Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
The crisis in the story occurs when Babette learns that she has won
10,000 francs in the French lottery. Her hosts assume that their mysterious
guest will now leave them, and when Babette announces her intention to
prepare a “real French meal” for the villagers as they commemorate the cen-
tennial of the founder's birth, all believe that this is her parting gift. When
the day of the great banquet arrives after many weeks of preparation, one
of the guests is General Lorens Lowenhielm, Martine's former suitor. This
outsider is the only guest who truly recognizes what kind of feast has been
set before him, for he is a man of the world who had once tasted of Babette's
art when she was head chef at Paris'
Café Anglais
. The other unenlightened
guests enjoy the meal, but they approach it with great trepidation, fearing
that these exotic delicacies are part of a witches' Sabbath. But they cannot
resist its transformative powers. As these simple fisher folk eat and drink,
the seven-course meal becomes a love feast. Bitterness and rancor give way
to blessings and forgiveness. The elderly Lutherans become childlike and
mirthful, as if transformed by some divine power.
Afterwards, when Phillipa and Martine approach their servant to
express their thanks and regret over her impending departure, they are
greeted by a great surprise. Babette has spent her entire fortune on the feast,
telling the sisters that “a dinner for twelve at the
Café Anglais
would cost ten
thousand francs.”
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Having forfeited her only means of escaping servitude,
she has given herself to her friends in perpetuity.
“Babette's Feast” is not a religious story per se. Despite its setting in a
Lutheran community, the saving act of its protagonist is secular. It is the
high Parisian culture that has descended upon coastal Norway that redeems
this pietistic sect. But in taking its narrative form from the New Testament
story of Christ's last supper, this narrative has also borrowed its themes.
Upon close inspection, we notice that Babette is related to the Christ of
the Gospels, as Frye would say, by “simile.” In the New Testament we have
Jesus of Nazareth, a person of obscure origins who, like Babette, takes up
with a lowly band of fishermen. Although he is the anointed Son of God,
in taking a servant's role his true identity has been hidden. Even his inner
circle of disciples do not seem to fully understand who he is. As his depar-
ture approaches, Jesus likewise hosts a banquet for twelve that commemo-
rates the founding of his own religious community, and this is greeted with
similar misunderstandings and trepidations. It is in this final feast that his
role as servant finds its epitome as he lowers himself to wash the feet of his
guests—even though he, like Babette, is clearly the one in charge. The true
