Religious Fervour
Here we see a prisoner-slave being tormented in the stocks with religious fervour. There’s a lot going on in this scene, so let’s analyse it in more detail:
· The first thing we note is that the slave’s chief tormentress is a chaste and modestly attired, bespectacled young woman, who is clearly intent on spending some considerable time with the prisoner-slave – not to comfort him, but rather to gloat over him. See how she is making him kiss her dirty boots as she relaxes on a chair in front of him, drinking a can of beer and with a big bag of popcorn by her side. She’s not going anywhere soon! Can you see also the Gynarchy Bible resting on her lap? In between her swigs of beer and mouthfuls of popcorn she will no doubt be reading out passages of Gynarchy scripture to the slave, reminding him that he is a sinner and that his punishment is just.
· Crouching down next to her is a jester master-sir. The role of jesters in the Gynarchy is to verbally tease and humiliate slaves in the stocks, and this particular jester-sir takes his job very seriously! Can you see how he is poking the slave in the side of his humble head with his jester’s wand which contains a furry knob on the end? He is using it to tickle the slave and to try to put him off as the latter diligently and respectfully endeavours to repeatedly kiss the young woman’s boots. The experienced jester master-sir is asking the prisoner how he is liking it – having to kiss a girl’s boots? He is mockingly asking him how her boots taste? Don’t they taste vile? And how does the slave feel about having the young woman’s plain grey socks towering over his helpless, humble head? Doesn’t he feel shame to be lesser than a girl’s sock? Haha! The jester-sir laughs at his own witty, rhetorical questions, knowing full well that the prisoner-slave is forbidden to speak or to answer him, though his demeanour must remain humble and respectful at all times.
· The jester-sir isn’t the only one making a mockery of the slave. Observe how someone has left a dirty, stripy sock draped over the top of the slave’s head. Haha! His face must be enveloped in the stinky odour from that sock, even though he is supposedly out in the fresh air! It is good for the prisoner-slave to be reminded, however, that he is at the mercy of everyone’s feet and footwear. I mean, just think of the damage the demure young woman currently seated in front of him could do to his feckless face with her heavy boots! The slave does well to kiss them and honour them with his menial mouth!
· Next to the jester-sir stands a Gynarchy monk, sturdy whip in hand. I think we may assume it was hewho has painted the most recent stripes on the prisoner-slave’s prostrate back. If so, the monk master-sir can be justifiably proud of himself, for those whip cuts look decidedly nasty! One senses that the monk master-sir is well practised in the art of wielding a whip. Most Gynarchy monks are!
· The Gynarchy cardinal-sir standing next to the monk appears to have placed his whip on the small of the slave’s back – by way of a reminder to the latter that the whip of pain is never far from his prisoner-slave body, and that he is permanently subject to the whip! Note how the cardinal master-sir is standing with his right foot resting on the slave’s anus, thus applying added pressure on the slave and effectively walking all over him. And rightly so, for the slave is a much lesser being than the cardinal master-sir. Indeed, he is less than everyone in this scene, for they are all relatively holy; and the slave is a dirty sinner.
· Meanwhile, on the balcony overlooking the town square, a handsome young couple, no doubt aroused by the sight of the prisoner’s suffering and humiliation in the public stocks, are publicly embracing one another without a care in the world – and certainly without any sympathy for the slave beneath them. Indeed, they will use images of his suffering in their heads when they come to make love to one another later this evening.
· Standing next to them is an equally aroused Gynarchy magistrate master-sir, a State elder and looking resplendent in his frock coat and top hat. He appears to have a young lady friend with him, who is taking great pleasure in her elderly beau’s enjoyment of the spectacle. As well she might, for whenever her magisterial man friend is excited he tends to shower heaps of cash and presents on her – and she’s thinking that she could do with a nice new pair of boots! How sweet!
· But the most excited personage of all in this happy scene is his honour the Devil, waving his whip around and dancing a jig of demonic joy at the proceedings he has inspired below him. Later, when the crowds have all gone to bed, the Devil sir has resolved to return in person in order to whip the prisoner-slave on his already sore back, and thus give him a fiery foretaste of the hell that awaits him when he eventually shuffles off this mortal coil. For it’s a well known fact that sinners go to hell – and this prisoner-slave is clearly a sinner; otherwise he wouldn’t be being punished!
