A Reading Of Robert Frost’s Dilemma Between Reason And Religion In A Masque Of Reason

A Masque of Reason is a poetic drama of Robert Frost. It presents a conversation on reason and religion held by Job, Thyatira, God and Satan on Judgment Day. With Job and Thyatira representing modern reasonable human, and God, Satan symbolizing traditional Christianity, the meeting among them reveals the mutual misunderstanding between human and gods, which, in effect, further reflects Frost’s own dilemma between reason and religion.Above all, Frost is a rationalist. Besides showing his rationalistic thinking in the passion for astronomy and modern evolution theory, Frost also put it into his poems. By probing into Job and Thyatira’s pursuit of reason when confronting God in A Masque of Reason, Frost makes the modern couple his speakers to utter his rationalistic opinions. Through comparing Frost’s characterization of Job with his own life, a conclusion can be drawn that Job’s desperate need for a concrete and logical answer to Job’s suffering, and his strong zeal for knowledge concerning design impart the same ideas that Frost has. Meanwhile, analyzing the similarities between Thyatira and Frost’s lovers in reality can lead to another conclusion that Thyatira’s persistent pursuit of gender equality and her good performance as a modern wife speak out Frost’s views about modern reasonable women.Frost is a theist as well. Apart from elaborating his true belief in God in real life and poems, Frost blends his serious exploration of religious belief into his depiction of how God and Satan defend their religious identities in A Masque of Reason. And the thesis finds that Frost’s religious thinking in real life bears some resemblance to God’s and Satan’s defendance for religion after reconsidering Frost’s lectures, interviews, and his characterizations of the two religious figures.Frost’s opposite ideas on both reason and religion lay firm foundations for analyzing his dilemma between the two. On one hand, Frost is a dualist in perceiving the structure of the world. In his eyes, the world is made up of matter and spirit, with matter representing reason and spirit religion. On the other hand, Frost is pragmatic, and his principle of utilizing reason and religion depends on how much benefit they can bring to him. The complex combination of dualism and pragmatism in Frost’s mind best illustrates his dilemma between reason and religion as is manifested in A Masque of Reason.Frost’s complex dilemma between reason and religion is mainly due to four paradoxical aspects. Firstly, Frost has been influenced differently by his parents in that his father is a rationalist while his mother is a Swdenborgian mystic. Secondly, Frost’s educational background, especially the philosophical enlightenment to the world structure in Harvard, provides him necessary conditions to become a dualist. Thirdly, the successive deaths of close family members in real life train Frost to be a practical person, while his friendships guide him to believe God in a religious way. At last, the changing social backgrounds always make Frost indecisive between two ways of comprehending the world. One comes from the traditional and religious atmosphere New England enjoys for very long; and the other is from the reasonable social trend of the time.To sum up, the research on the manifestation, essence and reasons of Frost’s dilemma between reason and religion through analysis of the four characters in A Masque of Reason and Frost’s life experience not only helps readers to understand better Frost’s thoughts and his works, but also provides an example for the fight between reason and religion universally existing in Americans’minds.