The Legend of St. Julian II
56-70

1.  56-57 “Clothed… his desire”   What fantasies and dreams does Julian have during his marriage?  Why do you think that the son of such different parents keeps having these fantasies?  Why is his wife unable to make him forget this desire?

2.  a. 57-61  “One evening…slaughter men”  Julian goes off to hunt and his parents arrive at the castle.  What happens to Julian during this hunt and how do you interpret it?  What does his sense of impotence in front of the animals have to say about his relation to his thirst for blood?

b.  61-64 “He went up…finally disappeared” In Sophocles play, Oedipus the King, Oedipus killed his father and slept with his mother.  Similarly, in Freud’s Oedipus complex, the jealous boy becomes hostile to his father and falls in love with his mother.  Conversely, in the “feminine Oedipus attitude,” the daughter falls in love with her father and becomes hostile to her mother, if for different reasons.  But Julian kills both his father and his mother, thinking that his wife has betrayed him with a rival. 

What do the actions of the animals tell us about how Julian feels about his own thirst for blood? 

With this double murder, what is Julian saying about the effects of both his parents, whom he has tried to imitate, on his sense of identity?

What is he trying to kill in himself?  Why has this effort been counterproductive?

3 .  64-67 “He went away…go on and on”  Describe Julian’s life as a monk.  What does Julian feel and desire when he goes down into the city?  Why does he want to kill himself and why is he unable to do so (bottom 65)?  How do his emotions, desires, and actions change when he decides to build and run a ferry?  66 Why do you think he turns to a life of serving others?

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 4.  67-70 “One night when…any part of the world”  Recount the story of Julian’s encounter with the leper.  Why do you think the leper makes such demands, including hideous ones, of Julian?  What must Julian do to be saved?  Psychologically, what does Julian’s self-condemnation and self-hate turn into at this moment?

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