On "Fears and Scruples" by Robert Browning

著者 KOIKE Naoshi
journal or Memoirs of the Muroran Institute of
publication title Technology. Cultural science
volume 6
number 1
page range 1-9
year 1967-07-10
URL http://hdl.handle.net/10258/3301
 Oh“
Fea
rsandS
cru
ple
s"byR
obe
rtB
row
nin
g

Naoshi Koike

Abstract
“Fea
rsandS c
ruples"isapoemi n“Pacchi
arottoandOtherPoems"byBrowning
187
6 . Inspiteoft h
ef ac
tt hatitisv e
rynoteworthya sar el
igiou
spoem，somehow
peoplei ngenerald on
'tpaymucha tte
ntiontot hepoem. Thepoemc onsi
stsof
onlyt welves t
anzaswithf orty
-eightlin
es. Itmightn otber e
cognize
da soneo f
Browning'sreligi
ouspoemsa sdeepa sis“A Deathi ntheD esert"nora sgrandas
“Saul"
. Fromt hes ta
ndpointo fthed epthandv a
luablene
sso fitsteach
ings，how-
ever，itisn ota sinsi
gni五canta stobe e xcludedfromh i
so therrelig
iouspoems.
Nay，itwouldber a
therh igherinranko fthant hey
.
comparest h
iss il
enceoft heD ivin
eBeingw itht h
ato faman'sf ri
end，whowrote
himmanyv aluedl e
ttes，b
r uto t
herwisek eptalooffromh im. Itiss uggestedby
expertstha
tt helett
ersar巴 fo
rger
ies. Themanl oveso n
. I tisthensugg巴stedth
at
hi
sf rien
di sactingasas pyuponhim，s e
eshimr eadi
lyenoughandknowsa llh巴
does，and some day w ill show himselft op un
ishh im. Butt h
isistomaket he
fri
e n
damonster! Hush!-What i ft h
isf ri
end happen to be-God?"l) Here1
wouldl ik
et ot h
inko fitsm en
talityo fthef ai
thw ithe ac
hs tan
za.

I
.
Here's my c
as. Of old 1used t
e o love
him
This same unseenfriend，before 1knew:
Dream therewas none l
ike him，none above
him，
一
Wake t
o hope and t
rus
t my dreamwas t
rue

Some one soliloquizes-I have a f

rie
nd. 1used t
o love him even
though 1 saw him notnor knew. M yknowledge concerning himwas
t
ha n a dream. However，he i
ti s the highest man and nobodyi
sabove
him. He i
s without p
ara
lle
linh
ist
or. Awakenedfrom the dream，1
y
hoped and believed t
hat my knowledge i
n the dream would b巴 t
rue
.
(
)
-
2 N
aos
hi Koike

Although1kn巴w himi nt h巴 dream，itsoundst omea st ruth，something

m mys plnt
.
Whoi st h巴 unseenf ri
end? I tist heobjectoft h巴 fai
thi nt hemind
oft her eligiousb el
i ev
er. If Jesus Christ i
s mentioned，i tisb rie
f and
tot hep oin
t. 1d idn
' tm巴e thima syet，1havenotseenhime ither. But
1l ov
edhim，andnows t
illlovehim;1b el
ievedhimandnows t
illbe li
eve
him. Why? Becausehei st hesaviouro fmankindandh ish olinessand
love had been shown. Some men would maybe b elit
tl巴 ita s amere
dream. But，f r me，i
o ts truckmyh earta stru
th. 1hadt ot hi n
ko fthe
dreama st ru
e. Hes aid:“ Blesseda r
et hosewhohavenotseenandy et
bel
ieve. 2) One o
円 fh isd iscip
l巴ss ai: “
d Nowf aithist h
ea s suranceo f
things hopedf or，thec o
nvictionoft hings notseen.内 ) Ifi tbes o，my
wayo fb elievi
ngdoes notn ece
ssari
lyf ollowas uperstiti
on，nay，i tmay
be int heo riginal nature off ai
th. Through t hedream，t he heavenly
spi
rit might have descended t os h
inei n my whole s pi
rit
. Pauls a
id:
“No onecan s a
y '‘Jesusis Lord'，exceptbyt he Holys pir
it.川 )

1
1
.
Loved1noth s1
i 巴tt
ersf
ullofbeauty?
Noth isa c
tio
nsfamousfar andwide?
Absent，hewouldknow1vow 巴dh imduty;
Present，hewouldfin
d m巴 athisside

