"On the Nature of Laughter" ("De l'essence du rire"; 1855) by CharlesBaudelaire (2/3: The Birth of Laughter and Christianity)

 (photo source: http://citation-celebre.leparisien.fr/citations/38361)

In Part Four of "De l'essence du rire," Baudelaire again maintains that laughter comes from the mind that instills ridiculousness into a certain object and hence nothing is by its very nature laughable unless made a target to be laughed at. Accordingly, on a cultural level, all religious idols can be targets of laughs and ridicules for Christians. Of course, it is not that non-Christian beliefs and gods are laughable; it is the monotheist mindset of Christians that despises non-Christian communities by making fun of their beliefs and gods.

IV.

1.         Quant aux figures grotesques que nous a laissées l’antiquité, les masques, les figurines de bronze, les Hercules tout en muscles, les petits Priapes à la langue recourbée en l’air, aux oreilles pointues, tout en cervelet et en phallus, — quant à ces phallus prodigieux sur lesquels les blanches filles de Romulus montent innocemment à cheval, ces monstrueux appareils de la génération armée de sonnettes et d’ailes, je crois que toutes ces choses sont pleines de sérieux. Vénus, Pan, Hercule, n’étaient pas des personnages risibles. On en a ri après la venue de Jésus, Platon et Sénèque aidant. Je crois que l’antiquité était pleine de respect pour les tambours-majors et les faiseurs de tours de force en tout genre, et que tous les fétiches extravagants que je citais ne sont que des signes d’adoration, ou tout au plus des symboles de force, et nullement des émanations de l’esprit intentionnellement comiques. Les idoles indiennes et chinoises ignorent qu’elles sont ridicules ; c’est en nous, chrétiens, qu’est le comique.* (As for the grotesque figures handed down to us from antiquity: the masks, the bronze figurines, the all-muscular Hercules, the little figures of Priapus (whose tongue thrusts in the air, whose ears are pointed, and whose glans and penis stand out of proportion), the prodigious penes the fair daughters of Romulus (the founder and the first emperor of Rome) innocently ride upon (which are monstrous reproductive organs bedecked with bells and equipped and wings)--I believe that all these abound in profound seriousness. Venus, Pan, Hercules had never been laughable personages; they were laughed at only after the advent of Jesus, with the help of Plato and Seneca. I believe that ancient people were full of respect for drum majors and performers of all kinds of feats of strength. And, all the aforementioned extravagant artifacts were statues for worship, or, in addition, symbols of strength, but not intended for some comic relief the mind.  The Indian and Chinese goods do not know they are ridiculous; it is in us Christians that their ridiculousness exists.)**

*MLA7: Baudelaire, Charles Pierre. "De L'essence Du Rire." Charles Baudelaire: Curiosités Esthétiques. Wikisource, N. p, n.d. Web. 14 July 2018. <https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/De_l%E2%80%99essence_du_rire>.

MLA8: Baudelaire, Charles Pierre. “De L'essence Du Rire.” Charles Baudelaire: Curiosités Esthétiques, Wikisource, fr.wikisource.org/wiki/De_l%E2%80%99essence_du_rire.

** The translation is mine.