HUMAN-ANIMAL TRANSITIONS IN ROBERT HENRYSON'S “MORALL FABILLIS”

Year 2021, Volume: 61 Issue: 1, 316 - 338, 24.06.2021

Ulaş Özgün

https://doi.org/10.33171/dtcfjournal.2021.61.1.12

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 conne 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. Diversication 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.

Keywords

Fabl, Robert Henryson, Morall Fabillis, Büyük Varoluş Zinciri, Dünyevilik, Maneviyat, İnsan, Hayvan

HUMAN-ANIMAL TRANSITIONS IN ROBERT HENRYSON'S “MORALL FABILLIS”

Abstract

Fabl yapısal olarak iki bölümden oluşan bir türdür ve anlatı bölümündeki insanlaştırılmış
karakterler ders bölümünde bir hakikate işaret eder. Geleneksel olarak fablların ders
bölümü, anlatı bölümüne nazaran daha detaylı incelenmiştir. Fabl türünü ciddi bir edebi
biçim olarak gören İskoç şair Robert Henryson, Morall Fabillis adlı eserinde, türü kendi
ihtiyaçları için değiştirmekten geri durmamıştır. Dolayısıyla insanlığın günahkar durumu
hakkında düşüncelerini iletmek için fabllarında Büyük Varoluş Zinciri kavramını kullanır.
Böylece anlatı bölümündeki karakterler insanların dünyevi arzularına yenik düşmeleri
sonucu hayvanlardan farksız olması konusunda bariz bir eleştiri haline gelir. Bu
maksatla, bu makalede “The Cock and the Jasp”, “The Fox and the Wolf” ve “The Sheep
and the Dog” adlı seçilen üç fablın anlatı bölümünde Henryson'ın fablın geleneksel
hayvansı karakteriyle sınırlı kalmadığı, melez ve insansı olarak adlandırılabilecek
fazladan iki karakter tipi daha yarattığı savunulur. Melez karakterler hayvanların insan
rolünü benimseseydi nasıl karmakarışık bir dünya olurduyu göstermek için bir tür deney
işlevi görür. İnsansı karakterler dünyevi arzularına yenik düştüklerinde insanların
hayvanlardan nasıl farksız olurduğunu gösteren araçlar olur. Karakter tiplerinin
çeşitlendirilmesi koleksiyonun maneviyat yerine dünyeviliğe bağlı olma temasının anlatı
kısmına aktarılması konusunda Henryson'a yardım eder ve fabl türünün iki kısmı
arasında eşitlik ve bütünlük oluşturur.

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 conne 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. Diversication 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.

Keywords

Fabl, Robert Henryson, Morall Fabillis, Büyük Varoluş Zinciri, Dünyevilik, Maneviyat, İnsan, Hayvan

