Humour as a Teaching Tool in Jean Gerson’s (1363–1429) Morality Plays

Abstract

The primary purpose of this article is to convey, through a liberal translation, the amusing and pedagogical aspects of Jean Gerson (1363-1429) morality plays L’ecole de la raison, commonly known as the Dialogue of the heart and five senses in English, and L’ecole de la conscience, both written for his young students. Focusing on the notion of six senses, expressed in both of his morality plays, with the sixth sense identified with the heart, the study will apply to Gerson’s texts various theoretical approaches to humour, such as the perceived superiority model and the incongruity-resolution theory, as well as Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of grotesque realism.