Companion to Renaissance Poetry

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RELIGEOUS BELIEFS
Introduction
Religion has been a primarily disputed area when it comes to giving its actual definition.
It has become difficult to define religion due to a lot of interest from many concerned people.
Some scholars have tried to describe it as that which tries to get hold of more conservative
values. These are set amounts of people of some sort of origin who have the same beliefs that are
part of them as a community (Harper 54). In their definition, they consider religion to be
bringing people together in order to satisfy their needs and also achieve common goals such,
fighting the enemies, seeking salvation, search for food, looking for riches, desire for life that
goes for long, gaining wisdom, becoming famous, asking for forgiveness, seeking for justice etc.
these are not all but some of the values that people of humankind have always asked for in their
quest for religion (Robertson 45). Human beings have developed much of the correct ways of
thinking that have made them rich spiritually as well. This has brought a lot of confusion
between inward understandings which is valued most as a result of religion compared to external
being of looking at things in terms of materialism. Religion is known to affect the thinking of the
mind by many non-believers, that. It is all about the inward feelings that make someone's
behaviour and character change. Faith as much as regarded to be protecting cultural values fails
as individuals also go for private gains, e.g. Wealth, salvation among the rest (Zinnbauer et al.
145).

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Discussion
Ofelia, a young girl who is in dilemma in making a meaningful decision between saving
her sick mother from her evil father and later a significant choice of keeping her brother in order
to die, is an excellent example to explain how beliefs are regressive fascinations. She is best
described to be a hero in the film when she actually defeats the stepfather by meeting a magical
creature who helps her accomplish her mission.
In her traumatized situation as a young girl whose mother faces abuse from the evil
stepfather, she is forced to seek for an alternative in which her sick mother and later younger
brother would seek solace. In the film, Labyrinth, Ofelia is more of a heroin as she fights hard to
win the battle against her evil stepfather, who was a soldier. This she does very well in an
attempt to save her mother from the abuse and difficult situation her mother found herself in after
falling in a relationship with captain Vidal after the civil war. Ofelia is just a young girl who
many cannot believe that she can take the risk of making such a tough decision of confronting
the evil father knowing the nature of a person he was.
Ofelia is upset by the mother’s situation following the death of his father and the
subsequent staying together with Captain Vidal. The young girl's anger is as a result of the
mistreatment they were facing from the Captain. In her quest to seek for a solution, she one day
takes a walk and wonders what was happening to the fig trees. In her adventure, she comes
across a monster who opens up on her destiny. The relationship between Ofelia's action and
spiritual belief as a regressive fascination emanates by the fact that Ofelia does not just get out of
her way to seek for a solution to saving her sick mother. This she does as a result of factors such
as anger, abuse and alienation they have been experiencing since they started living with the
Captain.

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The encounter with the magical creature puts Ofelia into another world of imagination
and the quest for more. Having put her mind in getting salvation from the magical creature,
Ofelia is one young girl who is in trouble just because of her family. Because she has to save her
brother from Captain Vidal, she has to be very loyal to the magical creature whom she needs
help from in order to achieve her goal. It is her level of desperation at this level that makes her
lie this too much low. This is what is characterized by the fact that those who believe too much
in spirituality become victims of regressive fascination. She has to do everything in order to save
her mother and brother, who are in trouble with the Captain. It is her loyalty to the magical
creature that at last, we find that Ofelia ultimately gets what she wants when the slaying giant
helps her save her brother from the evil Captain Vidal.
Religious or Spiritual belief is all about helping individuals manage anger, stress and bad
things that occur, especially when in trouble. The religious or spiritual belief is a central area that
facing many people who need help (Yılmaz 56). This is all about prayers to get an answer to
something of the sort of trouble, danger or just to get the solution to many problems that keep
knocking doors. People indulge in religious or spiritual beliefs to take control of the enemy, or
something that is bringing pain and anguish to the system as religion or spiritual belief is
probably the answer to such endeavors (Robertson 190) By getting closer to the action being
that is the reason for believing, a stronger relationship is built between the supernatural being and
the person seeking help. This relationship also results from trusting that can emanate to help
(Cooper et al. 45)
It is on the same ground that the similarity of Ofelia in the film and individual, a
spiritual/religious believer is deduced from. Just like a spiritual believer builds a stronger
relationship of trust in order to get help from the supernatural being, is the same case of Ofelia

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whose predicament makes her meet a magical creature who shows her the door that helps her
escape the life of misery. It is not easy, that help just comes all over sudden by the fact that there
is a mutual relationship between the supernatural being and the traumatized. Just like in Christian
beliefs, sacrifices are to be made in order to get something of value in life. In Christianity belief,
it is believed that in order to leave an eternal life, you must sacrifice a lot by enduring on earth
and facing difficulties just as Jesus did before and during his crucifixion (Rouwhorst 137). Ofelia
is not left behind as she too goes through the same challenge where she has to fulfil three tasks in
order to get what she wants (Poetry 432). All these happen as a result of trust and faith, but most
importantly, it cannot be forgotten that everything happened as a result of a reason, that is trauma
experienced by her and the mother while staying with Captain Vidal.
After a stronger relationship is created between the traumatized and the gods or
supernatural being, help comes in the form of freedom (Jack et al. 206). The role of the gods or
supernatural beings in this relationship is to provide solace and comfort. Ofelia finally gets her
freedom out with the help of the magical creature. Ofelia having gone through a difficult journey
of managing an instance where her mother is sick on one side and having an evil stepfather who
is more of a tormentor (Yılmaz 56). She now comes to a happy ending where she has managed to
go over the evil stepfather. Things don't stop there as another challenge faces her.
This time around, she is facing a problem of choosing between her younger brother's life
and hers. It leaves her with no choice but to accept death instead of giving her brother as a
sacrifice. Ofelia, just like her name means suicide dies as a matter of fulfilling the
'righteousness'. She finds herself in the typical scenario of persons of religious or spiritual beliefs
who also ends up in the same situation. They are pushed by trauma in various circumstances to
get into spiritual or religious beliefs where they get a master in the form of supernatural beings

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controlling them or life of prophecies with sacrifices that ultimately lead to their deaths
(Zinnbauer et al. 30).
Conclusion
Religious and spiritual beliefs are regressive fascinations because people get only apply
them in cases of problems, troubles or trauma as sources of help. The beliefs take all their
imagination as the focus remains on seeking solace not thinking of the repercussions that might
accompany help in form of sacrifices. This brings no difference with Ofelia’s case where her
predicament leads her to meeting a magical creature who in turn helps her sort out her issues but
ultimately put a demand that takes her life away.

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Works Cited
Harper, Margaret Mills. "The Problem of Crazy Jane." Nordic Irish Studies 17.1 (2018).
Jack, Anthony Ian, et al. "Why do you believe in God? Relationships between religious belief, analytic
thinking, mentalizing and moral concern." PloS one 11.3 (2016): e0149989.
Poetry, Religious. "RELIGIOUS POETRY." A Companion to Renaissance Poetry 2287 (2018): 432.
Robertson, John Mackinnon. A Short History of Christianity. BoD–Books on Demand, 2018.
Rouwhorst, Gerard. "Sacrifice in Early Christianity: The Social Dimensions of a Metaphor." Sacrifice in
Modernity: Community, Ritual, Identity. Brill, 2017. 132-146.
Yılmaz, Zafer. "Religion as the opium of the people." Krisis (2018).
Zinnbauer, Brian J., et al. "Religion and spirituality: Unfuzzying the fuzzy." Sociology of
religion. Routledge, 2015. 29-34.