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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 3 page essay that discusses Desiderius Erasmus' 1516 text The Praise of Folly, which offers a brilliantly satirical look at his contemporary society that not only outlines the foibles and hypocrisies of various professions during the sixteenth century, but also subtly implies the virtues that Erasmus values. Examination of Erasmus' message shows it to be very entertaining, but also that it conveys the basic premises of Renaissance humanism. No bibliography is provided.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khepof.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
various professions during the sixteenth century, but also subtly implies the virtues that Erasmus values. Examination of Erasmus message shows it to be very entertaining, but also that it conveys
the basic premises of Renaissance humanism. The first profession that Erasmus castigates is his own, that is, "authors of books." The voice that Erasmus uses is that of "Dame
Folly," that is, the personification of folly and all of the foolish behavior that human beings are capable of performing. As it is Folly itself speaking, she speaks disparagingly of
writers who work and rework their texts, laboring for years simply to earn the praise of a few of their scholarly peers. Folly argues that the author who writes
down any trivial thing that comes into his head is far happier and more successful because he knows that "if the trifles are trivial enough, the majority of the readers,
that is, the fools and ignoramuses, will approve of them" (Erasmus 25). The wisest of writers are those, says Folly, who plagiarizes, as they receive glory for work that is
not even theirs. While Folly castigates the serious scholar, the implied message in the text is that authors should be like the scholars rather than popular writers, as their text
has purpose and meaning. The second profession that Folly castigates as they weave "six hundred laws together" in order to contrive to "make their profession seem the most difficult
of all" (Erasmus 25). Also, the behavior of lawyers is characterized as "quarrelsome," as they would argue over a "lock of goats wool," but, in so doing, lose "sight of
the truth in the furor of their dispute" (Erasmus 25). This subtly implies that lawyers should keep their focus on the truth, that is, the essence of what is just
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