Whited+Sepulcher


 * Background Story: **

In "The White Sepulcher", Jesus describes to a crowd the tendencies and personalities of the priests and rabbi that they follow. He tells the crowd that they should only what they teach rather than what they do. Jesus calls these scribes and Pharisees hypocrites as they themselves do not follow what they teach and claims that they only do enough to be seen by society. The metaphor of the whitewashed tomb comes in to describe these hypocrites. Although a tomb may appear to be beautiful, it still, nevertheless, contains dead bodies.

*The theme of this passage is that some men do not "practice what they preach" and only tell others what to do rather than following their principles themselves.


 * Allusions: **




 * Novel || * "Heart of Darkness"- Joseph Conrad
 * "Poems"- Henry Barrett Hinckley ||
 * Cartoon || * Seen to the right: "The White Sepulchre"- Thomas Nast ||

Just as Jesus used this phrase in the bible, it is used modern day in many allusions as well. In Jesus' speech, he describes those who teach something that they themselves do not follow as a "Whited Sepulcher". A sepulcher, while appearing beautiful on the outside, still contains bodies no matter how you look at it. These men, as the sepulchers, appear as good men;however, they do truly possess these positive qualities. This phrase, modern day, is still used to describe a hypocrite or something that's looks contradict its true inner qualities.

** The White Sepulchre ** Thomas Nast The political cartoon portrayed on the right is a simple example of what a Whited Sepulcher"could be referred to in more modern type of example. The cartoon displays a man attempting to cover up a monument of the Ku Klux Klan's infamy with a coat and hat; however, no matter his efforts to make it look better, the monument will always display a horrible remnant of the past, just as a beautiful tomb still contains a dead body.

Conrad, Joseph. //Heart of Darkness //. New York: Knopf, 1993. Print.

Hinckley, Henry B. //Poems //. Northampton: Nonotuck, 1909. //Google //. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. //Matthew. The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version//. New York: World, 1962. Print.

Nast, Thomas. "The Whited Sepulchre." Cartoon. //Cartoons //. Ohio State University, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.