He is my unseen f ri
end，but iti s not t
hat1knownothing about
him. My knowledge o f him is not limitedw ith
int hati nth edream.
Lettersfromhima rewonderful，howf ullofbeautytheya r
e! Hist ea
ch 同

ingsa relef
ti nthef o
urg ospelsbyh isfo urdisc
iples，1r elishthem，and
enjoy and l o
ve them. His a ct
ionsarea lsow rit
teni nt hesame gospels
well known i nt heworld，whichurgedmef o
llowhim. Hiswords and
actionsareholyanduniqueandmademeimagineonet h
ingi nhimt hat
isu n
earthly
. Evers inc
et hec re
ationo ft heworldh isi nv
isib
lenature，
namely，h ise terna
l power and d eiy，hasbeenc
t le
a r
lyp erceiv巴dint he
thingst h
athavebeenmade.) Eventhoughhei
5
sab sent，heknowst hat
1f irmlybeli巴vehimandvowedmyself t ohim. I fhe comes t o me，he
will五ndt h
a t1w il
l throwawaye verythingt obea th iss id
e. Myh eart
i
s longingt
o dos
o・

(
2)
 On“F
ear
sandS
cru
ple
s"byR
obe
rtBrowning 3

I
II
.
P
lea
san
tfancy!f
or1hadbutl
ett
ers，
Onlyknewofa c
tio
nsbyhearsay:
Heh
imse
lfwasbusiedwithmyb e
tters;
Whatofthat? Myturnmustcomesomed
ay.

Of h
is words and a
ctios，1 have not d
n ire
ctly seennorhea
rd. 1
onlylmowthemthrought h
eGospelswhicha rewri
ttenbyo t
her
s. Th巴y

a
rea
llh
ear
say
. C
rit
ics may say t
hat myf
ait
hisf
anc
y. Yes，fancy;
i
tis，however，p
lea
san
tf anc
y. lnthi
sp le
asa
ntfancyheisth巴 owner
fmysoul
o . 1amh isse
rva
nt.
"J Inhimal
lmys tr
uggle
sandworrieswi
ll
be melted away. 1 am not a
fra
ido
fcr
iti
cs. He i
sso busywithmy
b
ett
erst
hathe c
an'
tcome t
o menow. l
tisa
llr
igt，1haveno r
h igh
t
to complain o
fit
. Soon myturnw
ill come andhew
illsu
日 l
ycomet
o
me. Thus，1am comforted

I
V.
“
Someday"proving-noday! H
ere
'st
he
Pu
zzle.
Passedandpassedmy t urnis. Whycomplain?
He's so busied! If1could butmuzzle
Peo
pl e'
sf ool
ishmouths tha
tg iveme
pain!

J
esu
sCh
ris
t must come t
o me someday which 1 e
xpe
ct. But
ye
ars passed and hehasnot come to me y
et，andso 1amperp
lexe
d.
Has t
hesomedaychangedi nto no day? 1began t omyself，
omuttert
but1checki t，because he i
ss obus
y. The onlythingthatpainsmei s
the abusing mouth o fc r
iti
cs. They laugh a
t my tr
ust and devotion
toward him i n scorn a
s he hasnot come. 1wouldsomehowo r other
muzzl巴 the
irmouths.

V
.
“
Letters? (
円hea
rthem!
)
" You ajudge o
f
writing?

(
3)
4 N
aos
hiKoike

Ask t
hee
xpe
rts!-Howtheyshake t
he
head
O
'ert he
sec
har
acters，yourf
rie
nd'
sind
iti
ngー

Cal
lthemforgeryfromA toZ!

His t e
a chi
ngsa r e recorded i
nt heG osp
els. Theya re God治 l ivin
g
words f o
rt hebeliev
ers. “ Thewords t ha
t1sayt oyou1do notspeak
onmyowna uthority;butt heFatherwhod w
ellsi nmedoesh isworks."
7)
Theya re; however，c ri
tics ont heBible，andt heirabusei s sharp，they
fancythemselves t o be cri
ticalstude
nts，a na
lysingt hefourGospelsand
conclude thatt heg r e
aterp or
tionis notb eli
evable".t
hend espisingbe-
lie
verso fhi slett
ers. Theyw i
llsay，“ thebelive
rs must askt hee xpe
rts
on theira uthority，and they would say，t hel ette
rsa re forgery from
beginning toe nd
. " 1n t his manner，they would t hreat
ent hefaithof
beli
everso fl e
ss knowledge.

