HUMAN-ANIMAL TRANSITIONS IN ROBERT HENRYSON'S “MORALL FABILLIS”
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Date
2021
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Ankara Üniversitesi
Abstract
Fable is a literary genre that is structurally bipartite, and the anthropomorphised characters in the narrative part illustrate a truth in the moral part. Traditionally the moral part of the fables has received closer scrutiny compared to the narrative part. Scottish poet Robert Henryson, who regards the fable genre as a serious form of literature, does not refrain from modifying the genre for his needs in his work entitled Morall Fabillis. Accordingly, to convey his thoughts about the sinful condition of humankind, he employs the concept of the Great Chain of Being in his fables. Thus, the characters in the narrative part become a blatant criticism of humans' indulgence in their carnal appetites as a result of which they become indistinguishable from animals. To this end, this article argues that in the narrative parts of the selected three fables, namely, “The Cock and the Jasp”, “The Fox and the Wolf” and “The Sheep and the Dog” Henryson does not conne himself only to animal-like characters of the traditional fable, but creates two additional character types which can be called hybrids and human-like. The hybrid characters function as a kind of experiment to show how chaotic the world would be if the animals assumed the roles of humans. The human-like characters become tools to display how people are indistinguishable from animals when they yield to their earthly desires. Diversication of the character types helps Henryson transpose the collection's overarching theme of subjection to carnality instead of spirituality to the narrative part and establishes equality and unity between the two parts of the fable genre.
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Fabl, Robert Henryson, Morall Fabillis