Restoring Literary Sublimity from Linguistic Profanity: a Narratological Discourse Analysis of Stephen Adly Guirgis’ The Last Days of Judas Iscariot

‘F’ words do not fancy a fascinating narrative. Stephen Adly Guirgis’ existential play, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, captures the reader’s attention not because of its impressive re-visitation of the biblical narrative of Judas Iscariot’s penitent death, but rather because of its abundant use of swear words. The storyline is built on black humor, justifying the use of a derogatory style. As a counter-narrative based on the Bible, his craftsmanship in chiseling the language to convey black humor includes wordplay, pranks, craftiness, and subtle twists of the truth. This research aims to employ Discourse Analysis to dismantle the syntax of the play in terms of literariness and linguistic decency. It also seeks to establish a balance between literariness and sublimity that is desired in creative writing by avoiding linguistic profanity. Such perspicacity results from the authors’ responsibility and freedom of choice in employing several literary techniques, rather than using swear words, within their fictitious boundaries. As swear words belittle the author’s image, replacing them with more appropriate descriptive words would undoubtedly attract a larger reading community.