Laughing at the Devil: Satan as a humorous figure in Middle English literature

Literary approaches toward presenting Satan in an imaginative framework differ widely as early English literature develops. It is important to understand the theological underpinnings of this archetypal figure in order to fully appreciate texts with this theme.;Old English poetry tended to ascribe a purely supernatural character to Satan in order to more fully emphasize the combat metaphor of psychomachia. To that end, the Genesis-poet makes Satan a daunting force in Christ and Satan and Genesis so that the "worthiness" of God's adversary is emphasized. Doctrinally, however, Satan is already defeated.;Since the boastful arrogance of an essentially helpless being has great comic potential, later works from the Middle English period present Satan as a comic figure so that the daunting nature of evil is denigrated to a pathetic (not empathetic) and comical stature. The comic devaluation of Satan is present in every cycle of Middle English mystery plays to some extent in the form of broad farce and scatology. In later "morality" plays, the devil and his minions are presented in a completely humorous fashion.;In Chaucer's Friar's Tale, the human Summoner is more evil a heart than the devil who rides with him. Though the supernatural source of evil is never questioned, human evil seems sufficient to occupy man's attention. By Renaissance times, a split occurs in literary depictions of Satan. The reign of James seemed to mandate a supernatural locus of evil once more. Critics who approach this subject are often stymied; the present study presents a unified concept of Satanic diminishment.