life of galileo by brecht fourth year notes notes from Tishreen University for assessing understanding and analysis of the play PDF

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life of galileo by brecht fourth year notes notes from Tishreen University for assessing understanding and analysis of the play...

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Scene 6 [p. 43] BARBERINI: The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down … GALILEO: I stood on a ship and I cried out: the shore is moving away ... BARBERINI: What one sees, Bellarmin, namely the constellations revolving, need not be true Galileo has a conversation with the two cardinals Bellarmin and Barberini in the party. This scene introduces the future Pope Cardinal Barberini. He is friendly with Galileo unlike the other cardinal. He sympathizes with Galileo because he is a mathematician like him. Barberini says that what one sees “need not be true” This means that right seeing is not only about seeing facts, but it is indirect. It needs to be logical. [p. 43] BELLARMIN: If star-charts based on a new hypothesis simplify navigation for our sailors…

Cardinal Bellarmin is addressing Galileo. The Cardinals want to stop Galileo’s theory because it is against the teachings of the Church. However, they are going to allow the sailors to use Galileo’s star-charts in navigation because they want to discover new lands and colonize them for the sake of money. The Cardinal is pragmatic. Bellarmin’s words reflect the emergence of the capitalist system which is going to destroy the feudal system. [p. 43] BARBERINI : ‘Wise men lay up knowledge.’ Proverbs. GALILEO: ‘But a broken spirit drieth the house.’ Pause. ‘Doth not truth cry aloud?’

The two Cardinals and Galileo quote from the Bible in their conversation. The Bible as a book has an ambiguous role. It is an instrument of seeing but it assumes a negative role when the Cardinals quote from it. They use the Bible as a tool to control people. On the other hand, it assumes a positive role when Galileo uses it. The Cardinals quote from the Bible to suppress Galileo’s theory, while he quotes some biblical proverbs to support his theory. Galileo admires the Bible and he has no intention of destroying it. Galileo quotes a biblical proverb that says, “He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him.” This means that if people were hungry and poor, they will curse the church and the Cardinals because they denied them knowledge. Galileo wants people to be active. The Cardinals, however, ask people to be humble. Barberini quotes a proverb from the Bible that says, “Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burned?” This proverb is used to warn Galileo because it mentions fire and burning which indicates the punishment by burning on the stake of the scientists who were considered heretics by the church. [p. 43] BARBERINI: You know her origin? Two little boys...received milk and shelter from a she-wolf. Barberini talks about the origin of Rome. He tells Galileo that the two brothers who built the city of Rome were fed and offered shelter by the she-wolf. The “she-wolf” is a religious reference. It is a symbol of greed. So Rome was built on greed. The Cardinal is not ashamed to say that greed rewards him with physical pleasures. Galileo, being in Rome, is already greedy and now he is controlled by the she-wolf. The “she-wolf” is a reference to Dante’s Divine Comedy. Inferno starts with Dante losing his way in a dark forest. When he tries to get out of the forest he

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is faced with 3 animals which are metaphors for sins. For Dante, greed is the most dangerous of all sins. It caused the corruption of the church. [p. 45] BELLARMIN: Signor Galilei, tonight the Holy Office … GALILEO: But the facts? I understood that the astronomers … Bellarmin tells Galileo that the Holy Pope said that the teachings of Copernicus and Galileo are wrong and that as long as those teachings go against the Bible then they are heretic. Galileo reminds Bellarmin that the chief astronomer of the Vatican has confirmed that Galileo’s observations are correct. The opinion of the theologian Bellarmin is similar to the Pope’s opinion. Galileo is annoyed because all his observations are ignored by the Pope and the cardinals. This is evidence that the church controlled science and people’s thoughts. [p. 45] BELLARMIN: we cannot know, but we may research.

