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The Worlds of the Renaissance Projects, 2000

The Use of Satire by Renaissance Humanists:

Francois Rabelais in Gargantua and Pantagruel.

 

Dina McArdle

Ballard High School

Seattle, WA

Introduction

Procedure

Documents

 

 

Introduction:

 

The satirical work of Rabelais can be used to exemplify the criticism of some Renaissance thinkers in a World History or European History course. The style of Rabelais' work makes allusions to Thomas More's Utopia and Marguerite de Navarre's Heptameron, and can be compared to Swift and Pope in terms of use of irony and exaggeration. The bawdiness and grotesque nature of Rabelais' style is, however, very unique - in fact, the adjective "Rabelaisian" (meaning gross and extravagant humor or caricature) derives from the writings of Rabelais. This lesson focuses on two of Rabelais' subjects of criticism: Humanist values/education and the Roman Catholic Church.

 

Before using this lesson, students should have a working vocabulary of Renaissance terms, including Humanism, Papal Authority, sacraments, Latin Christendom, etc. Students should have already learned about the Florentine Humanists and about the dominance of the Church in Europe in the Early Modern Period. Since this lesson is reliant upon primary source texts, students should be familiar with primary source analysis, as it is often difficult for students to approach literature that uses unfamiliar language and conventions.

 

Finally, an introduction to the concept of satire is essential for this lesson. Schools using an integrated curriculum with Language Arts courses may look at other satirical works (Swift or Pope are good examples here) in Language Arts class as a background for the analysis of the Gargantua and Pantagruel excerpts. A simple way to introduce the concept of satire in the Social Studies class is to show a sketch from the television show "Saturday Night Live" (one of the politically themed skits) and discuss how this type of humor entertains and criticizes at the same time.

 

Procedure:
1. Background of book
2. Information on the author
3. Satire that criticizes Humanist education
4. Satire that criticizes the Church

 

Documents:
All documents are referenced to the Penguin Classics edition:
Rabelais, Francois. The Histories of Gargantua and Pantagruel. Trans. J.M. Cohen. New York: Penguin Classics, 1955.