The duality
of the spiritual/divine and the material
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Hauptseminar: 'Middle English Dream Visions'
I. Introduction
Ever since 'Pearl' was first published in 1864 for the modern world the poem has been a constant subject of considerable research and disputes about its origins and interpretations. What can one say about a poem which was written six centuries ago, in a time that was so different from ours? Many scholars have argued whether the 'Pearl' was an elegy on the death of a loved child, an allegory on theological debates or a consolatio. Of course, a lot of scholars have also debated about the spiritual and the material duality in and of the 'Pearl', and this is the subject of the following term paper. Philosophers both classical like Boethius and medieval like Thomas Aquinas had different opinions about spirituality and materiality. While using four examples from the 'Pearl' poem, namely the i. meaning of pearl: jewel -> maiden -> soul I want to show the duality of the spiritual and the material (physical). In these four examples, I want to prove that the author deliberately used a threefold division to create the resulting sum of 'twelve' as the important and recurring numerical symbol of the pearl. But before analyzing the presented subject, here are some directions
to the methods I used: first, we will look into the three above mentioned
examples taken from the 'Pearl' text from the spiritual and the material
point of view. This particular method forces me to ignore the immediate interpretation of 'The Pearl' text itself and especially the scheme of word-links. A last remark is made here on the quotations in this paper, all Middle
English quotations are from the standard edition by E.V. Gordon, the
English translations underneath the original texts have been translated
by myself. Some primary and secondary literature will occur quite often,
especially the 'Pearl' I have shortened to the Italic signet TP. Single
words quoted from the text are also written in Italics , followed by
chapters and lines. Latin numerals following the titles or signets mark
either books, chapters or stanzas, Arabic numerals mark either lines
or pages.
II. The spiritual and the material Spirituality has always been connected with gods and deities. In the
early times of mankind it had the shroud of forbiddeness around it.
Only those who were learned in the ancient magics or rituals were allowed
to participate or discuss spirituality.
The image of the pearl whether seen as a symbol for spirituality and the soul or as the material image of a jewel and wealth is in itself ambigious. The pearl symbol is not static but dynamic: its meaning develops not only in our everyday life but also in the poem as the text unfolds itself when reading it. The first impression the reader/audience gets of the 'Pearl' is that of a priceless pearl without fault:
This last line of
the first stanza is repeated at the end of each line of the opening stanza-group
of the first book/chapter of the 'Pearl' poem to emphasize the wordly
part of the meaning. In the poem the dreamer the first-person narrator)
explains that this pearl was not only a piece of jewelry but he uses this
imagery as a metaphor forhis dead child or loved one.
Here, the pearl begins its transcending journey from a natural objet
d'art to a more philosophical meaning:
While the story unfolds
itself, the reader soon finds out that there is more to discover about
the pearl image than one might think at first. The dreamer insists that
the pearl he had lost is his child who had the fair and shining complexion
of a pearl and denies that there is something ethereal which he cannot
properly grasp with his ratio.
But let me return to the spirituality of the pearl symbol: the image
of the pearl which transcends from the mere shell of materiality, becomes
something more ethereal and hard to understand in the second part of
the poem ( from ll. 271 ff.). During the dream of the jeweller in which
he converses with the pearlmaiden, it becomes clear that the pearl symbol
turns into a philosophical and theological concept, i.e. the soul. While
the dreamer mourns not entirely for his loved one but more for the material
jewel he has lost, for he calls himself a jeweller now (TP, V, l. 25).
This emphasizes his feeling that the child/maiden is his own, as the
pearl is the property of a jeweller. Though the dreamer/jeweller now
claims that he is the rightful owner to the pearl, in the spiritual
way he is not. He owned the mortal body but not the immortal pearl,
i.e. the soul. The maiden reprimands him and tries to make him understand
the difference:
The maiden tries to
show that although it is important to believe in the material side of
all things, it is important as to appreciate the spiritual and eventually
the divine side of things. True joy cannot be experienced from material/worldly
things and if someone does so, his/her reason (or ratio) is used in a
mad or unreasonable manner, for although man can use his reason, he has
to abide God's law.
Furthermore, she explains that the material aspect of a thing or being
is only important if combined with God's grace and forgiveness: Here, the two concepts of the spiritual and the material symbol of
the pearl are seemingly at war with each other. The maiden represents
the spiritual side of all things and beings, i.e. the Lord, Trinity
and soul, whereas the jeweller who cannot understand that the pearl
they are talking about is represented in both worlds, refuses to the
spiritual side of it and appreciates only the very 'down to earth' image
of the pearl, i.e. wealth, he very much belongs to the material world.
