Perspective

The perspective of The Praise of Folly is two-fold. The first is that of Erasmus, the book's author, and the second is that of Folly, the book's main character. The relationship between the opinions and ideas of Erasmus and Folly is complex, for it is not always clear how much of Folly's opinions he believes himself. He is a Christian and so cannot believe that the Christian religion as such is akin to Folly, as she claims that it is. On the other hand, he was one of the great critics of Roman Catholic practice of his day, and so he and Folly must agree at least to some extent about the equation of the practices and attitudes of theologians and monks with Folly.

In any event, the major aspect of the perspective relevant for the reader to understand is that it is written during a time when...