Date of Submission
Spring 2022
Academic Program
Theater; Medieval Studies
Project Advisor 1
Marisa Libbon
Project Advisor 2
Miriam Felton-Dansky
Abstract/Artist's Statement
In this historically focused dramaturgy casebook for the medieval Catholic Chester Mystery Cycle's Play 14, Christ at the House of Simon the Leper, Christ and the Moneylenders, and Judas’ Plot, I offer suggestions for Play 14's production as it might have appeared in the cycle's final year of performance, 1575. I contextualize and grapple with the play's antisemitisms, and also offer a brief history of antisemitism in medieval Europe. I also analyze Play 14 and the Chester Mystery Cycle for their rhetorical appeals to the medieval vernacular language, contexts, and events, as well as their anachronistic temporal and geographic translation of the biblical imaginary into the medieval Cestrian world. I argue and display that these appeals promoted a heightened sense of religious contemplation, and prompted reflection on lived, not idealized devotion in an authentic world, and helped medieval Cestrians cope with, or accomodate for life in perplexing and tumultuous medieval times.
Open Access Agreement
Open Access
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Roberge, Andrew J., "Accommodation and Coping in Medieval Catholic England: A Historical Dramaturgy Casebook for The Chester Mystery Cycle’s Play 14: Christ at the House of Simon the Leper, Christ and the Moneylenders, and Judas’ Plot" (2022). Senior Projects Spring 2022. 292.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2022/292
This work is protected by a Creative Commons license. Any use not permitted under that license is prohibited.
Included in
Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture Commons, Catholic Studies Commons, Christianity Commons, Dramatic Literature, Criticism and Theory Commons, European History Commons, Fine Arts Commons, Folklore Commons, History of Christianity Commons, History of Religion Commons, Jewish Studies Commons, Literature in English, Anglophone outside British Isles and North America Commons, Medieval History Commons, Medieval Studies Commons, Other English Language and Literature Commons, Performance Studies Commons, Practical Theology Commons, Religious Education Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, Theatre History Commons