The picture is in black and white. In the background, there is a big tower that reaches above the clouds. Throughout the rest of the picture, people appear to be in agony.

Gustave Doré

Gustave Doré was a French illustrator and etcher born in Strasbourg in 1832.  He is famous for his printed illustrations of over 100 books, including the Bible, the Divine Comedy, and Don Quixote.  At one point, he had 40 staff members helping him transfer his sketches onto plates to be etched.  He died in Paris in 1883.

In the background, there are people working on the tower.  The top of it goes well above the clouds, almost as if they are trying to reach the heavens with it.  The height of he tower was their way of “making a name for themselves” by having a landmark known to everybody across the area.  In the foreground, there are people who appear to be in agony.  They are gesturing up towards the sky and covering their ears with their hands.  From this, we can tell that this is the point where God confuses their tongues and takes away the universal language in Genesis 11: 8.  God knew the power they possessed if they all spoke the same language, so He ultimately took complete control over them by confusing their tongues and fulfilling what He set out to do in the first place and scatter them across the Earth making the different races.  Not only did God do this to punish them for the disobedience they had shown by going against what He had planned for them, He also did this because the people were being too prideful.  They wanted the tower to reach the heavens, almost trying rivaling God’s authority and power.

Brown, Raymond E., Fitzmyer, Joseph A., Murphy, Ronald E., Martini, Carlo M. C. “Genesis.” In The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, 18. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Halls Publishers, 1990.

Klip, Ronald. “Art and the Bible.” (2005-2013). http://www.artbible.info/art/tower-of-babel.html

Lucas Mutschelknaus