Holy Willie

E651826

Holy Willie is a self-righteous, hypocritical Calvinist elder from Robert Burns’s satirical poem “Holy Willie’s Prayer,” embodying religious bigotry and moral duplicity.

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Statements (42)

Predicate Object
instanceOf fictional character
literary character
satirical character
appearsIn Holy Willie's Prayer NERFINISHED
associatedWithTheme abuse of religious authority
hypocrisy
moral corruption
religious intolerance
self-deception
attitudeTowardOthers condemning
attitudeTowardSin harsh toward others' sins
lenient toward his own sins
characterTrait hypocritical
judgmental
sanctimonious
self-righteous
createdBy Robert Burns NERFINISHED
culturalContext 18th-century Scotland
embodies moral duplicity
religious bigotry
religious hypocrisy
fictionalStatus imaginary person
genreContext Scottish satirical poetry
languageContext Scots dialect
literaryFunction caricature of self-righteous piety
critique of Calvinist predestination
satire of religious hypocrisy
medium verse
moralAlignment morally corrupt
moralContrastWith Burns's ideal of sincere religion
narrativeMode dramatic monologue
nationalLiteraryContext Scottish literature
opposes genuine Christian humility
prayerAddressedTo God NERFINISHED
religiousAffiliation Calvinism NERFINISHED
roleInChurch elder
selfPerception elect of God
symbolizes Pharisaical religion
narrow religious bigotry
usedByAuthorTo criticize rigid Calvinism
expose religious hypocrisy
workTypeContext poem

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Holy Willie's Prayer mainCharacter Holy Willie