The Knowledge of Angels

Jo Devanny Knowledge of Angels

Knowledge of Angles is a fable; examine the roles played by three characters.

Jill Paton-Walsh’s fable presents the reader with three strong intellectual characters; Severo, Bendixt and Palinor, whose fates become intertwined and reliant on each others opinions and views. From the outset, the character of Palinor is repeatedly given a Christ like image as he is described as ‘blotched with a splash of carmine light cast by the wound in the side of Christ, portrayed in the central light, crucified.’ This description is indicative of how Palinor will suffer as Christ did for his differing views, as he represents science in the on going battle between Benedixt and Severo’s religion. Palinor’s recurring descriptions involving light indicate his enlightenment, as he comes from the free thinking island of Aclar, where he ‘is a prince, not by blood but by achievement.’ This indicates Palinor’s home land being a meritocracy, further implying his representation of freedom and conscious thinking. The island is a much closed society and the appearance of the outsider and wolf child demonstrate the xenophobic distrust of foreigners and the inward looking views of the islanders.

\\\\\Palinor’s status is similar to that of Severo, being the Cardinal Prince of Grandinsula, and is regarded highly by his people, as he lived ‘austerely and plainly… from day to day in a simple black soutane, like one of his village priests.’ All three men share the admiration of their people, as Benedixt had ‘not a trace of scorn disfigured his soul,’ and Paton-Walsh uses him and Severo to make the reader sympathetic to their ignorance of the outside world, as both men where shocked at the sight of a woman breast feeding her child. This becomes clear as Benedixt tells Severo he saw a similar image in a church, but took it as ‘an allegory, a representation of the flow of human kindness...’

The fable is laced with irony as the two intellectual scholars; Severo and Benedixt are some what oblivious to the world out side the church, as all Benedixt’s knowledge is textual and not from experience. Palinor is a biological thinker and his understanding is based on empirical knowledge, not things Benedixt’s asks him to ‘imagine’, which becomes apparent as the pair argue their differing points. These subsequent discussions involving their strong opposing beliefs, lead to Bendixt doubting his faith as he says to Severo;’I am afraid the whole sky is empty and no one hears our voice.’ This shows ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

Hypocrisy is also apparent as the shepards are forgiven for acts of bestiality, and mothers are forced to abandon their children at night, to avoid the shame and scorn they will encounter from their piers and church, but for a man to be free thinking and dismiss God is punishable by death. Paton-Walsh has made Severo and Benedixt exceptions to the rest of the religious characters, as Severo shares bread with Jaime, ‘such was his vow’ that ‘nobody would be less than a brother to him,’ showing his treatment of people as his equal, opposed to the prefect, who held Palinor for three months without food or daylight and the sadistic Fra Murta, who tortured him relentlessly. These practices and places of worship containing torture chambers make a mockery of the monolithic orthodoxy that Severo and Benedixt have based their faith upon. The use of a medieval setting represents the out dated way of thinking regarding religion, such as torturing a man that cannot be religiously categorized. Palinor ‘wondered why it is those who believe most passionately in a merciful deity who are themselves most murderous and cruel.’

The naivety of Benedixt adds appeal to a character that does not possess understanding of how a blacksmith works, letting the reader forgive his ignorance at punishing Palinor, as he knows no better than what he has been taught. Whereas Palinor is an ‘engineer’, who uses this skill to create a water fall to ease bathing, ironically, it is with this structure that the three men disrobe and become equals ‘in a baptism of laughter,’ showing the reader that without the constraints of religion, all men are equals.

The dichotomy of theologian Benedixt and humanist Palinor, is apparent when Benedixt tries to present evidence of God, it becomes clear that the atheist bears likeness to that of the philosopher Immanuel Kant, who believed humans are an individual entity, and freedom to think is a fundamental tenet of human right. Kant also used deductive reasoning to make arguments about the existence of God, and believed that individuality and recognition would help a person decide on a path of action, as does Palinor. In Aclar, people ‘do not defy laws and run amok’ without religion, much to Severo’s dismay, as they have ‘a desire to stand well in the eyes of the neighbors,’ where as ‘the island could taste discipline from fearless masters.’ Showing Severo that religion is not necessary to sustain order, as the God fearing inhabitants of Grandinsula confess their sins of animal rape, to be redeemed only to commit them again.

Benedixt is tolerant of Palinor because he sees his arrival as God’s design, rather than the accident Palinor claims it to be, and the ‘reason is that we should enlighten your darkness, and convince you that there exists your God and your Redeemer.’ When Palinor replies with ‘I should have swum the other way,’ it is because he is a man of rationale and knows that there is no empirical evidence of God. The role of Benedixt represents causality, and shows an aspect of a true worshipper of God, as ‘he saw visions of angels at work in every moment of creation’ and believes with conviction of the presence of God and that knowledge of his existence is ‘innate in every human soul...’ Palinor negates with Benedixt with such clarity that Benedixt begs Severo to relieve him of the task as he ‘cannot accomplish it’ and it leads to Benedixt seeing the ’flaws in the argument’ and his own faith as knowledge is useless with out wisdom. `

Severo is a compassionate character who lives by a strict moral code and despairs at the clergy’s ‘doors being closed except that of the confessional’ to people in need of help, such as Jaime. Although he is unconvinced that the knowledge of God in innate, so when an atheist and a wolf child appear on the island, he takes this as being Gods way of presenting evidence and feels ‘the exhilaration of strangeness.’ The relationship between Severo and Palinor is one of respect, as Severo was the ‘cleverest man on Grandinsula’ and Palinor was a man that ‘could match him in argument; in that sense he was well prepared for Palinor.’ Severo

Severo indicates the way the island unites theology and moral values, as he has his own ideas and views and does not appear to be judgmental. He represents the possibilities of change in Grandinsula, as he sees Palinor negate Benedixt’s faith, and has the power to change the islands inward thinking. Severo’s admiration for Palinor is evident as he ‘exclaimed in astonishment’ at the sight of the fountain Palinor constructed, and ‘eagerly spurred his horse for the last turn of the road.’ Severo’s remorse before Palinor is taken to his death is striking as he was ‘openly weeping,’ showing the humanity and regret at his failed experiment with Amara.

The three men offer a very real representation of what happens when power and religion are ungoverned by morals and ethics. Benedixt’s blind faith and life’s work is dismantled by reasoning, Palinor’s freedom and integrity are raped by ignorance, ultimately costing him his life, and Severo shows what becomes of using human life to confirm personal theories. Although The Knowledge of Angels is a fable and the characters are only alive in ‘the eternal present’, the story challenges how we live today, and the values of our seemingly fragile society, educing the reader to acknowledge the possibility of both ‘morning knowledge’ and ‘evening knowledge’.