To further demonstrate the
difference between faith,the ethical and the aesthetic Kierkegaard appeals to the story of Agnes
(Agnete) and the Merman. Kierkegaard makes some changes to the traditional
version of the story about the merman seducing a girl. In Kierkegaard's version
the merman is about to take Agnes to the deep when he sees a surrendering
devotion in her. Unable to violate her innocent faith in him, he withdraws from
his wicked intentions. Kierkegaard says that the merman too has a choice
between concealment and disclosure. If he remains hidden he repents but leaves
both him and loving Agnes unhappy, which will be a cause for new guilt for the
merman. Another choice the merman has in Kierkegaard's account is to try deceive
Agnes into not loving him anymore. This is appeal to what Kierkegaard calls the
demonic which, like faith,
stands outside the ethical,
making the merman an individual. The merman can also either trust divine will
to save Agnes or he can surrender himself to her.
Kierkegaard brings another story,
that of Tobias who wanted to marry Sarah who has already buried seven husbands
who were killed on their wedding night by a demon who loves her. For
Kierkegaard the real hero of the story is no Tobias but rather Sarah who did
not let her curse bury her. She takes responsibility for her fate as well as
Tobias' and in the process endures compassion which is a form of humiliation.
Like the merman, Sarah is a unique individual therefore stands outside of the
ethical. She chooses between the demonic who despises others of the divine
which is expresses in paradoxical faith.
The last example Kierkegaard brings
is that of Faust. For Kierkegaard Faust knows how to doubt by he also has
compassion for the world and that is why he keeps his doubts silent. The
ethical condemns this silence but Faust stands in his silence in absolute
relation to the absolute which turns doubt into guilt, casting Faust into a Paradox.
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