| Related
Articles
Good Samaritan in African-American Culture Good Samaritan in Asian-American Cultures Good Samaritan Readings by Nicaraguan Peasants Related maps Other |
Good
Samaritan in English Literature Charles Houser
Stories and parables from Scripture are often reflected, in various forms, in common literature. It is a bit surprising that the parable of the Good Samaritan has not had a broader influence on English literature than it has. Some writers over the years have been influenced by the story to write poetic reflections on love, charity and Christian ideals. Others have taken its themes and satirized them in various ways. Some noted writers in English have used the Good Samaritan as the basis for one of their works. These writers include: William Langland, Edmund Spenser, Henry Fielding, William Makepeace Thackery, E.E. Cummings, and John O’Hara.
Considering how well known the parable of the Good Samaritan is, it is surprising that it has not had a broader influence on English literature. Some writers over the years, however, have been inspired by the story to write poetic reflections on love, charity and Christian ideals. Others have taken its themes and satirized them in various ways. An interesting use of the Samaritan story by a novelist occurs in Henry Fielding’s Joseph Andrews. With great comic and satiric effect, Joseph is described lying wounded and bloodied by the roadside. He cries out and is heard by the passengers of a passing coach who begin debating whether they should rescue him; they fear legal action should the hapless victim die in their care. Once they decide to help Joseph, it is the postilion of questionable character who gives up his only garment to clothe the wounded man. "He would rather ride in his shirt all his life than suffer a fellow-creature to be in so miserable a condition." In an American context there is the poem "A Man Who Had Fallen Among Thieves" by the twentieth century poet E.E. Cummings. A great deal of the dramatic momentum and satiric pointedness relies on the contrast between the indifference of the righteous and the compassion of the rescuing person, here the narrator. a man who had fallen among thieves Another reworking of the parable is Stephen Mitchell’s version entitled "The Good Samaritan et al.". All the characters from the parable are in heaven, gathered again at the inn. Each confesses his faults and expresses his regrets about the way he behaved that day on the road to Jericho. Even the rescuing Samaritan has something to confess (living with pride and praise). And the victim, with 1990s New Age sensitivity and awareness, can see that even he could have been "kinder to himself" (presumably, by traveling under better conditions, hiring companions for his journey, or some such thing). In the end, all participants in the little drama on the roadside are immortalized for having sacrificed something to be in the parable.
It is surprising that a parable that has been retold so often in sermons and Sunday School settings, is visually vivid, and addresses the timeless ethical issue of human indifference and compassion in a context of ongoing violence has not had a broader influence on English literature. One could speculate that this brief narrative passage from Luke’s Gospel about an unidentified victim being rescued and restored to health and well-being by a despised outsider is considerably upstaged by the fuller Gospel narrative in which Christ is the one who rescues humanity from its spiritual as well as its physical woes. Or, one might wonder whether the parable’s action-oriented definition of love has made believers of all eras a little uncomfortable with its message, and a little less than enthusiastic about restating its challenge in their own dramas, poems, and novels. Early uses of the Good Samaritan parable tended toward heavy allegorization. In a homily, Origen (Hom. 34, PG 13.1886) gives a very elaborate explanation of all of the details of the parable: the man who went down is Adam, the robbers are the enemy powers, the Levite stands for the prophets, the Samaritan is Christ, the inn is the Church, the innkeeper is the Head of the Church, etc. Origen’s teachings influenced others in the West through St. Jerome’s Latin translation, notably the following: St. Ambrose, Expositio Evangelii secundum Lucam (PL 15.1806) St. Augustine, Quaestiones Evangeliorum (PL 35.1340) Venerable Bede, In Lucae Evangelium Expositio (PL 92.469). Over time, the Good Samaritan parable became more familiar through its use in the liturgy and exegetical homilies. Commentators such as Guillaume Durandus (Rationale Divinorum Officiorum, 6.127) identify the Samaritan’s ministrations to the wounded traveler with the sacraments of baptism, penance, and the Eucharist. It is in William Langland’s Middle English masterpiece Piers Plowman that we see one of the first poetic uses of the parable. In it Will, the narrator/protagonist, encounters Charity in the person of the Samaritan after meeting Faith and Hope. The Samaritan episode is used to sum up preceding developments in Will’s quest for firsthand knowledge of Christ and salvation (B Text, Passus 17). Although Edmund Spenser makes no extended use of the parable in the Faerie Queene, his wounded characters are generally treated in a similar way as the wounded traveler in the Samaritan story, which has led some critics to believe Spenser had Luke’s text in mind. An interesting use of the Samaritan story by a novelist occurs in Henry Fielding’s Joseph Andrews (chapter 12). With great comic and satiric effect, Joseph is described lying wounded and bloodied by the roadside. He cries out and is heard by the passengers of a passing coach who begin debating about whether or not they should rescue him; they fear legal action should the hapless victim die in their care. Once they decide to help Joseph, it is the postilion of questionable character who gives up his only garment to clothe the wounded man, because "he would rather ride in his shirt all his life than suffer a fellow-creature to be in so miserable a condition." The parable also served as the overall structuring device for William Makepeace Thackery’s novel about the trials of Philip Firmin, the full title of which is The Adventures of Philip on His Way Through the World; Shewing Who Robbed Him, Who Helped Him, and Who Passed Him By. A passing reference in Samuel Butler’s The Way of All Flesh (chapter 57) serves as another example of how this parable is used for the satiric purpose of holding a mirror up to society. Butler’s character Ernest Pontifex is described as having fallen "among a gang of spiritual