ABSTRACT
The story of the 'mute spirit' showcases two remarkable, counter-intuitive characteristics of the relationship of faith and doubt. The most familiar relationship of faith and doubt in literature is the type of sinking and resurfacing. An author entertains a doubt for a time, then rejects it. The pattern can be seen at its most basic in ballads, blues songs, and action movies: the bad guy triumphs for a while, then gets his comeuppance. The good guy wins in the end. The author asks himself a question and answers it. Shakespeare lets us befriend Falstaff, 'a goodly portly man', 'sweet Jack Falstaff, 'of a cheerful look', then banishes him: a 'villainous abominable misleader of youth', 'a fool and jester', 'surfeit-swell'd'. Milton paints Satan as an epic hero, an Achilles, a Greek god, then finally as a toad. Despite the best efforts of theologians, philosophers, psychologists, and sociologists, despite Calvin, Marx, Freud, and Foucault, the problem remains unsolved.
