5. Alas, why is it people so dispraise God’s providence or Fortune and her ways,

Question

5. Alas, why is it people so dispraise God’s providence or Fortune and her ways, That oft and variously in their scheme Includes far better things than they could dream? One man desires to have abundant wealth, Which brings about his murder or ill-health; Another, freed from prison as he’d willed, Comes home, his servants catch him, and he’s killed. Infinite are the harms that come this way; We little know the things for which we pray. Our ways are drunkard ways—drunk as a mouse; A drunkard knows quite well he has a house, But how to get there puts him in a dither, And for a drunk the way is slip and slither. Such is our world indeed, and such are we. How eagerly we seek felicity, Yet are so often wrong in what we try! A.) This passage praises the ability of humans to choose their fate, just as Palamon is able to do. B.) This passage uses the metaphor of the drunken mouse to illustrate Theseus’s desire for victory and glory at any cost. C.) This passage implicitly criticizes Arcite for praying to the wrong God and unknowingly choosing his fate of death, even though none of it was his fault. D.) This passage suggests that we can knows the ways of God if we pray hard enough, just as Palamon does in the temple. E.) This passage explicitly criticizes Palamon for thinking Emily was a goddess and not letting Arcite have her, since he knew she was a genuine woman, not a goddess.

Explanation / Answer

C.) This passage implicitly criticizes Arcite for praying to the wrong God and unknowingly choosing his fate of death, even though none of it was his fault.

Arcite prayed to Mars only for victory against Palamon in the fight but he forgot to pray for the hand of Emily in marriage thus praying to the war of God and not to the God of love and praying for victory in the battle and not praying to marry Emily.

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