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- Title
DISCARDING PREDESTINATION IN THOMAS COOPER'S THE PURGATORY OF SUICIDES.
- Authors
Wiehl, John
- Abstract
Book the Third of Thomas Cooper's Chartist epic The Purgatory of Suicides (1845) depicts an extensive debate between Judas Iscariot and Lord Castlereagh on the reasons for their temporary damnation to purgatory. Both attempt to shirk blame by claiming that God appointed their sins; neither will see the error in his life and accept his righteous punishment. While the rest of the damned escape purgatory through developing a just theory of democracy, where workers have some say in their governance alongside kings and statesmen, Judas and Castlereagh continually assert predestination as the cause and mitigating factor in their sins. Neither escape purgatory. Much recent scholarship has focused on the rest of the poem and the various theories of communality apparent in Cooper's Chartism. Carefully considering this section, however, reveals the Protestant doctrinal engagement apparent in Cooper's ostensibly "atheist" poem. Cooper imagines that some subjectivities are not appropriate for democracy, and his poem resembles his contemporaries' theories of state-sponsored religions and British denominational history.
- Subjects
PURGATORY of Suicides (Poem); COOPER, Thomas; PURGATORY; SUICIDE -- Religious aspects; CHRISTIAN life
- Publication
Religion & Literature, 2016, Vol 48, Issue 3, p47
- ISSN
0888-3769
- Publication type
Poetry Review