Introduction
The Seventh Seal is a Swedish drama fantasy movie that Ingmar Bergman wrote and directed, before its release in 1957. The title of the movie is an adaptation from the Book of Revelation which has the mentioning of the phrase, Seventh Seal. The seventh seal in the Book of Revelation is accompanied with God’s or heaven’s silence and this divine silence is a chief motif and theme in the film.
Personal Interpretation of The Seventh Seal as a Statement about the Human Condition
For one, the drama seems to portray human beings as very finite. Because of this quality, however hard man tries, he is outwitted by fate. The ultimate fate in this case is death. In the play, the best that man offers is Antonius Block, the knight. With all the bravery, subtlety, nobility of character and pragmatism, he is unable to defeat death in a game of chess. Eventually, he, together with his followers is led away in a dance of death over the hills. The frailty of mankind to fate or the reality of death is captured in Block’s own statement while he in prayer. Block prays to God saying, "Have mercy on us, because we are small, frightened and ignorant" (Bergman, 1957).
The playwright also appears to present and fortify the notion that man, though very natural, is surrounded by the supernatural. In the play, some are presented as being receptive to the supernatural while others are not. This is seen in the fact that Death, a metaphysical entity, is present in the play, sometimes masquerading as a priest. However, despite his presence in the play, he is only visible to Block and Jof. The import of this is that while some may have insight into the supernatural, many do not. The crux of what is being communicated is that man does rarely comprehend the supernatural through his natural senses.
In a closely related wavelength, the concept of faith is brought to the fore. Given that essentially, faith is believing in the unseen, man has great difficulty in having faith. It is for this that as the protagonist questions whether it is inconceivable to comprehend God with the natural senses. It is against the backdrop of frustrations with the silence of God that Block dismisses faith as futile as falling and being in love with a lover who is perpetually hidden in darkness.
The foregoing clearly brings to the fore, the metaphysical debate on the reality of existence. The audience has to contend with the existence of the unseen as a reality or fantasy. The audience has to contend with the prospects of dismissing a concept or phenomenon as unreal just because it is incomprehensible to the natural senses. If man must address this matter objectively, he has to contend with the reality of his imperfection in natural senses. In this light, it must be remembered that even natural objects may delude man’s perception or natural senses. For instance, mirage may deceive the natural senses into thinking that the highway ahead of him is covered with aqueous substance. If man has limitations in comprehending the natural, it could also be that the inability to see the supernatural realm only bespeaks the limitations of man’s natural perception and not the inexistence of the supernatural.
References
Bergman, I. (1957). The Seventh Seal. Stockholm: AB Svensk Filmindustri.