Cardinal Bellarmin assures Galileo that he can continue his scientific research. The Pope and the Cardinals allow him to invent machines that would make them earn more money. However, if his theory challenged the religious authority of the Church or the landowners, then it is heretic. This attitude of the Cardinals exposes their hypocrisy. They accept Galileo’s observations, but they want to isolate Galileo’s facts in order not to have a direct impact upon the daily life of people. They do not want him to make the poor people understand their harsh situation. This is why they want science to be written in Latin. The church has monopoly over science and the Cardinals have religious authority on scientific research. This scene is ironic. Galileo is talking about facts, while Bellarmin considers Galileo’s observations as minor details. Bellarmin is very shrewd in picking his words. He says, “we cannot know, but we may research”. This shows the dichotomy of faith and doubt. In this scene, Galileo has the sympathy of the audience because he is exposing the hypocrisy of the church. [p. 47] Virginia is at the party in the house of Cardinal Bellarmin in Rome. She is having a conversation with the Inquisitor. Virginia is religious and naïve. When she was a little girl, she was interested in science, but her father alienated her from science. Now, she does not know anything about her father’s teachings. She is happy for being engaged to Ludovico. [p. 47] THE INQUISITOR: It will amuse your father when he hears that you have in fact learnt from me all you know about the constellations, my child. THE INQUISITOR: some gentlemen of the Holy Office have recently been almost shocked by this new picture of the universe, compared to which our accepted one …

Virginia’s first encounter with science is happening from the side of the Inquisitor who represents the religious side, and not from the side of her father who is a scientist and astronomer. It is a paradox or an irony that a religious man is teaching the scientist’s daughter. He is making fun of Galileo. He is telling her about the old view of the world. He is talking in an attractive and persuasive manner. Galileo is cold with her unlike the Inquisitor who is kind to her. [p. 47] THE INQUISITOR: I am happy to know that you will continue to be close to your father [p. 48] THE INQUISITOR: I wonder whether I know your Father Confessor?

The Inquisitor plays the role of the father figure. He is manipulating Virginia. She is an easy prey in his hands. He wants to recruit her as a spy against her father. He is brainwashing her. He is using

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her as a tool to achieve his goals. She believes him when he tells her that her father is wrong and not trustworthy. She trusts the Inquisitor because he represents the Pope and the Pope represents God. He is investigating her about the name of her confessor. He is reminding her that her salvation is in his hands. This conversation between Virginia and the Inquisitor marks the beginning of the change in her character. The Inquisition is the church’s tool to control people. Brecht uses the Inquisition to refer to the House of Un-American Activities Committee. Scene 7 The Little Monk believes in Galileo’s theory but he is afraid of its implications. He is a mathematician. He has reason and common sense. His words express his fear. He understands the threat that Galileo’s teachings pose on the Church and the landowners. His speech shows that the Church keeps science away from people and that the peasants prefer to be religious. [p. 49] THE LITTLE MONK: They were simple people. They knew all about olivetrees, but very little else. The Little Monk is telling Galileo about his parents who are poor peasants. He says that the peasants are being brainwashed by the priest to accept their miserable situation. The religious authority and the secular authority, the cardinals and the landowners, are using the Bible as a tool to enslave the peasants. So the Bible assumes a negative role. The priest tells them that their suffering is part of God’s divine plan and that Man is the center of the Universe and every thing is in order. This scene reflects the Marxist view of religion that it makes people tolerate their suffering by providing them with the idea that they will be rewarded in the afterlife. [p. 49] THE LITTLE MONK: What would my people say if they learned from me that they were really on a little bit of rock that ceaselessly revolves in empty space round another star …

The Little Monk is voicing his own worries to Galileo that if he tells his own people that the earth is just a rock in this vast universe, they will feel insignificant and their pain will be useless. They will feel that there is no God looking after them, and that they are not contributing in God’s divine plan. So if someone told them that God is not represented by the Pope, they will rebel and riot because they spent all their life uselessly. They will feel cheated and betrayed by the church. [p. 50] GALILEO: Virtues are not linked with misery, my friend. If your people were prosperous and happy, they could develop the virtues derived of prosperity and happiness.

