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The medieval period is renowned for its versatile but often terrifying devil and horrific hell. Nevertheless, Old and Middle English literature betray compelling evidence that both the devil and hell wane in specific and discernible ways. Medieval English literature sponsors a conscious curtailment of these charismatic figures, resulting in the paradox that the very age which shaped a terrifying devil and ruthless hell begins to unravel the web of horror it created.
Chapter One shows that the diminishment of hell is preceded by an unparalleled upsurge in the cruelty of hell's torments in twelfth- and thirteenth-century Middle English literature. The Old English hell's grandeur and strong sense of place are lost upon early Middle English writers who downplay hell's geographical paradigm in favor of describing exceedingly grisly tortures not seen in Old English writing.
Chapter Two asserts that hell's overly brutal torments subside in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Middle English literature as writers use rhetorical devices and non-physical torments to soften hell's program of pain. The exempla also compromise hell's identity as the ultimate nexus of Christian punishment in the earth's core, as devils move tailored penalties from hell to the sinner's doorstep on earth.
Chapter Three reveals that Old and early Middle English literature present the devil and demons as bodily beings. But after Church doctrine changed the devil's nature from material to immaterial, fourteenth- and fifteenth-century writers neglect the devil and descriptions of his person. Because his terror lay in his horrid physical appearance, the devil's palpable ability to terrify diminishes in literature that avoids descriptions of his body.
Chapter Four discusses the mystery plays where the devil retrieves his body, but not his terror. While Christian tradition conceived Lucifer's fall into devilry, medieval English dramatists devised the devil's fall into humanity. This humanized devil is stripped of his supernatural capacity to frighten; hence, the devil's traditional nature and terror diminish.
Medieval English literature and drama, though fond of the devil and hell, nevertheless inaugurated their demise by chipping away at the traditional notions of a ferocious devil of horrid aspect and fiery hell in earth's core.
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University o f Nevada, Reno
M anifestations o f D im inishm ent in th e Traditional Terror o f th e D evil and H ell in Old and M iddle E nglish Literature
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