The Parable of the Ten Virgins, from The Authorized Version

By James Tissot (1836-1902), from the Brooklyn Museum via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

‘The Foolish Virgins’ by James Tissot (1836-1902) shows the five virgins who brought no oil to the wedding, now running back with all the oil they had been able to scrounge from neighbouring homes. To judge by the smiles on their faces, they were still not taking the matter very seriously. They sobered up a little when they found the doors of the wedding-feast shut against them, and had to listen to the dancing and the music and the laughter from outside in the cold night air. To them, the wedding was a chore; to the others it was a privilege, and their reward was to be part of it.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

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AND the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.*

from The Authorized Version 1611

From Matthew 25:1-13, in the Authorised Version (1611).

* ‘Son of man’ could mean several things, including just ‘I/me’, but in the context of some future advent many well-read Jewish listeners would think of the prophecy of Daniel in Daniel 7:13-14.

Précis

With the ceremony ready to begin, the foolish virgins began to beg their five colleagues for oil. But the wise virgins had brought enough only for themselves, and urged the foolish virgins to go and buy oil in town. By the time they came back, the ceremony had begun, and the doors were shut fast.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

Ten women had lamps. Five women had no oil. They asked the others for some.

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