The Adventurous Simplicissimus · Chapter
XXIX: How a Man Step by Step May Attain Unto Intoxication and Finally Unawares Become Blind Drunk explained
Simplicissimus observes a lavish banquet where guests begin piously but gradually descend into gluttony and drunkenness.
What happens
Simplicissimus observes a lavish banquet where guests begin piously but gradually descend into gluttony and drunkenness. He marvels at their transformation into beastly behavior, questions his pastor about the cause, and is told 'when the wine is in the wit is out.' The pastor warns him to be silent, and Simplicissimus notes the contrast between the wanton waste of food and drink and the famine suffered by expelled peasants outside the town.
Themes in this chapter
Folly and Wisdom
Simplicissimus's naive observations contrast with the guests' foolish drunken behavior, highlighting the folly of excess and the wisdom of temperance.
Deception and Appearance
The banquet begins with pious silence and Christian grace, but devolves into beastly intoxication, revealing the deceptive nature of outward appearances.
Social Class and Nobility
The contrast between the wealthy revelers wasting food and the starving peasants outside underscores class divisions and the moral failings of the nobility.
Characters to notice
- Simplicissimus
Narrates the banquet scene, observing the guests' descent into drunkenness and questioning his pastor about the phenomenon.
- The Hermit
Mentioned indirectly as the pastor who accompanies Simplicissimus and explains the effects of wine.
Key passages
“when the wine is in the wit is out.”
Alcohol impairs judgment and reason.
The pastor's explanation to Simplicissimus about the cause of the guests' foolish behavior.
“the poor Lazarus, that might have been nourished therewith, languished, before our gates in the shape of many hundred expelled peasants of the Wetterau, whose hunger looked out through their eyes”
Starving refugees from the Wetterau region were right outside the town, while the feasters wasted food.
Simplicissimus's observation of the stark contrast between the banquet's excess and the surrounding famine.