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{\Large\bf The Character of Gargantua as a Vehicle for Comedy}

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{\bf\large Marc Horowitz \\
Comedy --- 21.021 \\
March 4, 1992}

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In {\em The Birth and Early Upbringing of Gargantua}, Rabelais uses
the character of Gargantua as the subject of his humor.  He relates
the events surrounding Gargantua's childhood, using them as a vehicle
for many common kinds of humor.  The general theme of Rabelais's
stories is that of nature gone awry.  Gargantua does all the things a
normal child would, but he does them bigger, earlier, and faster.  The
reader laughs, knowing that what is happening is quite impossible.

The most common technique used by Rabelais is to take an everyday
situation, and exaggerate it.  In the first few stories, which relate
Gargantua's mother's pregnancy, many events are described which are
beyond everyday parameters.  Her pregnancy is eleven months long.  At
lunch the day she gives birth, there is a feast, at which the tripe of
367,014 oxen recently slaughtered are eaten.  Gargantua's mother
herself eats 1434 gallons of tripe.  Of course, baby Gargantua was no
less of an eater.  Each day, he required the milk of 17,913 cows.
Rabelais does not allow the reader to get used to this world of
exaggeration.  After mentioning several huge numbers, he moves back
into what we would consider reality, and declares that it is
``scandalous and offensive to pious ears'' (p.~72) to consider that it
might be possible for Gargantua's mother to generate over 58,000
gallons of breast milk.  He acheives humor by contradicting realit,
and acheives humor again by contradicting his own contradiction.
Then, Rabelais continues to contradict reality once more.  To make
Gargantua clothing, the tailors use several miles of cloth.  Gargantua
wears a gold chain weighing over 80 tons.  Exaggeration is a simple,
effective device of which Rabelais makes repeated use in his stories.

Gargantua at various times in the story performs some seemingly
physically impossible feats.  When he is born, rather than being born
through the normal channels, he ``entered the hollow vein and climbed
over the diaphragm to her shoulders $\ldots$ and there he took the left
hand path and came out by the left ear.'' (p.~69)  At this point, one
would expect the baby to start crying.  Instead Gargantua cries out,
in French (this is a French story), for a drink.  Rabelais's imagery
is very good, and we laugh, considering how absurd such actions are.

In describing Gargantua and his childhood, Rabelais finds many
opportunities to satirize the establishment, especially literature and
religion.  In many places, he seeks to add credibility to his story by
citing classic writers from Greek literature and the Bible.  For
instance, after describing the story of Gargantua's birth, he says
that ``a man of good sense, ought always to believe what anybody tells
him and whatever he believes in print'' (p.~69), then goes on to cite
the Bible as proof of this (p.~69).  Going through such effort to
``prove'' a story the author and the reader know is false is humorous.
On a deeper level, it causes the reader to laugh at the implication
that the Bible itself might contain some fallacies.  If the reader
still is not convinced, Rabelais cites a series of Greek myths and a
book of science to demonstrate that such a birth is possible.  In
between these literary references, he mentions some other books which
are less established, such as his own work, {\em On the Dignity of
Codpieces}.  By juxtaposing this book (whether it is an actual book,
or merely a fictional work with an amusing title), Rabelais pokes fun
at the literary establishment of which he is a part.

Another target of Rabelais's satire is the Church's educational
system.  The system of that period spent much time reading and
rereading books.  Lessons were repeated many times.  Of course, for
Gargantua, more is better.  He spends five years learning his
alphabet, and eleven years studying grammar and morals.  This system
is clearly not one of which Rabelais approves.  He makes his
disapproval clear by ridiculing how much time is wasted on the
simplest subjects.

Some of Gargantua's behavior is not impossible, but farfetched enough
that his actions are quite unlikely to happen.  At the age of five,
Gargantua has already reached sexual maturity and is flirting with his
nurses, while they flirt with him.  ``One of them would call it my
little spout, another my peg, another my coral-branch, another my
stopper, my plug, my centerbit, my ramrod, my gimlet, my trinket, my
rough-and-ready-stiff-and-steady, my prop, my little red sausage, my
little booby prize.'' (p.~80) These are hardly terms which one would
expect nurses to be using about a five-year-old.  Rabelais also tells
the story of how Gargantua has a serious argument with his father
about rump-wiping.  Gargantua discusses the relative merits of various
implements of rump-wiping, most of which one would never imagine using
for such a purpose.  These included ladies' clothing, various animals,
herbs, linens, furniture, and other various and sundry items.  Of
course, he tried paper, of which he says
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``He always leaves bait on his balls\\
Who his dirty arse with paper mauls.''
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Imagine, using paper to wipe one's rump.  This is another of
Rabelais's satirical ``absurd ideas'' among truly absurd ideas.  Of
course, Gargantua concludes that the best rump-wiper of all is a down
goose.  He further claims that the bliss of the Greek gods was not due
to any of the traditional mythological reasons, but to the fact that
they wiped their rumps with down gooses.  Again, Rabelais mentions
that this is ``also... the opinion of Master John of Scotland.''
Although this reference is meaningless to me, I assume that in
Rabelais's time, this would be an amusing reference to a non-authority
on ancient Greece.  Again, Rabelais is ridiculing literary classics.

The general pattern of all the comedy in this story is that of taking
everyday occurrences, and replacing them or combining them with
unusual occurrences.  Gargantua is seen as an example of everything a
normal person is, but more.  In describing what happens to Gargantua,
the standard flow of reality is distorted, revealing the humorous
aspects of Rabelais's society.

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