Text, Summary and Analysis of the story "The Face of Judas Iscariot" by Bonnie Chamberlain

Text of the story

    An old priest told me this story when I was very young. I have since wondered many times where it came from. No one has been able to tell me. Centuries ago a great artist was engaged to paint a mural for the cathedral in a Sicilian town. The subject was the life of Christ. For many years the artist laboured diligently, and finally the painting was finished except for the two most important figures : the Christ Child and Judas Iscariot.

    He searched far and wide for models for those two figures. One day while walking in an old part of the city he came upon some children playing in the street. Among them was a 12-year-old boy whose face stirred the painter’s heart. It was the face of an angel—a dirty one, perhaps, but the face he needed. The artist took the child home with him, and day after day the boy sat patiently until the face of the Christ Child was finished. But the painter still found no one to serve as model for the portrait of Judas.

    For years, haunted by the fear that his masterpiece would remain unfinished, he continued his search. The story of the unfinished masterpiece spread afar, and many men, fancying themselves of wicked countenance, offered to act as models for the face of Judas. But in vain the old painter looked for a face that would serve to show Judas as he had envisioned him—a person botched by life, enfeebled by surrender to greed and lust.

    Then one afternoon as he sat in the tavern over his daily glass of wine, a gaunt and tattered figure staggered across the threshold and fell upon the floor. “Wine, wine,” he begged. The painter lifted him up, and looked into a face that startled him. It seemed to bear the marks of every sin of mankind. Greatly excited, the old painter helped the profligate to his feet. “Come with me,” he said, “and I will give you wine, and food, and clothing.” Here at last was the model for Judas.

    For many days and parts of many nights the painter worked feverishly to complete his masterpiece. As the work went on a change came over the model. A strange tension replaced the stuporous languor, and his bloodshot eyes were fixed with horror on the painted likeness of himself. One day, perceiving his subject’s agitation, the painter paused in his work. “My son, I’d like to help you,” he said. “What troubles you so?” The model sobbed and buried his face in his hands. After a long moment he lifted pleading eyes to the old painter’s face.

“Do you not remember me? Years ago I was your model for the Christ Child.”

Summary

An old priest once shared a story with me. It was about a painter who was commissioned to create a mural for a cathedral in Sicily and the mural depicts the life of Christ. The artist struggled to find suitable models for the Christ Child and Judas Iscariot. Eventually, he found a 12-year-old boy with an angelic face to pose as the Christ Child, but he had difficulty finding a model for Judas. Many men offered themselves, but none fit the vision of Judas as a person corrupted by life.

    One day, a dull and dishevelled man stumbled into the painter's tavern begging for wine. The painter saw in his face the embodiment of every sin, and knew he had found his model for Judas. As the painting progressed, the model became increasingly disturbed by his own likeness in the portrait. Eventually, he revealed to the painter that he had once been the model for the Christ Child years ago.

Analysis

The story explores the themes of redemption and the human capacity for both good and evil. The painter's realisation that the same person had posed as both the Christ Child and Judas highlights the complexity of human nature and the potential for transformation. Despite the man's past sins, there is a sense of compassion and understanding in the painter's response to his distress.

    The narrative underscores the idea that individuals are not defined solely by their actions or appearances, but rather by the capacity for change and growth. It serves as a powerful reminder of the interconnectedness of good and evil within each person, and the possibility for redemption and forgiveness.

Text, Summary and Analysis of the Poem 'In The Country Cottage' by Nissim Ezekiel

Introduction to the Author
Nissin Ezekiel (1924-2004) is a pioneer in modern Indian English poetry. His role as translator, editor, playwright and reviewer has contributed significantly in shaping modernist poetry in India. The modernist movement of the 1950s and 60s was known for its precise use of language, well crafted images, ironic stance, treatment of sexuality and male-female relationship. Ezekiel is often described as the father of the modernist movement and he writes introspective, ironic and humorous poems of self exploration and self formation. He has brought out seven collections of poetry; they are A Time to Change and Other Poems (1952), Sixty Poems (1953), The Unfinished Man (1960), The Exact Name (1965), Hymns in Darkness (1976), and the Sahitya Akademy award-winning Latter-day Psalms (1982).

Text of the Poem
The night the lizard came
our indolence was great;
we went to bed before
our eyes were heavy, limbs
prepared to stretch or love.

Immobile, tense and grey,
he taught us patience as
he waited for the dark.
From time to time we could
not help but glance at him

and learn again that he
was more alive than us
in silent energy,
though his aim was only
the death of cockroaches.

When we awoke the next
morning we found as we
expected that the job
was done, clean and complete,
and the stout lizard gone.

Outline of the Poem
The speaker of the poem comments that their idleness was great on the day the lizard came out. They went to bed early even though they were not physically exhausted. A sense of purposelessness keeps them inert and passive. In the second stanza, the speaker offers a detailed description of the lizard. It is described as ’immobile’, ‘tense’ and ‘grey’ and its patient waiting for the dark is highlighted. It seems that it explicitly resembles the humans in the poem as they are also immobile. Later on, the humans in the cottage realise that the lizard is far more alive than them. It possesses silent energy which humans lack, though its aim is only the death of cockroaches. The next day, they wake up to realise that the lizard has eaten up all the cockroaches neatly and disappeared.

Analysis of the Poem
    In the poem, the poet contrasts animal and human worlds. The humans in the poem are idle and purposeless and they seek refuge from the toils of existence. It is common in modernist literature to have characters who fail to identify the meaning of their lives and resort to inactivity. The humans in the poem do not have any noble notions on the greatness of man and also fail to connect with their animal instincts. Cut off from the roots of tradition, modern man is caught between purposelessness of modern life and absence of instincts. These render humans helpless and passive and they resemble the Lotos-Eaters.
    Interestingly, the lizard is presented in similar terms in the second stanza. It is described as ‘immobile’ like the humans, ‘tense’, ‘grey’ and ‘patient’. It waits for the prey in the dark and teaches humans patience. Though the lizard resembles the humans in its immobility and patient waiting, the humans gradually realise that its movements are directed by instincts. The ‘silent energy’ refers to the animal instincts the lizard possesses and its actions emerge from the primal forces whereas humans are separated from their instincts. Though the poet acknowledges the limits of instincts to ‘the death of cockroaches’, the humans in the poem grope in the dark and fail to perform any task neatly. The poem underscores the utter lack of convictions human beings are endowed with and the resultant inactivity. This is contrasted with neat and complete actions carried out by the lizard. In short, the poem contrasts the instinctive and energetic life of the lizard with that of the inactive lives of the humans.
    Nissim Ezekiel has effectively featured many animals and birds such as scorpion, crows, cats, squirrels, monkeys, crocodiles etc.. in his poems. The introduction of Indian flora and fauna has strengthened his articulations of Indian life with an exquisite indian idiom. The comparison of a lizard with a human is also very striking as both the animals can leave their tails and survive!. It is also interesting that lizards are associated with somany superstitious stories in India.