The Adventurous Simplicissimus · Chapter
IX: Wherefore Clergymen Should Never Eat Hares That Have Been Taken in a Snare explained
Simplicissimus reflects on his moral decline as a musketeer, admitting he became reckless, godless, and deceitful, ignoring the pious upbringing from the hermit.
What happens
Simplicissimus reflects on his moral decline as a musketeer, admitting he became reckless, godless, and deceitful, ignoring the pious upbringing from the hermit. The regimental chaplain confronts him at Easter for avoiding confession and communion, but Simplicissimus remains obstinate, refusing to confess out of shame. The chaplain threatens to deny him Christian burial, yet Simplicissimus dismisses this, claiming soldiers often die unburied. He spitefully denies the chaplain a hare that hanged itself, sarcastically citing the same burial rule.
Themes in this chapter
Religion and Morality
Simplicissimus's rejection of confession and the chaplain's threats highlight the struggle between religious duty and moral decay.
Folly and Wisdom
Simplicissimus's stubborn refusal to confess out of shame, despite knowing better, exemplifies his foolishness.
Characters to notice
- Simplicissimus
Narrates his descent into wickedness as a musketeer, his refusal to confess, and his cynical denial of a hare to the chaplain.
- The Hermit
Referenced as the pious hermit who raised Simplicissimus, contrasting with his current godless state.
Key passages
“No wickedness was for me too great: and all the goodnesses and loving kindnesses that I had ever received from God quite forgotten: and so I cared neither for this world nor the next but lived like a beast.”
I committed every evil, forgot all God's kindnesses, and lived like an animal, indifferent to both earthly and eternal consequences.
Simplicissimus describes his complete moral abandonment.
“I answered, 'I do serve the Emperor as a soldier: and if I die as a soldier, 'twill be no wonder if I, like other soldiers (which cannot always be buried in holy ground, but must be content to lie anywhere on the field in ditches or in the maw of wolf and raven), must make shift outside the churchyard.'”
I replied that as an imperial soldier, dying in battle meant I'd likely be left in a ditch or eaten by animals, so burial in consecrated ground was irrelevant.
Simplicissimus dismisses the chaplain's threat of denied Christian burial.