Urizen’s Body and the Proliferation of the Primordial Error: A Biblical, Gnostic, Hermetic and Blakean Perspective
Urizen’s Body and the Proliferation of the Primordial Error: A Biblical, Gnostic, Hermetic and Blakean Perspective

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this paper is to reveal the manner in which through The Book of Urizen, William Blake parodies the Old Testament version of Genesis, using both Gnostic and Hermetic elements with regard to the myth of creation in order to forge a body for the principle of Error, the root of which can be said to lie in selfishness, in the shape of his character Urizen. The paper will be divided into two parts. In the first part, I will trace the principle of the primordial error, as well as its consequences through the doctrines of Christianity, Gnosticism and Hermeticism, while in the second part, the discussion will deal with William Blake’s version of the origin of the material world as the foundation for the embodiment of primordial Error.

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