Question

Edwards uses personification in this following instance: “There is hell's wide gaping mouth open; and you have nothing to stand upon, nor any thing to take hold of, there is nothing between you and hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up.” Identify the personification. Explain the function (effect) this image has on the audience. How can this help Edwards achieve his purpose?

Answer 1

Answer:

The personification can be found in the phrase "There is hell's wide gaping mouth open". The function of this personification is to affirm that the human being is always one step away from entering hell and there is nothing, except God, to prevent this.

Edward's goal was to show people that everyone is a sinner and so they are not free from going to hell. When he says that the mouth of hell is wide open, he means that hell is waiting for all of us, but only God can get us out of there.

Explanation:

Personification is the figure of speech that allows inanimate objects to have human characteristics.

As we know, hell is not a living being, it is not a human being and therefore has no mouth. However, in the text above, we can see that Edward claims, that hell has its mouth wide open and that there is nothing we can do to prevent us from falling into it.

Edward uses the term "mouth of hell" to represent the gates of hell. He wants to tell his audience that the door to hell is open to sinners and there is nothing that can be done to keep them from going to hell. If we are sinners, we enter through that door and only God can prevent it.

Answer 2

In the excerpt "Sinners in the hands of an angry God", Jonathan Edwars personifies hell. As we can easily point out Edwaras adds a mouth gaping open meaning as it is an actual living being; he also describes it as a living being when he states "there is nothing between you and hell".  Therefore, it is clearly understood the the personification figure is about hell. On the other hand, the effect the author wants to project in the audience is that the mercy of God can rescue his people from this hungry creature. The author has a clear purpose to make this strong personification, to inspire his people from fear to believe it God's power.