Flatland · Chapter
XII: Of the Doctrine of Our Priests explained
The Square explains the Circles' doctrine that all conduct is determined by bodily Configuration, not will or effort, and describes how this theory is applied in law, family life, and marriage.
What happens
The Square explains the Circles' doctrine that all conduct is determined by bodily Configuration, not will or effort, and describes how this theory is applied in law, family life, and marriage. He critiques the Circles' inconsistent treatment of women and the double language used between genders, warning that the suppression of female education may weaken male intellect and threaten Flatland's future.
Themes in this chapter
Conformity and Deviance
The Circles' doctrine defines all deviance as a matter of bodily irregularity, and conformity is enforced through hospitals, prisons, and execution.
Gender and Patriarchy
The chapter details the systematic disenfranchisement of women, their exclusion from education, and the double language used to control them.
Power and Control
The Circles use the Configuration doctrine to maintain social hierarchy, control marriage, and suppress dissent, while inconsistently applying it to themselves.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator (A Square)
The Square recounts and critiques the doctrine of the Circles, reflecting on its practical drawbacks and his own experiences with his grandson.
- The Circles
The Circles are the priests and rulers who propagate the doctrine of Configuration, control marriage pedigrees, and enforce female non-education.
- The Isosceles
Isosceles figures are cited as examples of those whose irregular sides lead to criminal behavior, and who must be sent to hospital or executed.
- Many of the Highest Circles
These judges and fathers use praise and blame in practice despite the doctrine, and scold their children using terms like 'right' and 'wrong.'
Key passages
“Attend to your Configuration.”
Focus on your bodily shape, as it determines everything about you.
This is the central maxim of the Circles' doctrine.
“Configuration makes the man”
A person's character and behavior are entirely determined by their physical form.
Pantocyclus's key teaching, used to justify the suppression of free will.
“neither good conduct nor bad conduct is a fit subject, in any sober estimation, for either praise or blame.”
Since behavior is caused by shape, it makes no sense to morally judge actions.
The logical conclusion of the Configuration doctrine, though inconsistently applied.
“we males have to lead a kind of bi-lingual, and I may almost say bi-mental, existence.”
Men must speak and think differently when with women versus among themselves.
The Square's critique of the double standard in language and thought imposed by the Circles' policies.