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4. Household Superstitions by Joseph Addison
Author:
Joseph Addison was a famous English poet, author, writer,
politician, and classical scholar who lived in the 18th century. He started the
daily newspaper The Spectator with his friend Richard Steele and is known as
one of the best monthly essayists. At that time, “The Spectator” became a
well-known and read newspaper. Besides writing pieces for “The Tatler,” he also
wrote over 274 essays for “The Spectator.” “Cato, a Tragedy,” the famous play
he wrote, is thought to have sparked the American Revolution through
literature. He has also written “The Campaign,” “Dialogue on Medals,” “Account
of the Greatest English Poets,” and the failed opera text “Rosamund.”
He also helped to create the English literary group known as the
“Kit-Cat Club,” which had strong political ties. His most famous work was the
play “Cato, a Tragedy,” which was a hit in England, the New World, and Ireland.
Many people think that the play was one of the literature sources that led to
the American Revolution. He helped start the daily newspaper “The Spectator,”
which was a famous and well-reviewed publication at the time. About 10% of
people in the country read the paper, making it the most read newspaper. He
passed away at the Holland House in London when he was 48 years old. He was
buried in London at the Westminster Abbey in the City of Westminster.
About Play:
The present essay Popular Superstitions deals with the evil of
popularly spread and observed superstitions in most of the families. He has not
simply counted them but has highlighted their baneful influence on the social
atmosphere and shows how they poison the life of man. It is quite full of great
enthusiasm against such follies and expresses his earnestness to abolish them.
He not only draws our attention to these absurdities that we take dreams to be
the prophecies of impending evil or some common incident as a bad omen. The aim
behind all this description is not to touch these evils but the intention is
clearly reformative. This zeal of reform sometimes makes the essay like a moral
teaching. But one thing is certain that the whole piece is a solid and
wholesome lesson which will not only smoothen the life of man but make it sweet
and congenial. This in itself is an evidence of its significance and that the
essayists are honestly performing all their promise they had made in the
beginning of this periodical.
Text:
Visions
and magic spells, can you despise,
And laugh at witches, ghosts, and
prodigies?
Going
yesterday to dine with an old acquaintance, I had the misfortune to find his
whole family very much dejected. Upon
asking him the occasion of it, he told me that his wife had dreamt a very
strange dream the night before, which they were afraid portended some
misfortune to themselves or to their children.
At her coming into the room, I observed a settled melancholy in her
countenance, which I should have been troubled for, had I not heard from whence
it proceeded. We were no sooner sat
down, but, after having looked upon me a little while, “My dear,” says she,
turning to her husband, “you may now see the stranger that was in the candle
last night.” Soon after this, as they
began to talk of family affairs, a little boy at the lower end of the table
told her that he was to go into join-hand on Thursday. “Thursday!” says she. “No, child; if it please God, you shall not
begin upon Childermas-day; tell your writing-master that Friday will be soon
enough.” I was reflecting with myself on
the oddness of her fancy, and wondering that anybody would establish it as a
rule, to lose a day in every week. In
the midst of these my musings, she desired me to reach her a little salt upon
the point of my knife, which I did in such a trepidation and hurry of obedience
that I let it drop by the way; at which she immediately startled, and said it
fell towards her. Upon this I looked
very blank; and observing the concern of the whole table, began to consider
myself, with some confusion, as a person that had brought a disaster upon the
family. The lady, however, recovering
herself after a little space, said to her husband with a sigh, “My dear,
misfortunes never come single.” My
friend, I found, acted but an under part at his table; and, being a man of more
good-nature than understanding, thinks himself obliged to fall in with all the
passions and humours of his yoke-fellow.
“Do not you remember, child,” says she, “that the pigeon-house fell the
very afternoon that our careless wench spilt the salt upon the table?”—“Yes,”
says he, “my dear; and the next post brought us an account of the battle of
Almanza.” The reader may guess at the
figure I made, after having done all this mischief. I despatched my dinner as soon as I could,
with my usual taciturnity; when, to my utter confusion, the lady seeing me
quitting my knife and fork, and laying them across one another upon my plate,
desired me that I would humour her so far as to take them out of that figure
and place them side by side. What the
absurdity was which I had committed I did not know, but I suppose there was
some traditionary superstition in it; and therefore, in obedience to the lady
of the house, I disposed of my knife and fork in two parallel lines, which is
the figure I shall always lay them in for the future, though I do not know any
reason for it.
It is
not difficult for a man to see that a person has conceived an aversion to
him. For my own part, I quickly found,
by the lady’s looks, that she regarded me as a very odd kind of fellow, with an
unfortunate aspect: for which reason I took my leave immediately after dinner,
and withdrew to my own lodgings. Upon my
return home, I fell into a profound contemplation on the evils that attend
these superstitious follies of mankind; how they subject us to imaginary
afflictions, and additional sorrows, that do not properly come within our
lot. As if the natural calamities of
life were not sufficient for it, we turn the most indifferent circumstances
into misfortunes, and suffer as much from trifling accidents as from real
evils. I have known the shooting of a
star spoil a night’s rest; and have seen a man in love grow pale, and lose his
appetite, upon the plucking of a merry-thought.
A screech-owl at midnight has alarmed a family more than a band of
robbers; nay, the voice of a cricket hath struck more terror than the roaring
of a lion. There is nothing so
inconsiderable which may not appear dreadful to an imagination that is filled
with omens and prognostics: a rusty nail or a crooked pin shoot up into
prodigies.
I
remember I was once in a mixed assembly that was full of noise and mirth, when on
a sudden an old woman unluckily observed there were thirteen of us in
company. This remark struck a panic
terror into several who were present, insomuch that one or two of the ladies
were going to leave the room; but a friend of mine taking notice that one of
our female companions was big with child, affirmed there were fourteen in the
room, and that, instead of portending one of the company should die, it plainly
foretold one of them should be born. Had
not my friend found this expedient to break the omen, I question not but half
the women in the company would have fallen sick that very night.
