Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop

Dirt, filth, and excrement in “Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop” represent different things to the Bishop and to Jane. The Bishop warns Jane of her impending consignment to a “foul sty” (Line 6) rather than a cleaner, more luxurious afterlife. For him, dirt aligns with sin and damnation. Jane sets forth the argument that “fair needs foul” (Line 8), that salvation cannot exist without sin, but also that the “foul” (Lines 6-8) parts of life also lead to its regeneration. Jane goes on to say neither “grave nor bed” (Line 10) refutes her assertion. The grave suggests the physical dirt of the earth, the end of life, while the bed represents sexuality, considered another kind of filth by the Bishop and the culture to which he belongs. Jane reminds this celibate man of the force that generates all life, and professes that love exists in the lowest of places, in the waste-disposing regions of the body. Jane throws this image at the Bishop not just to shock him, but to illustrate the depths from which life can spring. In fact, she insists, the very brokenness and filthiness the Bishop rejects exists as the necessary precursor to transfiguration.