66 pages • 2 hours read
James George FrazerThe Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1890A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Book 1, Chapters 7-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Book 1: “The King of the Wood”
Book 1, Chapter 7 Summary: “The Sacred Marriage”
Frazer opens this two-part chapter by concluding that the traditional spring festivities were not allegorical performances but rites of homeopathic or imitative magic. These rites were often accompanied by an excess of sexual activity, suggesting that the union of the human sexes was connected to the fertility of the earth.
In other cultures, a similar association of human sexuality with natural fertility led people to live chastely and fast in the springtime. Adulterers might be forced to perform ritual acts of penitence, and infertile women might be banished in the hope of avoiding a blighted crop. Frazer explores instances of ruined harvests being attributed to pedophilia and incest. While he is dismissive of the assumptions underlying these restraints, Frazer nonetheless suggests that they represent the bases of an invaluable form of self-preservation: the sacrifice of temporary gratification for long-term gain.
In the second section, Frazer asks whether popular associations between human and natural fertility can be traced back to classical antiquity. He suggests that the wedding enacted between Diana and Virbius / Hippolytus (the King of the Woods) is an early counterpart of the wedding of the May King and Queen.
Book 1, Chapter 8 Summary: “The Kings of Rome”
In the first section of the chapter, Frazer discusses the water-nymph Egeria and her marriage to the Roman king Numa at the grove of Nemi. He suggests that this legendary union parallels the marriage of the King of the Wood to Diana.
In the second section, Frazer discusses the Roman god Jupiter’s association with oak trees and the custom among Roman kings of wearing crowns of oak leaves to associate themselves with the god. The name of the first dynasty to rule Rome, Silvii (meaning “wood”) suggests that this line of kings were claiming “to be representatives or embodiments of Jupiter, the god of the sky” (117). The similarities between the wooded, hilltop location of the Capitoline hill and that of the grove of Nemi and other locations, suggest that kings embodying Jupiter were “expected to produce rain and thunder for the good of the crops” (118).
Book 1, Chapter 9 Summary: “The Succession to the Kingdom”
Frazer posits a thesis that succession in Rome was exogamous (i.e., that people married outside their own tribe) and passed through the female line. The women would remain at home, while the men would leave home to seek marriage. The centrality of the female line makes the paternity of kings irrelevant. This obscurity of origins is perhaps one reason why legend ascribes divine paternity to many kings. A physically and mentally fit former slave might rise to kingship by marrying a queen, an honor won through athletic contest, which appears originally to have taken the form of mortal combat.
Book 1, Chapter 10 Summary: “The Burden of Royalty”
In the first section of this chapter, Frazer examines how the conception of the king or priest as the incarnation of a divine principle can result in them living their lives as prisoners. Frazer describes the lifestyle of various rulers, including the Mikado in Japan, the kings of ancient Ireland, and the Egyptian Pharaohs to show how the sacred person of the king, on whom the community depends for safety, is jealously guarded by his priests.
In the second section, Frazer discusses how these restrictions frequently led to a divorce of the spiritual and symbolic power of the king from the practical realities of politics, which meant that kings were often reluctant to assume their royal duties and keen to abdicate.
Book 1, Chapter 11 Summary: “The Perils of the Soul”
Frazer theories that “primitive” cultures understand death as the soul leaving the body. When priests seek to protect their king, they aim either to prevent the soul’s departure or to guarantee its return. In these cultures, the soul is a “manikin,” i.e., a miniature, immaterial, but earthbound version of the person to whom it belongs.
The second section details practices designed to trap or recapture fleeing souls. The third considers cultures that believe their souls reside in their shadows or reflections, such as the peoples of New Guinea and Caledonia.
Book 1, Chapter 12 Summary: “Taboos”
In the first section of this chapter, Frazer explores the complex array of restrictions designed to protect the royal person, such as purification rituals to protect against foreign contamination during travel or from visiting outsiders.
The second section considers tabooed persons, or persons secluded from contact with others. These include sacred kings, whose souls will seek retribution if something they have touched is profaned, and menstruating or pregnant women. Warriors and hunters may also be taboo.
The third section notes that the rules of taboo surrounding divine kings and ceremonial priests are similar to those imposed on individuals deemed to be “polluted” (180). Frazer suggests that, to the ancient mind, there is no moral distinction between holiness and pollution. Both are untouchable because both are powerful and dangerous.
Examples of tabooed objects are locks, knots, and rings. Locks and knots were taboo at weddings and during childbirth because it was believed they might impede consummation and delivery. Knots and locks could also protect from black magic and death. Finger rings were considered amulets to keep the soul in the body.
The fourth section discusses taboo words and especially tabooed names. Frazer attributes these beliefs to ancient people’s inability to distinguish between words and things. This means that early cultures believed that saying an individual’s name could summon them through magic. Frazer cites Indigenous peoples of North America and the Pacific who conceal their names so that enemies cannot gain power over them.
In the final section, Frazer reflects on the relationship of the past to the present. He argues that it is wrong to criticize earlier beliefs because modern civilization stands “upon the foundation reared by the generations which have gone before” (218).
Book 1, Chapters 7-12 Analysis
In these chapters, gender and sexuality emerge as increasingly important issues, with human fertility being associated with the fecundity of the animal and vegetable world. The relationship between The Necessity of Sacrifice for Renewal is explored and also explained through Frazer’s theory of the predominance of mother-kin. The discussion of female-dominated lineages, in which power, titles, and inheritance pass through the mother’s line rather than the father’s, leads him to re-evaluate conventional gender hierarchies. However, even as he does so, Frazer refutes any anti-patriarchal conclusions that might be drawn by his readers. For example, he suggests that the apparent superiority of the goddesses over the gods in these sacrificial narratives derives from the predominance of the mother-kin principle, i.e., of matrilineage, but this does not disrupt the patriarchal nature of human society. Along similar lines, in Book 2, Chapter 17, Frazer will argue that the feminine gender of nature goddesses derived from the fact that women are likely to have discovered agriculture, but that men make gods, while women worship them.
This section introduces totems and taboos as central concepts in the text. Both operate on the idea of symbolic representation: Totems often symbolize the group’s identity and serve as a protective emblem. The idea that the divine soul can be temporarily or permanently housed outside the body by way of a totem is a fundamental concept of many of the customs explored in the book. The totem animal or plant is considered sacred, and members of the totemic group may believe they share a common ancestry with it. This carries over into the concept of taboos, which protect sacred objects, places, and individuals from being defiled. For example, certain animals may be tabooed, as they are considered sacred totems, and harming them is strictly prohibited. This discussion furthers the theme of The Evolution of Belief in Magic to Science. Totems and taboos are methods used to influence nature’s forces during the Age of Magic. Totemic groups engage in rituals such as dances, songs, and ceremonies that seek to ensure the totem’s continued protection and the group’s prosperity. Similarly, breaking a taboo is believed to bring about supernatural punishment or misfortune, necessitating purification rituals to restore balance and harmony.
Social order as it is conceived in the Age of Magic is an important concept in this section. Here, Frazer argues that taboos help maintain social order by regulating behavior and reinforcing social norms. They dictated what was acceptable and what was forbidden, ensuring the community’s cohesion and stability. For example, Frazer notes the similarities in the treatment of divine kings and menstruating or pregnant women, inviting comparisons that his modern readers would not necessarily make. Both are considered powerful and dangerous, and placing them on a pedestal or other surface suspended about the ground symbolizes that their mysterious powers belong somewhere between heaven and earth. This idea is important because, later in the text, Frazer uses it to explain the psychology behind Christ’s crucifixion.