thieves" and as feeling "as though if he was to be saved, a good Samaritan must hurry up from somewhere—he knew not whence." In an American context there is the poem "A Man Who Had Fallen Among Thieves" by the twentieth century poet E.E. Cummings (full text appended). As in the earlier examples of works alluding to this parable, a great deal of the dramatic momentum and satiric pointedness relies on the contrast between the indifference of the righteous ("a dozen staunch and leal/citizens" who depart "fired by hypercivic zeal") and the compassion of the rescuing person, here the narrator ("Brushing from whom the stiffened puke/i put him all into my arms"). In John O’Hara’s short story "Good Samaritan" we see the concept of the Good Samaritan functioning in its more widespread and popular form, i.e., that of the mid-twentieth century civic- minded, somewhat suburbanized "do-gooder." Here the Good Samaritan label is stripped of its pariah/outsider implications and has a more benign facade, such as is implied by the Church-sponsored Good Samaritan Hospitals that are located in so many American communities. In this story, the hapless victim (whose victim status is later called into question) is Willoughby Wood, who has alarmed his wife Mary and close friends George and Carrie Reed by not showing up at a luncheon he and his wife are hosting. After the other guests leave and Mary and the Reeds have time to discuss the situation, Mary receives a telephone call from the police; Willoughby has turned himself over to the police after spending two days walking around without watch, wallet, or identification. George, who is active in local civic matters (head of the hospital and leader in the Boys Club) and who seems to have much clout with the authorities, is drawn into the drama of rescuing his friend. In the process of helping out, he learns of the many problems that plague the Woods’ marriage. In bringing Willoughby back home, George is forced to witness a fresh spate of recriminations and spousal taunts. Caught in the middle, George is called a "Good Samaritan" and "volunteer member of the rescue party" by the very man he is rescuing. Enraged by his friend’s cruelty toward his wife, George finally puts Willoughby out of his car. "Would you throw me out, in my weakened condition?" asks Willoughby. "Oh, boy, would I!", responds the Good-Samaritan-manqué. Another reworking of the parable is Stephen Mitchell’s version entitled "The Good Samaritan et al." from his collection Parables and Portraits (full text appended). In Mitchell’s version we are thrown into a sort of reunion that echoes a familiar set-up for a vaudeville/borscht-belt style joke ("a preacher, a priest and a rabbi walk into a bar…"). All the characters from the parable are in heaven, gathered again at the inn. Each confesses his faults and expresses his regrets about the way he behaved that day on the road to Jericho. Even the rescuing Samaritan has something to confess (living with pride and praise). And the victim, with 1990s New Age sensitivity and awareness, is able to see that even he could have been "kinder to himself" (presumably, by traveling under better conditions, hiring companions for his journey, or some such thing). In the end, all participants in the little drama on the roadside are immortalized for having sacrificed something in order to be in the parable. This short exploration, as the title indicates, is limited to works from the English language tradition. Perhaps a further exploration into Russian literature, Marxist-influenced literature, and Latin American literature influenced by more radical Catholic thinking and liberation theology would disclose alternate (and perhaps less satirical) readings of this significant Scripture passage. Sources Much of what appears in this article is drawn from the "Good Samaritan" entry authored by Raymond St. Jacques for A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature, David Lyle Jeffrey, Gen. Ed., published by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1992. The Dictionary, sixteen years in the making, is a book "designed to help the modern reader understand how biblical motifs, concepts, names, quotations, and allusions have been transmitted through exegetical tradition and used by authors of English literature from the Middle Ages to the present." "A Man Who Had Fallen Among Thieves" by E.E. Cummings from E.E. Cummings: Complete Poems 1904-1962 edited by George J. Firmage, Liveright Publishers, New York 1991. This poem was originally published in Cummings’ collection is 5 in 1926, and it can also be found in the Chapters Into Verse, a book of Scripture-inspired English poetry assembled and edited by Robert Atwan & Laurance Wieder. "Good Samaritan" by John O’Hara is from Good Samaritan and Other Stories, a posthumous collection of short stories published in 1974 by Random House, New York. The poem "The Good Samaritan et al." by Stephen Mitchell is taken from his 1990 collection of writings entitled Parables and Portraits (Harper & Row, Publishers). Mitchell is a poet and translator of sacred literature. Among the translations and adaptations he is responsible for are: The Book of Job, A Book of Psalms, The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, and Tao Te Ching. He is the editor of The Enlightened Mind: An Anthology of Sacred Prose and The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry. A MAN WHO HAD FALLEN AMONG THIEVES E.E. Cummings a man who had fallen among thieves From E.E. Cummings: Complete Poems 1904-1962, ed. by George J. Firmage THE GOOD SAMARITAN ET AL. Stephen Mitchell The priest, the Levite, the Samaritan, and the man who fell among the thieves meet in heaven and talk over old times. Since heaven has no past or future, they find themselves in the inn on the road to Jericho. "I felt awful about not helping you," the priest says. "My heart wasn’t open enough. But I’m working on it." "The last time I had stopped to help a wounded man by the roadside," the Levite says, "he beat me and ran off with my wallet. I was afraid." "It was my good fortune to be in the right place at the right time," the Samaritan says. "I didn’t stop to think; the oil and wine poured themselves, the wound bound itself. My only problem came later, dealing with all the praise." The man who fell among thieves takes another sip of wine. "Charity begins at home," he says. "If I had been kinder to myself, I wouldn’t have been in that mess to begin with. But I am very grateful to all three of you. It takes great humility to step aside, for a parable’s sake. And without the parable, I would never have been saved."
|