But the jeweller is somewhat obstinate and does not want to understand
(perhaps the dreamer was a little too exaggerated by the author, i.e.
dreamer in dream visions are always naive and not too 'bright'), as
if the author wanted to confront his contemporaries with their own mirror-images,
of wanting 'more' (TP, III, ll.135.136) of worldly fortune. The transcending journey of the spiritual and the material
ii. Paradise: 'erber' -> earthly paradise -> Heaven
The paradise concept can be divided into three stages: the earthly
'erber' as an imperfect locus amoenus, the earthly paradise which is
the paradisus terrestris of the dream and the Heavenly Paradise, the
paradisus coelestis of the new order.
and ready to be
harvested "Quene corne is coruen wyth croke kene" (TP, I, l.40) the
author makes clear that this is not a perfect setting but an earthly
image of the locus amoenus where decay fulfills the cycle of life on
earth. The garden which is synonymous with the world, is a place of
sorrow, hardship and yet of considerable beauty which foreshadows the
Heavenly 'erber' in the dream proper. In the garden, the pearl was lost,
and yet she can be found in a different form in the next step, beauty
returning to beauty. The garden in the dream looks familiar at first
but soon the dreamer findsout that there are differences; that the surrounding
landscape has an unearthly touch: However, he is granted a glimpse of the 'paradisus coelestis' in his
vision. The superior beauty of this divine world is highly emphasized
by the author:
The concept of the author's division is closely connected to the ancient
lores of alchemy and magic. One is reminded of illustrations of a triangle
surrounding the eye of God. I have used this very image (minus the eye)
to illustrate the hierarchal structure of the different spheres of the
'erber' scenes in the dream proper.
The three stages/spheres of the garden iii. Love: dreamer - Heavenly Prince (Jesus)
Just as the material and the spiritual are reflected in the pearl
symbol and the threefold paradise concept, there is a certain ambiguity
in the way that the dreamer and the Heavenly Prince mourn respectively
courts the pearl-maiden. Both, dreamer and Heavenly Prince, use the
conventional language of courtly love. The dreamer, e.g. uses the concept
of courtly love as he grieves for his pearl:
It enhances the duality of the spiritual and the material in the symbol
of love, for it explains the three spheres of man's understanding of
love, that of the physical love between man and woman, the spiritual
love of man to the Lord and the divine love of God and the Lamb towards
the soul.
iv. Jerusalem: old and new
The vision of Jerusalem which the dreamer experiences in thelast part
of his visio, which is in fact a vision of a vision encountered by St.
John, represents the Heavenly Kingdom. The perfect state which cannot
be found on Earth. And although it is described as an outlandish sight,
it is the symbol for the Jerusalem of the material and the spiritual
world as well.
The actual Jerusalem of the late fourteenth century was very much
a city like any other in the Western and Far Eastern world. After the
decline of the kingdoms of the crusaders in the twelfth and thirteenth
century, Egyptian-Turkish nobles took over the supremacy of the city.
The Christian influence was only to be found in the Christian quarter
of Jerusalem where Franscican monks tended the grave of Christ. The
Western World had little to no influence and interest in this city and
it seemed as if it existed only in the imagination of people as the
Jerusalem of ancient times where David, Herodes and Jesus Christ lived
and created mysteries for the Westen and Far Eastern World. Jerusalem
was the actual place where Jesus Christ gave his own life to wash away
the sins of man:
The
Jerusalem of the late fourteenth century had little to do with the Jerusalem
of the Old and New Testament where it was depicted as the ancient city
of David and the martyrdom of Jesus Christ. The dreamer, however, is granted a different sight of Jerusalem, that
is the Heavenly City as it is described in the Apocalypse of the apostle
John:
Here, the divine Jerusalem emerges from the more material and spiritual Jerusalem of the earthly abode. The author portrays the city of Jerusalem as threefold, meaning the Jerusalem of the late fourteenth century as the material city, the Jerusalem of old as the city belonging to the spiritual and the Heavenly City as the divine. II. Conclusion One can say that the 'Pearl' poem portrays beautifully the duality
of both spiritual and material. All four examples from the text show the progression of man and the soul from the secular and material to the spiritual and eventually the divine sphere. Both, secular and divine connotations are made for the pearl, the 'erber', the love concept and Jerusalem. They work parallel to and with each other to roughly equate man's three sources of awareness: material (Earth, body), spiritual (intellect, inspiration) and divine (Heaven, the Lord). Spirituality and materiality are dynamic
forces which are inseparably associated with each other. They reflect
each other, if one is missing the world is incomplete like a body lacking
the mind and vice versa. The pearl in the poem is a metaphor for the soul which cannot be seen
when residing in a living body below and yet if this body dies it is
set free to join the Lord above. Like the real pearl which is hidden
deep inside the oyster's flesh, far away from the eyes and the mind
of the beholder, it reveals itself when the oyster dies (i.e. is eaten). The threefold division of the material and the spiritual/divine can be found throughout the 'Pearl' poem and it portrays the deeply rooted obsession of the author with the Trinity and by square four (the four examples from this term paper), with the number 'twelve', which occurs everywhere in the poem. In alchemistic lore the number 'twelve' represents the four elements and cardinal points, i.e. Earth-North, Air-East, Fire-South and Water-West, and the basic principles (salt, sulphur and mercury). Moreover, in Christian lore the number 'twelve' plays also an important role exhibiting the symbol of wholeness and perfection, i.e. the soul. It is depicting the perfection of God's creation, represented in the number 'twelve' and the symbol of the pearl. Concluding, one can say that the 'Pearl' poem reflects the transition
of man and soul to a higher elevated, divine state of being. The very
structure of the poem reflects this transition of the worldly view of
a lost transitory good in the terms of the material; while during the
dream proper it elevates to the spiritual (dialogue with the pearl-maiden)
and, last but not least, presents itself (in its closing scene) as the
divine, that of the soul. IV. Bibliography
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