Browning and His CenturyClarke, Helen A. (Helen Archibald)
Philosophy
Browning and His Century
Clarke, Helen A. (Helen Archibald)
Browning, Robert, 1812-1889; Nineteenth century; Poets, English -- 19th century -- Biography
Another phase of the same thought is brought out in "A Camel Driver,"
where the discussion turns upon punishment. The point is, if, as Ferishtah
declares, the sinner is not to be punished eternally, then why should man
trouble himself to punish him? Universalist doctrines are here put into
the mouth of Ferishtah, and not a few modern philanthropists would agree
with Ferishtah's questioners that punishment for sins (the manifestations
of inherited tendencies for which the sinners are not responsible) is no
longer admissible. Ferishtah's answer amounts to this. That no matter what
causes for beneficent ends may be visible to the Divine mind in the
allowance of the existence of sin, nor yet the fact that Divine love
demands that punishment shall not be eternal; man must regard sin simply
from the human point of view as absolute evil, and must will to work for
its annihilation. It follows then that the punishing of a sinner is the
means by which he may be taught to overcome the sin. There is the added
thought, also, that the suffering of the conscience over the subtler sins
which go unpunished is all the hell one needs.
Another doctrine upon which the nineteenth-century belief in progress as
the law of life has set its seal is that of the pursuit of happiness, or
the striving for the greatest good of the whole number in which oneself is
not to be excluded. With this doctrine Browning shows himself in full
sympathy in "Two Camels," wherein Ferishtah contends that only through the
development of individual happiness and the experiencing of many forms of
joyousness can one help others to happiness and joyousness, while in "Plot
Culture" the enjoyment of human emotion as a means of developing the soul
is emphasized.
The relation of good and evil in their broader aspects occupy the poet's
attention in others of this group. Nineteenth-century thought brought
about a readjustment of these relations. Good and evil as absolutely
definable entities gave place to the doctrine that good and evil are
relative terms, a phrase which we sometimes forget must be understood in
two ways: first, that good and evil are relative to the state of society
in which they exist. What may be good according to the ethics of a Fejee
Islander would not hold in the civilized society of to-day. This is the
evil of lack of development which in the long run becomes less. On the
other hand, there is the evil of suffering and pain which it is more
difficult to reconcile with the idea of omnipotent power. In "Mihrab
Shah," Browning gives a solution of this problem in consonance with the
idea that were it not for evil we should not have learned how to
appreciate the good, to work for it, and, in doing so, bring about
progress.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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