Term Paper

The last sentence of the prefatory note leading into the second half of Words with Power reads:  "Out of this I hope that some indication of how coherent lifestyles, connected with primary concerns and the kerygmatic mode, will emerge from the infinite possibilities of myth (Frye 143).  The second variation, the garden, is most closely associated with the primary human concern of sex--both the sex act and the distinguishing of the masculine and feminine in a symbolic sense.  For the purposes of this paper, I will be focusing on the symbolic aspects of masculine and feminine imagery in the Bible with specific attention to how this imagery connects the Old Testament with the New.

It is a commonly held belief by some who claim to have read the Bible that God gave men the supreme right to rule over the earth, the animals, and women.  The support, they claim, lies right there, in black and white, in the words of the Biblical creation myth; however, this is an unfortunate misreading of Biblical text that has spawned an apathetic cultural attitude toward exploitation.  God planted a beautiful garden and put the man in it it to tend it.  Then God decided the man should not be alone, so He created animals for the man to name.  Last of all God put the man to sleep and took a rib and made it into a woman, a "help meet" in the words of the J writer.  The term "help meet" implies a partner of equal stature, though the rest of that particular passage clearly defines two different symbolic representations of human kind.  One is man, the masculine representation, and the other is his wife, woman, the feminine representation.  Here begins the arduous task of differentiating between the literal and symbolic roles assigned to the notions of masculinity and femininity in the Bible, and how these notions coalesce to form a coherent pattern of myth to live by.  Frye believes that the original adam is most likely androgynous and is the first masculine symbol, though not yet an actual man; and the garden, in all its beauty and fertility, is the feminine symbol.  Frye describes the creation of Eve as an afterthought, "a rectifying of an original deficiency"(190).  Though deficiency has a negative connotation, Frye does not mean it in a misogynistic context.  It simply implies that the God of the J creation account is a great experimenter, and realizing His original creation needs a little tweaking, He divides the masculine and feminine traits into two distinct human entities.

This is where we first see the theme of rejuvenation as it pertains specifically to feminine symbolism.  The garden, the feminine symbol, is now objectified through Eve, who has become not only woman, but the man's wife.  The original feminine symbolism contained within the garden is implicitly maternal, but is transformed to become a bride figure in Eve.  The purpose of rejuvenation, according to Frye, is to eradicate any previously existing undesirable qualities; presumably, this is how God rectifies the deficiency contained within His original creation.  Eve is not given to be subservient to Adam; she is given as a companion, where one does not preclude the other.

This balance is disrupted when Adam and Eve eat of the forbidden tree of knowledge of good and evil; this is also probably the most erroneously interpreted event in all of Biblical myth.  Patriarchy is not given out as a reward to man for what seems to be perceived as his innocuous involvement in the Fall; rather, patriarchy is given to woman as castigation for her initiation in the events which culminate in the Fall.  Man, along with the serpent, is given his own set of punishments for his involvement in the unfortunate event.  Misogynists have long held to this weak interpretation as justification to denigrate women, and feminists have long proclaimed it evidence that the Bible is biased against women.  The efferent expansion of feminine Biblical symbolism has also served to reinforce this weak misinterpretation of the garden myth.  It has spawned a tradition of weak, ideological misreading which has resulted in the validation of exploitation of all that is symbolically female.  The earth, nature in general, women, children, and slaves of all ages and both genders are all viewed as chattel; they are goods to be bought and sold as seen fit by a specially appointed few who represent a symbolic patriarchal minority.

The themes of exploitation and rejuvenation as they pertain to feminine symbolism are clearly demonstrated in the story of Ruth.  Ruth, being a Moabite woman, is cleansed of her undesirable heritage when she lies down on the field with Boaz in what is presumably a ritual of fertility.  In so doing she becomes a rejuvenated version of her mother-in-law, Naomi, and becomes a true daughter of Israel.  Indeed, when she bears Boaz a son the event is hailed as a son born unto Naomi.  This transformation allows her to take her place as a direct ancestor of Jesus.  Also prominent in the rejuvenation theme is the cycle of what Frye describes as "affliction, exile, redemption."  On page 215 he writes that the image of woman "expands into a kind of proletariat, enduring, continuous, exploited humanity, awaiting emancipation in a hostile world...."  He ascribes this metaphor specifically to the Israelites' bondage in Egypt, but this can also be seen on a grander Biblical scale as humanity's redemption through Jesus.  On pages 140-141, Frye states:  "Myth, concentrating as it does on the primary concerns that human beings share with animals and even plants, is more closely linked to man's genuine kinship with nature.  The Bible speaks continually of the alienation of man from God and of man's eventual redemption or reconciliation with God.  This latter movement, if we are right about primary concern, cannot be achieved without a corresponding redemption and reconciliation of nature, something that moves in the direction of restoring the original paradisal environment."  Frye contends that the mythical pattern dictates that humanity must be redeemed through woman.  Jesus, the masculine symbol of the New Testament is begotten through the body of a woman, and rather than being a father/bridegroom figure like Adam, he is representative of a Son/bridegroom figure.  That is, he is the Son of God and the bridegroom to humanity as a whole, where Jesus symbolizes the masculine and the Church symbolizes the feminine.  Even though Jesus may be the patriarch of all patriarchs, being the literal Son of God, he is still begotten through the body of a female.  Mary can be considered a rejuvenated Eve, and Jesus a second Adam.  This is a reversal of the garden myth, where Eve, a rejuvenated version of the original matronly feminine symbol (the garden), is taken from the adam's body to become a daughter/bride, and inevitably initiates the Fall of humanity.  On page 216, Frye states that patriarchy will eventually be reversed; not into a matriarchy, but into the equality that existed before the Fall.  This happens through the power of love, which seems to be the main tenant of Jesus' teachings.  He bucks all the norms of typical patriarchal behavior.  He loves little children, he does not denigrate slaves, lepers, or other "undesirables," nor does he subordinate women or shun Gentiles.  Both humanity and nature are symbolically feminine, and redemption is attained by creating a loving union with Jesus, the masculine symbol.  Thus, this union represents the simultaneous reconciliation of nature and humanity with God.

Flawed, ideological interpretations of the functions of masculine and feminine symbolism in the Bible have falsely rendered it a misogynistic text, and given rise to the secondary human concerns of mastery and possession.  The purpose of Biblical mythology is not to subordinate one individual to another, nor is it to ordain one specific group supreme over all others; its emphasis is on the importance of the equality of love and mutual respect between men and women, parents and children, the individual and his or her community, and humanity and the world in which it is sustained.  The objective, therefore, of Biblical myth is to demonstrate how life can be most abundantly lived.