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Ignorance In Erasmus's 'Praise Of Folly'

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Desiderius Erasmus’ “Praise of Folly” satirically examines the ignorance of those of mankind in the 1500s. In doing so, Erasmus strategically chooses to narrate the work from the perspective of the female personification of Folly, a goddess of foolishness. She seeks to promote and strengthen the faults and shortcomings of mankind’s relationships through foolishness. Folly claims to be the savior for trouble minds, the human race continues because of folly. In such a way, Erasmus, uses the personification of Folly to be able to criticize those who claim themselves to be devout Christians and the overall Christian perspectives of his time, However, through these criticisms, Erasmus brings forward truth behind the foolishness of blindly following and truly not knowing, through the constant reference to the cliche “ignorance is bliss”. Throughout the piece it is clear that Erasmus is allowing “any reader who is not altogether lacking in discernment [to] scent something far rewarding in them than in the crabbed and specious arguments of some people we know” (Erasmus 6). Folly, dressed as a fool, stands in front of a crowd with the …show more content…
Foolish men admire the most tangible things, and believe there is nothing beyond that. They believe what they see, and what they see only. Rather than investigating for themselves, they foolishly believe the words of those around them, similarly to those following the Catholic Church without a true understanding of the religion In relation to MT2 Christianity, they do not know when He is coming, or what will happen when he comes but they follow,

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