Why are devils always seen as grotesque and funny?

Would you guys answer? Devils are things to be scared so they should be portrait so, but in literature they are intelligent and tricky but also somewhat clumsy and crude. Why is this tradition? Even in Divine Comedy - medieval epic, with idea of learning peoples to be good, and be scare of hell - there is scene of devils throwing themselves into pool of sulphur

>>7686747
I think that being imprevise, having a sense of humor and imense power adds to the fear of them fucking you over for the lulz.

>>7686747
They are portrayed as scary not for any physical trait or ability to horrify, but for the ease with which they beguile and tempt man. It necessarily follows that traits which make them irresistible are depicted in their portrayal (e.g. grotesque to appeal to man's curiosity, funny for his sense of humor so that he may overcome any naturally occurring apprehension at considering that this is a devil he is interacting with).

If a devil were to appear to man with horns and a trident, he would scare him away and then fail in defiling his soul as he aims to do; he has to win man over and to do so, must appear with qualities that attract men.

>>7687024
Yes, also because it makes deception easier.

>>7686591
devils are tricky dudes which makes them somewhat frightening
despite being clever, they're still stupid, as they know of God's existence and power, but still oppose Him.

>>7686591
What would prefer?

>>7686591
Oh! I have that edition. It's the German and English edition? The left pages are in German, and the right in English.

In regards to you question. Maybe it is because they are partially based on pagan trickster gods?

File: Michael and Satan - Reni.jpg (313KB, 1576x2358px) Image search: [Google]

313KB, 1576x2358px

>>7686747
I think it's more... attuned to reality. The resentful man bringing down the great as revenge against the world for his lot.

>>7687273
>despite being clever, they're still stupid, as they know of God's existence and power, but still oppose Him.
Good point

>>7689164
>>7687273
idk, afaik only way lucifer sinned againt God, was a simple thought against him. No mercy, hew throw to underground. Angels must be much responsible on them than humans, cause they are closer to God or something

>>7686591
>>7686747
i claim it is is precisely the fear for these devils and so on that makes us attempt to diffuse their threat by making light of them

>>7686591
I will respond once I am home and can type properly. Until then a hint: look at the roll the devil had in medieval plays.

>>7686747
Devils are only seen in literature and shitty scary movies so I'm not sure what you're getting at
Have you seen a devil in real live?

>>7686591
Devil is basically a pagan trickster-god that is chased by the supreme thunder-god. The ebin memer steals his gf, runs away, fails hard and "dies" every year. Then it starts all over again.
Christianity is cancer that made him evil. feel free to tip your fedora

>>7689558
And now in English please

There's been a pretty good text on this I read for a seminar at my uni, but I don't find it right now, so let me put it as best as I remember:

To understand the devil you must understand's devil's history.

During the first few centuries a.d. the christians didn't have an image for their big counterpart, since he was not described in the bible physicall, so they just found an equivalent of him, the "ruler of the (earthly) world" - which was Rome. So at first, Rome was the devil.

When the christian missionaries met different cultures, they were smart about it and didn't just say "What you believed in so far is wrong, believe in this instead.", rather than that they say "What you believed in so far is correct, but evil." So many ancient gods were demonized and over the years (centuries) their physical describtions amalgamated into the classic image of the red horned devil with the horse foot and the trident. The trident is obviously that of Poseidon/Neptun, while the smell of sulfur might be from Thor's lightenings, the red colour from Thor's beard, the hoofs from some of the horses that other gods were riding on, etc. So over the years the devil developed a physical form in the collective mind of the people.

Images obviously are better at scaring people than vague ideas are, and the medieval church knew to utilize this. There was a saying in medieval europe that (jokingly) went something like this: "The devil must be more powerful than god, because he causes more people to go to church." The christian priests back then were more about scaring people with hell, rather than soothing them with heaven. So a general feeling of the devil being behind everything accrued. People were scared. To sooth this fear, entertainment of the rabble - mostly stage plays - often ridiculed the devil and made him appear weak and incompetent, compared to a potent and glorious Jesus who had no difficulties defeating him.
Even in many plays that did not feature the devil in their plot had the devil as a character who was just there to be silly and entertain the audience with his antics of, well, being stupid. He took over the roll of the fool at court.
This is where the faustian Mephistopheles draws a lot of inspiration from.

During the renaissance and age of enlightenment the devil lost a lot of his bite with the people, until the romantics started to develop a kind of fascination with him. Romanticism was all about mysticism, the dark, the evil, and all that jazz, so they liked to write the devil into an ideal of the byronic hero; obviously with a lot of inspiration from Milton's Paradife Loft.

Some other anons in this thread make valid points aswell, but always be careful to look at things within their historic context.

>>7689558
What do you want clarified?

>>7689691
>When the christian missionaries met different cultures, they were smart about it and didn't just say "What you believed in so far is wrong, believe in this instead.", rather than that they say "What you believed in so far is correct, but evil."
To add to this, they did not always demonize stuff, sometimes they tried to overwrite it with christianity. Ancient greek Artemis or Hera cults for example were overwritten with the Virgin Mary.

>>7689691
>Paradife Loft

>>7691434
I take my memes very seriously.