References

• Aristophanes. Aristophanes: The Peace, The Birds, The Frogs. Trans. Benjamin Bickley Rogers. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1979.
• Augustine. The Moral Treatises. Trans. C. L. Cornish. Augsburg: Jazzybee Verlag, 2018.
• Blake, N. F. “Introduction.” The History of Reynard the Fox. By William Caxton. Ed. N. F. Blake. London: Oxford UP, 1970. xi-lxxii.
• Crane, Susan. Animal Encounters: Contacts and Concepts in Medieval Britain. Philadelphia, PA: U of Pennsylvania, 2013.
• Fox, Denton. "Henryson's Fables." ELH 29.4 (1962): 337-56. JSTOR. Web. 4 Feb. 2021.
• Fox, Denton. “Introduction.” The Poems of Robert Henryson. Ed. Denton Fox. By Robert Henryson, Oxford: Clarendon, 1981. xii-cxxiv.
• Gopen, George D. “Introduction.” The Moral Fables of Aesop. Ed. George D. Gopen. By Robert Henryson, Notre Dame: U of Notre Dame, 1987. 1-30.
• Gray, Douglas. Robert Henryson. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1979.
• Greentree, Rosemary. Reader, Teller, and Teacher: The Narrator of Robert Henryson's Moral Fables. Frankfurt Am Main: Peter Lang, 1993.
• Hartley, Lucy. Physiognomy and the Meaning of Expression in Nineteenth-century Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2005.
• Henryson, Robert. Robert Henryson: The Poems. Ed. Denton Fox. Oxford: Clarendon, 1987.
• Hobbs, Anne Stevenson. Fables. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1986.
• Holzberg, Niklas. The Ancient Fable: An Introduction. Trans. Christine Jackson-Holzberg. Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 2002.
• Horace. Horace: Satires, Epistles, Ars Poetica. Trans. H. Rushton Fairclough. London: William Heinemann, 1942.
• Lewis, Clive Staples. The Discarded Image. 1964. London: Cambridge UP, 1994.
• Lovejoy, Arthur O. The G reat C hain o f B eing: A Study o f t he H istory o f a n Idea. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2001.
• Lyall, Roderick J. “Henryson, The Hens and the Pelagian Fox: A Poet and the Intellectual Currents of His Age." Older Scots Literature. Ed. Sally Mapstone. Edinburgh: John Donald, 2005. 83-94.
• MacQueen, John. Complete and Full with Numbers. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2006.
• MacQueen, John. Robert Henryson: A Study of the Major Narrative Poems. Oxford: Clarendon, 1967.
• Mann, Jill. From Aesop to Reynard: Beast Literature in Medieval Britain. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009.
• McDiarmid, Matthew P. Robert Henryson. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic, 1981.
• McKenna, Steven R. "Tragedy and Consolation of Myth in Henryson's Fables." Studies in Scottish Literature 26.1 (1991): 490-502.
• Mitchell, James. Significant Etymology: Or, Roots, Stems, and Branches of the English Language. Oxford: William Blackwood and Sons, 1908.
• Olson, Glending. "The Medieval Theory of Literature for Refreshment and Its Use in the Fabliau Tradition." Studies in Philology 71.3 (1974): 291-313. JSTOR. Web. 12 Feb. 2021.
• O'Meara, Dominic J. "The Chain of Being in the Light of Recent Work on Platonic Hierarchies." Jacob's Ladder and the Tree of Life: Concepts of Hierarchy and the Great Chain of Being. Ed. Marion Leathers. Kuntz and Paul Grimley Kuntz. New York, NY: Peter Lang, 1987. 15-30.
• Owst, Gerald Robert. Literature and Pulpit in Medieval England: A Neglected Chapter in the History of English Letters and of the English People. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1933.
• Salisbury, Joyce E. Beast Within: Animals in the Middle Ages. New York, NY: Routledge, 1994.
• Sobol, Peter G. "The Shadow of Reason: Explanations of Intelligent Animal Behavior in the Thirteenth Century." Medieval World of Nature: A Book of Essays. Ed. Joyce E. Salisbury. London: Routledge, 2020. 109-29.
• Stearns, Marshall W. Robert Henryson. New York, NY: Columbia UP, 1949.
• Stimilli, Davide. The Face of Immortality: Physiognomy and Criticism. Albany, NY: State U of New York, 2005.
• Wheatley, Edward. "Scholastic Commentary and Robert Henryson's Morall Fabilis: The Aesopic Fables." Studies in Philology 91.1 (1994): 70-99. JSTOR. Web. 22 Feb.
• Wheatley, Edward. Mastering Aesop: Medieval Education, Chaucer, and His Followers. Gainesville, FL: Florida U.P., 2000.
• Wittig, Kurt. The Scottish Tradition in Literature. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1958.
• Youngs, Deborah, and Simon Harris. “Demonizing the Night in Medieval Europe: A Temporal Monstrosity.” The Monstrous Middle Ages. Ed. Bettina Bilghauer and Robert Mills. Toronto: U of Toronto, 2003. 134-55.
• Zafiropoulos, Christos A. Ethics in Aesop’s Fables: The Augustana Collection. Leiden: Brill, 2001.
• Ziolkowski, Jan M. Talking Animals: Medieval Latin Beast Poetry, 750-1150. Philadelphia, PA: U of Pennsylvania, 1993.