Carnival Plays: Significance of the Priest

Heinz: "That priest is a shrewd man."  (The Farmer with the Blur)

In The Stolen Bacon, The Farmer with the Blur, and The Grand Inquisitor in the Soup, the priest character fulfills a different purpose than typically expected of a religious figure.  The priests have hidden agendas and are more focused on themselves than the lives of those around them.

Hans Sachs is making quite a statement with these character types.  He is portraying the church as deceitful and self-serving.  Although priests are usually depicted as upstanding citizens with high morals, Sachs is asserting that priests steal from those around them and are not interested in the welfare of others.  This could be commentary on the society at the time when these plays were written.  Perhaps Sachs felt strongly that the clergy were being deceptive, and instead of saying it outright, he disguised his beliefs as  carnivalesque plays. 

In The Grand Inquisitor in the Soup, Simon is described as a simple-minded man, and he manages to outsmart the Inquisitor and not pay a fine.  To me, this is representative of the common man overcoming the oppressive church.  (I’m not saying that the church in general is oppressive, but that is how I am interpreting Sachs’ portrayal.)  Sachs could have been encouraging his readers to not fall victim to a priest’s scheme for money, but instead to stand up for themselves.  On the other hand, the priests could be representative of the government and its lack of compassion toward the citizens.

These plays made me think about a few questions:  Why does society expect a priest to have higher morals than the common citizen?  Do the priests in these plays begin their profession with a selfless attitude, then slowly transition to one of selfishness, or is the selfishness present all along?  Are there any upstanding and honorable priests mentioned in other carnivalesque plays?