A Discussion of Rabelais' "Gargantua and Pantagruel"

Paper Summary:

This paper takes a look at Francois Rabelais' life and how his upbringing influenced his work. The work examined in this paper is "Gargantua and Pantagruel". Firstly a description of his upbringing in a historical context is provided and then a concise look at the novel. The characters are analyzed and contrasted.

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"Because to laugh is proper to the man.? ? Francois Rabelais.
Francois Rabelais was a satirist. Throughout his life, he was bombarded with Christian ideals and ideas, yet his works certainly ridicule many aspects of the Christian faith. Francois Rabelais was born in 1483 at Chinon in Touraine. This date, as well as many other details of his life, is in dispute by scholars all over the world. Some researchers believe that his father was an apothecary while others believe that Rabelais? father was an innkeeper. Francois began his studies with the Benedictines but eventually joined the Franciscans where he stayed fifteen years and received his Holy Orders. He later found the convent was against the studies of the Renaissance that he favoured, so with permission from the Pope, he left it. At his new convent home he continued his study of medicine in 1530. By the following year, he was a professor of anatomy at Lyons as well as head physician at Pont-du-Rhone hospital. During his time as head physician, he fathered a child that died young. In 1534 he began his time with Cardinal du Bellay as a physician. He received an indult from Pope Paul III that allowed him to practice medicine and absolved him from his former infraction of fathering a child while in the priesthood."

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