V
I.
“
Actions? Where's your c
ert
ainproof"
(
the
ybo
the
r)
“He，o
fal
lyouf
inds
ogr
eatandgood，
He，heonly，c lai
msths，t
i hat，t
h巴 ot
her
Action-claimedbymen，am u
ltitu
de?
"

For thebe l
iversofJ esus，hi
sa cti
onsa reof coursev al
uable. His
acti
ons weres og o
d-lik
et ha
t1b e
liev
edhim. “ 1ami nt heFather and
theFatheri n me; o rels
eb eli
eve mefort hesake oft heworks them-
sel
v回九) “God sol ovedt h
e world that he gave his only Son，that
whoeverb el
ievesinhimshouldnot p erishbuthave e ternallif
e.
'培)
Cri
tics，however，bothering me，say， “you have no certain proof
concerninghisacti
ons
. Thea ction
smightbemerel ea
rnin
gbyh earsay.
Therea resomanyg r
eatandgoodmeni ntheworld，amongthemmight
besuchag reatandgoodmeni nth巴 world，amongthemmightbesuch
ag reatand good man ashe，t hatyoucannotdrawac on
clusion. You
thinkofhimo nly，andforgetalloth
ers. Isitnotrashandt hought
less? "

(4)
 On“F
ear
sandS
cru
ple
s"b
yRo
ber
tBrowning 5

V
II.
1can simplywish1mightr efu
teyou，
Wishmyf rie
ndwould，-byaword，a
wink，一
Bidme s topthatfooli
shmouth，-youbrute
you!
日ek eeps a
bsent，-why1cannot t
hink
.

Cri
tic
s annoy and tr
ouble me. 1 may notbea b
let ore
futethe
ir
views mys巴l
f. However，when he i n whom 1b e
liev巴 bi
dsmet ostop
thei
rf ool
ish mouths，1 w
ill be ab
leto break a
llt h
eirarguments，a
s1
wil
l be given thestre
ngthfromhim. Theysayhew illnotcome，but
1b e
lieveHew il
lappearbeforelong. Hew il
ls u
relycomewithh isgr
eat
author
itysomeday，andhew illbringnewl i
fetot hosewho obey，and
d
est
ruc
tio
ntot
hos
ewho go a
gai
nsthim.

VIII
.
Never mind! Thoughf o
olish
ness mayf lou
t
me，
One t h
ing'
ss u
re enough: '
ti
sn e
ither
fro
st，
No，nor五r e，s
hallfre
ez巴 orburnfrom
outme
Thanksf ortruth-thoughf al
sehood，gained
thoughlos
t.

A fee
lingofg r
atitu
detowards trut
hi s burninginmybosom. No
onecand estroymythanksf ort h
ee t
ernaltr uthshownbyJ es
us. Even
thought h
ec r
itic
sfloutme，thissenseo fthanksc an
'tbebroken. Even
though snow and fro
sta r
ef ro
zen，theyc an
' tf r
eezemyt h
anks. Even
thoughragingf l
amesgetangry，th巴ycan'tburnmyt h
ank
s. Myf eeli
ng
ofthanksisalwaysshin
ingbrightl
yregardl
esso fwhetherfal
sehoo
dgai
ns
orloses
. By f ait
h we understand t
h a
tt he world wascreat
edbythe
word of God，s ot h
at what i
s seen was madeout o fth
ingswhichdo
notappear
.10)

(
ラ)
6 N
aos
hiKoik巴

I
X.
A
llmydays，1
'1
1go t
hes
oft
lir，s
e adl
ier，
Fort hatdream'ssake! Howf org
etthe
t
hril
l
Throughandthroughme a s1thought“The
gl
adlie
r
Live
s myf ri
endbecaus巴 1l
ovehimsti
ll!
"

1belie
vehimbecauseo fmydream. Nomatt巴rwhethert hedreamer
i
sb lesse
dorn o
t. Fromnowon，witht hisdream，1w illliv
es of
terand
. Enemiesr
sadder evi
lemea shehasnota pp
eared
. Whatadeeps i
lence
and sorrowiti s
! Hei sstil
lf or me anunseenf rien
d. B elie
vinghim，
however，1s h
allspendtherestofmyl ifecalmlyands ad
ly. Eventhough
l'ml n巴l
o yandsad，t hat1b e
lieve and lo
vehims ur
elymakes himg l
ad.
When1t hinkoft h
is，1ama ffe
ctedbyanu nfor
getab
let hr
illinmywhole
body. So 1 w illsti
lltru
st him and not change my l oya
ltyt o him.
“Without having seenhimyoulove him; thoughyoudo notnows e
e
himyoub elieveinhimandr ej
oic
ewithu n
utterab
le and e
xal
tedj
oy.
"ll
)

X
.
Ah，butt
her
e's a menacesomeone u
tte
rs!
“
1九T
hatandi
fyourf
rie
nda
thomep
lay
t
ric
l王s?
Peep a
thide-and-
seekbehindtheshu
tters?
Meanyour e yesshouldpi
ercethrough
s
olidbricks?"