An old
maid that is troubled with the vapours produces infinite disturbances of this
kind among her friends and neighbours. I
know a maiden aunt of a great family, who is one of these antiquated Sibyls,
that forebodes and prophesies from one end of the year to the other. She is always seeing apparitions and hearing
death-watches; and was the other day almost frighted out of her wits by the
great house-dog that howled in the stable, at a time when she lay ill of the
toothache. Such an extravagant cast of
mind engages multitudes of people not only in impertinent terrors, but in
supernumerary duties of life, and arises from that fear and ignorance which are
natural to the soul of man. The horror
with which we entertain the thoughts of death, or indeed of any future evil,
and the uncertainty of its approach, fill a melancholy mind with innumerable
apprehensions and suspicions, and consequently dispose it to the observation of
such groundless prodigies and predictions.
For as it is the chief concern of wise men to retrench the evils of life
by the reasonings of philosophy, it is the employment of fools to multiply them
by the sentiments of superstition.
For my
own part, I should be very much troubled were I endowed with this divining
quality, though it should inform me truly of everything that can befall
me. I would not anticipate the relish of
any happiness, nor feel the weight of any misery, before it actually arrives.
I know but one way of fortifying my soul against these gloomy presages and terrors of mind; and that is, by securing to myself the friendship and protection of that Being who disposes of events and governs futurity. He sees, at one view, the whole thread of my existence, not only that part of it which I have already passed through, but that which runs forward into all the depths of eternity. When I lay me down to sleep, I recommend myself to His care; when I awake, I give myself up to His direction. Amidst all the evils that threaten me, I will look up to Him for help, and question not but He will either avert them, or turn them to my advantage. Though I know neither the time nor the manner of the death I am to die, I am not at all solicitous about it; because I am sure that he knows them both, and that He will not fail to comfort and support me under them.
Summary:
One
day, an old friend invited Addison and his family to dinner. They had been
friends for a long time. When Addison got home, he was surprised to find that
his whole family was not happy. The explanation was that the lady of the house
became afraid of something after having a nightmare the night before. They were
afraid that the family would soon suffer a terrible misfortune as a result of
the dream. Because of all these factors, Addison came to the conclusion that
the hostess in question was a very superstitious woman. Everything that
happened within the family confirmed his belief that the superstitions had a
strong hold on the whole family. Addison was very confused and agitated
throughout his prolonged. He admits that his friend was a good man, but he
didn't fully understand. He was not a particularly intelligent man. He would
always agree with his wife, no matter how absurd her beliefs were. She was
adamant that dreams could portend either good or bad things. They also had
strong beliefs in many other superstitions. On Christmas Day, they never began
any new projects. They considered spilling salt to be unlucky, and if it
happened during dinner, the family's mood was negatively impacted. The family
would become hopeless and depressed if the knife and fork were placed across
each other on the dish. Even eating dinner with this type of family was
agonizing for Addison. They thought Addison was beginning to become a problem
because he had slid the knife and fork across his plate and spilled the salt.
Additionally, they thought he was the man they had dreamed about the night
before. Addison thought their beliefs were absurd, so he finished his dinner
quickly and left them, sparing himself and his host any embarrassment.
Addison expresses the reality that
he recognizes and understands when he is no longer required or desired by an
organization. Likewise, he had realized right away that he was not welcome at
his friend's family. The hostess saw him as unwelcome and bad news for her
family. Naturally, he left right away after the meal. When he got home, he was
very introspective and thought carefully about what had happened to him. He
concluded that the absurd superstitious idea was the only source of everything
that had happened that night.
He concluded that the imaginary and
illusory suffering that afflicts humanity is due to superstitions. Suffering
results from these absurd and ridiculous acts. Those who take superstitions and
omens seriously are the biggest idiots. Even in situations where there is no
suffering or misery in our lives, superstitions lead to disasters. As a result,
we suffer from imagined and unreal suffering just as much as from real
accidents and catastrophes. He enumerates the greatest superstitions, such as a
star shooting or an owl screaming at night. They cause unnecessary worry in our
lives. These individuals constantly experience anxiety and suffering because
they perceive disaster in every circumstance.
Addison
claims that when elderly women are physically ill and unable to carry out any
meaningful work in life, it is difficult for them to pass the time. In an
attempt to kill time and keep themselves busy, they spend their time making
ridiculous predictions about an approaching tragedy. They instill such evil and
absurd ideas in the minds of the simple-minded, causing them to live in
constant fear of some unanticipated disaster. Thus, they are the primary source
of the superstitious threat that is permeating society. This kind of fear is
especially felt by those who are simple and pure. In such a situation, it is
the duty of the intelligent people to rescue them from such foolishness and allay
their illogical fears. They should convince them of their immorality and teach
them to think logically.
They
should show them how ridiculous these illogical ideas are. In the essay's
concluding section, Addison talks about himself and declares that he doesn't practice
any form of superstition or divination. He contends that this behavior worsens
and causes more mental suffering rather than making him happy. He laughs and
says that even if he could have seen his future, he would not have. Instead, he
would prefer to keep worrying about what is actually happening to him. He continues by saying that it would
be better to put oneself under God's watchful eye rather than be afraid of the
paranormal predictions. No matter what, only God can save him from all the
tragedies and evils of life. In this way, Addison demonstrates his unshakable
faith in God and rejection of all other absurd beliefs. This religion not only
gives him a great deal of solace from life's trials and tragedies, but it also
protects him from the unreasonable, absurd, and imagined fears that cause
suffering.
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