SOURCE: Skrine, Peter. “The Destination of the Ship of Fools: Religious Allegory in Brant's Narrenschiff.” Modern Language Review 64, no. 3 (July 1969): 576-96.

In the following essay, Skrine analyzes The Ship of Fools as a commentary on the biblical Book of Ecclesiastes.

In Canto III of the Inferno the souls of the damned gather waiting

                                                            alla riva malvagia ch'attende ciascun uom che Dio non teme 

(l. 107)

to be ferried by Charon across the dark waters of the Acheron

                                                            all'altra riva nelle tenebre etterne 

(l. 86)

and Virgil explains to Dante:

                    quelli che moion nell'ira di Dio                     tutti convengon qui d'ogni paese: e pronti sono a trapassar lo rio,                     ché la divina giustizia li sprona,                     sí che la tema si volve in disio. Quinci non passa mai anima bona. 

(l. 122)

In the course of his Narrenschiff Brant appears to prove conclusively that virtually all humanity is in some way, be it trivial...