Model
Digital Document
Publisher
Florida Atlantic University
Description
William Blatty's The Exorcist can be effectively read
as a contemporary saint's life. A study of traditional
hagiography reveals how closely Blatty's novel conforms
to the traditional pattern. Father Karras, Blatty's
hero, confronts the mystery of evil in the demon Pazuzu
who has inhabited the body of an eleven-year-old girl.
Like the traditional saints, Karras exorcises the demon
only through personal sacrifice. In so doing he takes
the sins of the other upon him self and becomes a
living example of the "mystery of goodness." Like his
hagiographic predecessors, however, Karras must suffer
a fall into despair before achieving sainthood. In The
Exorcist this fall (ultimately fortunate) takes the form
of a tormenting religious skepticism and soul-killing
scientific rationalism. By the end of the novel, however,
modern rationalism has been redeemed by the
reemergence of a mystical good, which, in the traditional
Christian paradox, can only come into being through the
machinations of a mystical evil.
as a contemporary saint's life. A study of traditional
hagiography reveals how closely Blatty's novel conforms
to the traditional pattern. Father Karras, Blatty's
hero, confronts the mystery of evil in the demon Pazuzu
who has inhabited the body of an eleven-year-old girl.
Like the traditional saints, Karras exorcises the demon
only through personal sacrifice. In so doing he takes
the sins of the other upon him self and becomes a
living example of the "mystery of goodness." Like his
hagiographic predecessors, however, Karras must suffer
a fall into despair before achieving sainthood. In The
Exorcist this fall (ultimately fortunate) takes the form
of a tormenting religious skepticism and soul-killing
scientific rationalism. By the end of the novel, however,
modern rationalism has been redeemed by the
reemergence of a mystical good, which, in the traditional
Christian paradox, can only come into being through the
machinations of a mystical evil.
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