Michael Hemmer: The Priestly Exercise of Slave Morality in Till We Have Faces

    In Till We Have Faces, one of the most interesting characters is the Priest of Ungit. I thought it would be interesting to explore the Nietzschean concept of slave morality and the possible application of the concept in Till We Have Faces. Slave morality is a concept which focuses on moral values which judge people as good or bad. Slave morality originates in weakness and paints the noble class or those who practice master morality as oppressors. In its weakness, slave morality vilifies the strong and attempts to subtly undermine them and does not exert will via strength. 

    From a certain perspective, the priest of Ungit seems to exist in this role. He is extremely feeble and weak, incapable of exerting any physical strength, and yet the king of the land submits to him. In chapter 5 of Till We Have Faces, the priest demands that Psyche be sacrificed in order to restore prosperity to the land. He enforces this by using slave morality tactics to define what is good and bad before pronouncing judgement on Psyche, who is beautiful and loved. Additionally, the king, who should be the strongest in the land by all accounts, submits and willingly gives up his daughter to be killed. In this action, there is a kind of priestly ressentiment by which the priest of Ungit adopts the weakness and inferiority of the goddess he represents in the face of Psyche's beauty. Psyche is truly beautiful, which caused others to deify her. This jealousy is what provides the justification for the priests demands that she ought to be killed. 

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