Robert Frost`s A Masque of Reason is a significant record of a great poet`s understanding of man`s relationship with God. The significance of this masque can perhaps best be appreciated by considering it in terms of the role of modern parody. Modern parody is not just a ridiculing imitation but functions as an ideal or a norm from which the modern departs. A Masque of Reason parodies The Book of Job, which provides a profound statement on the theme of theodicy, that is, the justice of God with respect to human suffering. But for unreasonable suffering, as in the case of the innocent and righteous Job, theodicy is an enigmatic problem because the justice of an almighty God cannot be reasonably defended in the face of evil. The Book of Job solves this enigma by acknowledging the existence of the Devil, whose attack on the righteousness of man is allowed by God as a way of silencing the Devil`s evil scheme to alienate God from man. The existence of the Devil is one of God`s mysterious ways to man. The outcome of the struggle in heaven between the Devil and God is at stake in the suffering of the righteous man; thus unreasonable human suffering has a deep meaning beyond human understanding. But modern man, unlike Job in the Old Testament, has excessive confidence in his own reason, and thereby refuses to accept the mysterious and irrational ways of God. Modern man`s faith in his own reason leaves little room for any religious faith, and gives rise to such modern tendencies as substituting God with human reason, doubting God`s omnipotence and degrading Him to a human level, disregarding the reality of the Devil in God`s enterprise. Frost in his A masque of Reason no only rejects man`s reason as being insufficient to understand the mystery of God`s justice, but satirizes on modern man`s faith in reason as such; thus defending the justice of God regarding human suffering. A Masque of Reason is a successful parody of The Book of Job, satirizing the stubbornness of human reasoning as well as defending theodicy as stated in The Book of Job.
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