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NOTES ON ISSUE 3: ALLUSIONS
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"To do unto
others as I would that they should do unto me."
Sissy's mistaken answer concerning the "first principle" of political economy alludes to both Matthew 7:12 ("Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets") and to the answer to a question in the catechism in the Book of Common Prayer. Her statement is, however, more commonly known as the Golden Rule.
"They kept him, many times,
from what did him real harm. And often and often of a night
he used to forget all his troubles in wondering whether the
Sultan would let the lady go on with the story or would have
her head cut off before it was finished."
Sissy refers to the famous story of Scheherazade, who in Arabian Nights told her husband, the Sultan, a story every night to save herself from the fate of his previous wives, each of whom he had beheaded after one night of marriage. The Arabian Nights were very popular among Victorian workers. Sissy, in relating their stories to her father to keep him from drinking, is in a sense reprising the role of Scheherazade in reverse.
Rachael
In the Bible, Rachel is the daughter of Laban, beloved of Jacob. Jacob serves seven years to win Rachel's hand, but Laban tricks him into marrying her sister Leah, and he must serve a further seven years before he can marry Rachel. The story is found in Genesis 29: 16-30.
the Smoke-serpents, submissive
to the curse of all that tribe, trailed themselves upon the
earth
The curse placed on serpents after Adam and Eve's expulsion
from the Garden of Eden is found in Genesis 3:14: "And the Lord
God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou
art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field;
upon they belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the
days of thy life."
the touch that could calm the wild
waters of his soul, as the uplifted hand of the sublimest love
and patience could abate the raging of the sea
In Matthew 8:24-7, Jesus calms a fearful storm; the passage
reads in part: "Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and
the sea; and there was a great calm." The allusion to this
passage implicitly compares Rachael to Christ, and underscores
the positive influence she has on Stephen.
competing Towers of Babel
The construction of the Tower of Babel, where God imposed the
different languages upon the earth, is described in Genesis
11:4-9.
Bibliographical information
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