded the dual morality problem. Rather than being the arbitrary source of moral impositions, the image of a community that preaches repentance as the way to deal successfully with a life full of sins suggests that the Church promoted the cynical attempt to create a society outwardly dignified and proper while corrupted and immoral in its inside.
The concept of conscience is one example of this moral contradiction on behalf of religion. On the one hand, the story reveals that this religious concept is familiar to the character which reflects that religion advocated the feed of the benign and correct nature of humanity. However, on the other hand, forwarding the belief that humans have the privilege of getting rid of all punishment for their sins by repentance excused and even fostered these people to behave immorally and even to dare deal with the devil who is, by the way, a religious character. Moreover, it is contradictory that the Church which is entitled to watch over and promote a faultless human morality was the same institution that patronized the idea that people have the chance to sin as much as they wish and simply save their reputation and souls through repentance. This religious discourse is present since the beginning of the text embodied by the first seller of the bottle when he says: "All you have to do is to use the power of the imp in moderation, and then sell it to someone else, as I do to you, and finish your life in comfort." (Stevenson 2) This passage can be perfectly interpreted as the religious discourse saying “go sin with moderation and then repent and end your life with a clean conscience.”
Another passage that preaches the convenient possibility for the individual to save from condemnation is when the very first seller of the bottle says to Keawe: "You have bought it for less than I paid for it," replied the man, rubbing his hands. "It is yours now; and, for my part, I am only concerned to see the back of you." (Stevenson 3) This excerpt explicitly manifests how religion supported this belief that one you have repented for your sins you are not only forgiven, but you are entitled to forget about all your mischiefs, destruction and harm caused to others. Therefore, this story suggests in this sense that religion was the dual-sided source of morality.
Religion Underlaying the Moral Clash: "The Bottle Imp"
ResponderEliminarThe Bottle Imp suggests that religion in the Victorian Society was the main responsible for the existent moral contradictions of those times by promoting repentance as the excuse to commit immoralities and sins.
Even though there seems not to be any explicit reference to Victorian religious conceptions and beliefs in the story, the recurrent theme of repentance as the means to escape eternal punishment suggests that religion in that time compounded the dual morality problem. Rather than being the arbitrary source of moral impositions, the image of a community that preaches repentance as the way to deal successfully with a life full of sins suggests that the Church promoted the cynical attempt to create a society outwardly dignified and proper while corrupted and immoral in its inside.
The concept of conscience is one example of this moral contradiction on behalf of religion. On the one hand, the story reveals that this religious concept is familiar to the character which reflects that religion advocated the feed of the benign and correct nature of humanity. However, on the other hand, forwarding the belief that humans have the privilege of getting rid of all punishment for their sins by repentance excused and even fostered these people to behave immorally and even to dare deal with the devil who is, by the way, a religious character. Moreover, it is contradictory that the Church which is entitled to watch over and promote a faultless human morality was the same institution that patronized the idea that people have the chance to sin as much as they wish and simply save their reputation and souls through repentance. This religious discourse is present since the beginning of the text embodied by the first seller of the bottle when he says: "All you have to do is to use the power of the imp in moderation, and then sell it to someone else, as I do to you, and finish your life in comfort." (Stevenson 2) This passage can be perfectly interpreted as the religious discourse saying “go sin with moderation and then repent and end your life with a clean conscience.”
Another passage that preaches the convenient possibility for the individual to save from condemnation is when the very first seller of the bottle says to Keawe: "You have bought it for less than I paid for it," replied the man, rubbing his hands. "It is yours now; and, for my part, I am only concerned to see the back of you." (Stevenson 3) This excerpt explicitly manifests how religion supported this belief that one you have repented for your sins you are not only forgiven, but you are entitled to forget about all your mischiefs, destruction and harm caused to others. Therefore, this story suggests in this sense that religion was the dual-sided source of morality.