The Moral Lens

Although most of Johnson’s scathing critiques of society in “Bartholomew Fair” are highly entertaining, I found his satire concerning Busy in Act III to be quite interesting. Busy’s actions in scene 2 seem to reveal Johnson’s opinion on human morality quite clearly.  While Johnson uses the entire play to achieve this same critique, I felt this scene was particularly intense.  The religious fervor with which Busy addresses every aspect of the Fair is quite apparent throughout the play but we finally see his true personality in his search for the pig flesh.  In this scene, Busy does not hesitate to twist one of his frequent sermons into a way to justify his actions. Using Busy, Johnson shows the audience that one man (in this case an extremely religious man) is no better than any other. While this is no new concept, it seems like Johnson is telling us much more. He effectively shows that any man will succumb to his basic desires as long as he can find a way to fool himself into believing his actions are justified. Busy consistently builds up his religious pride to the point where he convinces himself and those around him that his search for fleshly satisfaction is more of a service to his companions. He shows how a man that sets moral standards for himself is bound to those morals primarily by the extent to which he can translate them. Although Johnson does not condone the actions of the clearly vulgar characters in the play, he gives the audience a sense that perhaps they have more moral fiber than the characters that express such religious zeal. By openly embracing their desire to satisfy themselves, they seem to achieve a level of honesty impossible for a man like Busy. Johnson shows us that Busy’s ideals are little more than a lens through which he can view himself as a righteous man no matter what his actions may be. The only problem with the lens is that it is imited to influencing Busy's perception.