How to Find God in the Dutch Golden Age

In the 1654 tragedy Lucifer Joost van den Vondel shows how the titular character revolts against God because he cannot fathom His plans. Vondel presents Lucifer as an identifiable character within the format of the tragedy. Hence, the poet breaks with the long-standing tradition of representing the character as completely baleful and depraved. Even though this tragedy is one of the most discussed works in Dutch literary history, the question why Vondel chose Lucifer as the leading character for a tragedy remains unanswered. To contextualize Vondel's choice, this article first discusses an interpretation of Aristotle's concept of catharsis from the author's milieu. Leiden humanist Daniel Heinsius uses this concept to point out how problems with which a tragedy deeply confronts its audience realize an emotional habituation and enforce the correct handling of similar problems in the world outside the theatre. Likewise, with the representation of Lucifer's harrowing doubts concerning God's plans, Vondel wanted to teach his audience how to deal with their own problems with divine inscrutability. By presenting and even magnifying the doubts about God in the tragedy, the theatre-maker wanted to purify the audience from these doubts. The genesis of the devil is the ideal subject matter for a tragedy to reinforce the audience's faith.