An i
ntim
idato
rs aysto me，“ Does your friend play t
ric
ksa tt he
homeo
ft hes
oli
dbricks? I
st h
ereasonhedoesnotmakeh isappearance
thathe is hidinginth
ats olidhouse ands ecre
tlyscoutingyoura c
tion
s
behind t
hes hut
ter
sin ordert ocond巴mnyout oapenalty? Whileyou
beli
ev巴 i
nhima sGod，ishenotyourenemywhowouldcatchyoui na
trap? Showing not h imsef，how
l 巴ver，he reque
sts you to knowhim.
Does he meanyour eyesshouldp iercethroughthesolidbricks? Ifso，
whatwouldyoudo? I sit indeed notmakingaf o
olo fman?

(
6)
 On“F
ear
san
dSc
rup
les
"byR
obe
rtBrowning 7

XI
.
“明T
ha fhe，frowning，wakeyou，dreamy?
tandi
Layonyout
he blame t
hatb
ric
ks一conceal?
Say‘At l
eas
t1sawwhod i
dnotseeme，
Does senow，andp
e resen
tlys
hal
lfe
el'?
"

The i
nti
mid
ator continued，
“ Supposeyourunseenfriendshouldap-
r，whom you longed t
P己a os e
e. Frowning，he would wakeyoufrom
dreamingandcensureyourf
aul
tsandweal
王po
int
swhichhefoundwhen
hepeepedthrough. 1sawandknewyou even thoughyoud idnots e
e
me，but you now musts e
e andfel me. I
e fso，howastonised，d
isi
llu
-
si
oned，bit
ter
lyd i
sap
poi
nted and a
自i c
ted you would b
e. While you
trusted and lo
ved him as God f
or many y
eas，he might be a d
r evi.
l
Neverthelessdoyoucontinuetobeli
evehimastheLord，o
fLove? How
aboutf
org
ett
ing himfromnowon?
"

X
II.
“
Why，t
hatmakes yourf
rie
nd a monster!"
sa
yyou:
"Hadhis hous巴 nowindow? Atfi
rstnod，
Wouldyounothaveh ail
edhim?" Hush，1
prayyou!
What i
fthisfri
end happen t
o be-God?

At la
stt h
ei n
tim
idato
rs ays，
“ He whom you believe must be a
monster
. Saying you ca
n'ts eehim，
“ hadhi
s house nowindow?" 1 t
i
sunreasonable t
hathereques
tsyout oseehimwhilehedoesnotshow
himself
. When he nods，c an'
t you h
ail him? He l e
t you gi
ve him
everythinganddoesnotappearevenupt othi
sd ay. Isheonewhol et
s
youf al
li nt
o ahella
ftertakin
gallthingsfromy ou. The int
imida
tor
's
abusesa renotusedup
. Hedoesnotc le
arlyrespondwhileyoucallhim
‘
LordJ es
usCh
rist'
. Youc alhim‘
l t
heli
vin
gGod'ss on'，KingofKings，
fLords however，i
Lord o nf a
cthemaynot 巴x
ist，i
f he e
xiss，i
t tseems
merelya monster
. Then1w
ills
ayt
hes
esimplewords:

(
7)
8 N
aos
hiKoike

Hush，1prayyou!
Whati
fth
isf
rie
n obe-God?
dhappent

The answeri
s enoughwitht
hislin
e. Theysaytha
the must be a
monster，but1saywhati o beGod. I
fhehappens t fheis God，and1
beli
eve he is God，he w i
ll save th
os巴 who b el
ieve and obeyhimand
tot
allyd es
troy those who ridi
cul
e him. They w i
ll be cas
ti nt
oo ute
r
darkness，ther
e menw illweepand gnasht he
i r teethY)
Formanya recall
ed，butfewa rechose
n. 13) Hei
円 st h
ee te
rnalLord，
l
ivi
ngGodandtru
eSav
iour
. Thisl
astl
inee
xpr
ess
est
hemostimportant
s
igni
fic
anc
eoft
hepoem.