Galileo is exposing the hypocrisy and corruption of the church to the Little Monk. He tells him that the peasants are working on the land that is full of grapes, but they are hungry because these grapes are not theirs. Brecht refers to a Marxist idea that people need not be poor in order to be virtuous and blessed. Virtues are not linked with misery; people can be virtuous and live in prosperity and happiness. The church gives them the example of an oyster that goes through pain in order to make a pearl. The church convinces the poor people that they should suffer in order to be rewarded at the end. [p. 50] GALILEO: the authority’s offer me wine pressed with the sweat of their brows …

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Galileo is addressing the Little Monk. He tells him that the church is bribing him. Cardinal Bellarmin offered him a clock in order to keep silent about his theory and not to teach it. Galileo is revealing the hypocrisy of the church. He says that the wine that the church is giving him is pressed “with the sweat of their brows”; he means that the bribes of the church come from the hard work of the peasants. Those peasants are human beings; they are created in the image of God but they are being enslaved by that religious authority. Galileo tells the Little Monk that if he stopped his teaching, it will be for the basest of reasons just for food and to stay away from torture. This is a foreshadowing because later on Galileo is going to recant his theory and submit to the authority of the church. Although Galileo believes that the man who hides the truth is a criminal, at the end he makes himself a criminal to avoid being tortured. He ends up being a traitor to the poor people. By keeping silent, he will allow the church to keep oppressing them. He is also a hypocrite since he enjoys the money that the landowners and the church give him. Scene 8 [p. 53] GALILEO: I say to you: he who does not know the truth is merely an idiot. But he who knows it and calls it a lie, is a criminal. Galileo is addressing Mucius who used to be one of his students. Mucius comes to show Galileo a book that he has written in which he tries to prove that the Copernican teaching about the rotation of the earth is wrong. Galileo is angry with Mucius and kicks him out of his house because Mucius submitted to the Church. Galileo tells Mucius that the man who hides the truth is a criminal. This sentence is a foreshadowing because at the end Galileo makes himself a criminal when he hides the truth to avoid being tortured. So he ends up being a traitor to science and the working class. [p. 60] LUDOVICO: Don’t entirely forget that these unfortunates, in their animallike condition, get everything confused. They really are animals.

Ludovico represents the feudal system. He is warning Galileo about his theory. He is telling him that the peasants only think of salvation. They are not interested in their liberty. They are only worried about breeding and work. They will be offended if Galileo goes against the church without being punished. He reminds Galileo that the church and the landowners oppress the peasants in order to give Galileo the things which he is enjoying. Ludovico is describing the peasants as animals. When they get lazy, his mother brings a dog and beats it in front of them in order to remind them that they will be punished like dogs. [p. 61] GALILEO: I could write for the many in the language of the people, instead of in Latin for the few. For these new ideas we need people who work with their hands.

Galileo is addressing Ludovico. The “language of the people” is the vernacular. Galileo explains to Ludovico that the church monopolizes knowledge and science by using Latin which is the language of the elite. The church deprives the working classes of knowledge. The church and the landowners are afraid of Galileo’s theory because they will lose their authority. Galileo defends the working classes. He says that the aristocrats see the bread on the table but they are not interested in how it is baked. They just thank God for it. The baker is the one who is interested in how it is made. So the peasants, workers, ship makers and mariners are genuinely interested in science because their lives are going to be changed by science. Galileo believes in educating the common people because knowledge can set them free. This is a Marxist idea about the moral obligation of the scientist who is responsible for enlightening the people and making their life better.

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[p. 61] LUDOVICO: You will always be the slave of your own infatuations. Excuse me to Virginia; I think it is better not to see her now. Ludovico has been engaged to Virginia for eight years and he is postponing the marriage because he wants to make sure that Galileo renounces his ideas about science. He wants his future wife to come from a pious family and that Galileo is not considered as a heretic by the Church. Ludovico breaks his engagement with Virginia because of her father’s ideas. Galileo does not allow Virginia to fulfill her thirst for knowledge or her role as a mother. He is an obstacle in her future. She is mistreated by all the men around her. She is oppressed in this patriarchal society. This cold attitude of Galileo towards her will contribute to her change from a dutiful daughter who loves and supports her father into an oppressor who controls him at the end of the play....