김정애 -- 사이클극의 여성들

Jung-ai Kim, "Women in English Cycle Plays"

Abstract

Medieval cycle plays portray a few women characters in the entire cycle since they mainly focus on the Nativity and the Passion of Christ. The fact that women characters can be easily divided into the familiar dichotomy of Eve and the Virgin  as they are represented in the Bible seems there’s no room to develop the feminist approach to the cycle plays. However the authors of the cycle play do not simply follow  but develops the characterization of women in the scripture. The images of women depicted by the cycle plays derives and departs from the Bible and the European tradition socio-economic factors of the late middle age.

In the cycle plays, Eve, Noah’s wife, Gill, Procula are rebuked by their husbands for being unruly, outrageous, garrulous, disobedient, recalcitrant, shrewish, malicious.  These complaints of husbands can not be justified in terms of women’s point of view. Eve, the victim of Satan, asked Adam to eat the Forbidden Apple which she thinks makes him wise.

The conflict between Noah and his wife which shows a shocking amount of spousal violence reflects the tension between husband and wife in the late medieval society. Her refusal to enter the ark is not that of a shrew, but as a woman attempting to find an identity and preserve her family even in the absence of husband. This reflect the changing and expanded role of women at that time.

Procula, the wife of Pilate, refuses to remain silent and transgresses her role as the governor’s wife. Procula, like Eve, is visited by Satan who through her tries to influence the judgment of Pilate. Speaking her dream Procula tries to protect her husband from being involved in the crucifying innocent Jesus.

Gill, the wife of Mak, plays the role of trickster to protect Mak from hanging. She even affirms her innocence by swearing she would eat her own newborn if she were guilty of gulling the shepherds. She parodies the seated Madonna with the Christ child on her knee.

Unlike the Eve type women, the Virgin Mary of the cycle plays faithfully reproduces the theological view of the Church. The Virgin Mary is the sum of a chaste virgin, a bride, a mother, the Queen of the Heaven and the intercessor. The Virgin, facing the crucifixion, comprehends the tragic paradox of the blissful Passion. She is defined primarily through her separateness from and superiority to  women as well as her humanness.

Mary Magdalene, the most interesting women character in the cycle plays, transcends the dichotomy of Eve and the Virgin and combines the earthliness and holiness. Magdalene is a conflation of three separate figures: she is made to be not only the sister of Martha and Lazarus but also the woman from whom seven devils were expelled and the penitent who washes Jesus’ feet with her hair at the house of Simon. Above of all, as the great lover of Jesus, Magdalene is a faithful disciple, the first to see the resurrection. Magdalene as a penitent  and a disciple contributes the feminization of the late medieval piety. 
 

Key Words
cycle play, Eve, the Virgin, Mary Magdalene, image of woman, misogyny