Conclusion

Faith i
sbeli
evi
ng. I
tis notbel
iev
ingbyseei
ng，but i
tisbeli
eving
withoutseeing
. Thatiswhyt her
earehar
dsh
ips，u
nce
rtai
ntiesandris
ks.
For b
eli
evi
ng what cannot be seen i
sfa
ith
. Faith i
s af
arg
rea
ter
motive power oft heh eart than knowledge. B e
lie
vingbys eeingis not
fai
th but is knowledge. Thati swhyi t can bedone e
asilybyanyone.
Takingt heri s
ko fhardshipandadventuret o do thethin
gt h
atcannot
b巴 accepted by every one i sb e
l ie
ving. Thati swhyt hereis moving，
and jumping o f progression ofspir
it. However，t othep巴o p
lewho do
notknowt heh eart
so fthoseb elie
vers，ther
ea renoothers opit
ifuland
so hatefu
la s those people who a reb el
ievin
g and sac
rif
icin
ga ll they
posse
sst oonewhoi snots 巴en. Surroundedbyt hesesard
onicsm i
leso f
persecu
tion，thef aith
full i
ves ne邑d spe
cialcourage t
ohold toh isfaith
fir
mly. LookingUpa t heavenwhilestandingf ir
mlyont heearth，there
a
ret
hes
pec
ialf
eat
ure
sofaf
ait
hfu
lli
fe f God，longing
. Thinking o
f
orC hris
ttoopen h
issp
rit
itu
aladvancement，i
sl i
keascie
nti
st opening
theworldunknownbyoneprinc
ipl
eont heassumptiono
ranadventurer
who goes on t
o an unknown l
anddepending on a compass n
eed
le. I
t
s anoble，courageous，and adv巴nturous，andi
i nte
r巴st
ingplano
fwork.
Sohoweverf ool
ishlyonemayi nsu
lt me，forwhat am1tobea fr
aid
!
Browningkneww e
llt h
eh e
artoftheb elie
veraswella
sth
et a
unts
o
ftheunbel
iev
er.
Ine x
plana
tiono
ft hs poem，M r
i .Kingsland r
ece
ive
dfromthepoet

(8)
 On “F
ear
sandS
cru
ple
s"byR
obe
rtBrowning 9

the following l
ett
er:一“1think t
hat the point 1wanted t
oil
lus
tra
te
i
n the poemyou mentionwas t
his
: Where t
her
eis a genuine l
oveo
f
the ‘
le
tte
rs' and '
act
ion
s'o
f the i
nvi
sib
le‘
fri
end'
，however these maybe
disadvantagedbyani
nab
lit
ityt 巴 o
omeetth bje
cti
onst
oth
eira
uth
ent
ici
ty
o
rhi
sto
ric
alvalueurgedby'
exp
ert
s'whoassumethep
riv
ile
geo
fle
arn
ing
overignorance，i
twouldindeedbeawrongt
othewisdomandgoodness
f the ‘
o fri
end i
f he were supposed capable o
ラ f overlooking the a
ctu
al
‘
lov
e andonlyconsideringthe'
ラ i
gnor
ance'which， fai
lingtoi nanydegree
a
ffe
ct‘lo
ve'
，isreal
lythehighestevidencet ha
t' l
ove
'e x
ists. So1meant ，
whether the r
esu
lt be c
lea
rorn
o."
14l

Notes:
) Edward B
1 erdoe，
“TheBrowning C
ycl
opa
edi
aヘ(London: GeorgeAllen&
UnwinL td.192
4)，P
.16
3.
)J
2 ohn20・29.
3
) Hebrews 11:1
) 1C
4 or
inthi
ans1 2
:3
5
) Romans1 :20
6
)c . Romans1
f :1.
7
) John1 4
:10.
8
)I b
id.，14:11
.
9
)I b
id.，3・16
.
1
0) Hebrew1 1:3.
1
1) 1pe t
er1 :8.
1
2) Matthew2 2
:1 3
.
1
3)I b
id.，22:14.
1
4) Edward B erdoe，“ The BrowningC
ycl
opa
edi
aヘ(London: GeorgeAllen&
UnwinL td.，1924)，pp.163-1
64.

Bibliography
Si
rHumphreyM i
lfar “ Poemso
d， fR ober ヘ(London: OxfordUniver-
tBrowning
sit
yP ress，1949
.)
Will
iamLyonP helps，“RobertBrowning: Howt oknowh im.ヘ( Lond
on: The
Bobbs-Merri
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