The Saint and the Hunchback
The Saint and the Hunchback - meaning Summary
Blessings, Pride, and Renown
This short dramatic dialogue stages a hunchback who laments lost renown and a saint who blesses him while asserting spiritual discipline. The hunchback imagines historical greats—Caesar, Alexander, Augustus, Alcibiades—held beneath his hump as metaphors for ego and memory. The saint responds with Christian charity and corrective punishment, treating these ambitions as tests. The hunchback thanks those who have blessed him, especially Alcibiades, blending gratitude with ironic self-awareness.
Read Complete AnalysesHunchback. Stand up and lift your hand and bless A man that finds great bitterness In thinking of his lost renown. A Roman Caesar is held down Under this hump. Saint. God tries each man According to a different plan. I shall not cease to bless because I lay about me with the taws That night and morning I may thrash Greek Alexander from my flesh, Augustus Caesar, and after these That great rogue Alcibiades. Hunchback. To all that in your flesh have stood And blessed, I give my gratitude, Honoured by all in their degrees, But most to Alcibiades.
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