Essay Questions

To whom is “The Soul” referring to with the use of the epithet “asses” or “donkeys” depending upon the version?

The noble statue of the King is steadfastly maintained throughout by The Soul in her references to him an object of admiration and love. What could contrast more sharply with such a figure than the animal notable for its brute stubbornness, a beast of burden lacking nobility? In some versions referred to by the more common modern vernacular, but mostly taking up the scriptural term which brings it own lack of nobility, the asses are those who adhere to putting trust in the outdated traditions of the Church. The worship is of the creature, not the God—the King—and they have maintained a stubborn commitment to this ideal for—at the time—more than twelve centuries.

How did the publication of The Mirror of Simple Souls end for its author?

The book’s thesis is primarily composed of ideas which ran directly counter to the longstanding tenets of the Vatican. In fact, many of the concepts delineated throughout would make their way onto a list of grievances nailed to the door of a church 217 years later which would forever transform the fundamental foundation of Christianity. Many of the complains about the official Church which arise as the subject of complaint in Porete’s book would become the fuel which drove the engine toward the creation of Protestantism. But that was still yet another two centuries down the line and Porete would not live to see past the next decade. Accused of the composition of a text “containing pestilential heresy and errors” she would be officially tried and convicted on charges of heresy and sentenced to being burned at the stake. Which she was on the first day of June in 1310.

How might what Daffy Duck would refer to as “pronoun trouble” have been the real motivation behind the author’s eventual execution as punishment for publishing her book?

The classic episode in which Daffy squares off with Bugs Bunny over whether it’s duck or rabbit is actually a quite startling demonstration of how power of the personal pronoun when it is misapprehended. The pronoun trouble in this case is obviously not accidental, but purpose and with a specific intent. Porete writes:

“Such a Soul no longer loves anything in God or will love it, however noble it may be, except only for God and because he wishes it, and she loves God in all things, and things for love of him; and through such a love this Soul is alone in the pure love of the love of God. Such a Soul has such a clear knowledge that she sees herself as nothing in God and God as nothing in herself.”

To modern readers, of course, there is absolutely nothing in that paragraph to even begin to suggest that its writer deserves to be publicly lit on fire. In Medieval times, however, this was language designed not to be ambiguous and to present agenda which ran counter to at least a thousand years of religious dogma. The usage of feminine pronouns to reference the Soul was essentially to spit in the face of a concept so totally ingrained in the tenets of the Church as to be declared officially off the table. Or, as the Vatican would prefer to term it, heretical to the point of deserving capital punishment.