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rfmcdonaldI'm making this brief post for two reasons.
This paper is for my medieval devotional literature course. For this paper, I'm examining the York Corpus Christi mystery plays. Corpus Christi mystery plays were communal dramatic performances quite common to medieval England, with each play performed by a particular guild as part of its civic obligations. The plays of the northern English city of York have taken on particular importance, thanks to their completeness and their stylistic innovations.
I'm interested in the figure of Joseph, foster-father of the young Jesus. For a member of the Holy Family, Joseph has been treated astonishingly cavalierly. As the Catholic Encyclopedia points out, there are few references to Joseph in the gospel, with the most information coming from apocryphal sources like the Protevangelium and The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew. Moreover, only in the course of the 15th century did the celebration of St. Joseph really begin to take off, 14 centuries after his death. Abundant evidence suggests that, to medievals, Joseph was seen as a laughable figure, as the stereotype of the old man cuckolded by his younger wife with the sole unique point being that God was the adulterer.
My argument will be that although this portrayal is subversive of the Chruch's official doctrine, at the same time there is a vein of empathy with Joseph. His portrayal in rhe three plays of the York cycle where Joseph features--the Pewterers and Founders' Joseph’s Trouble about Mary, the Tilthatchers' The Nativity, and the Marshals' The Flight Into Egypt--demonstrates in part a challenge to gender stereotypes. The depictions of Joseph represent a belief in a more balanced gendered division of labour whenever appropriate, and a certain fluidity in gender roles, a belief that the model of Joseph--as the man chosen to be foster-father of Jesus--is superior to whatever other beliefs on the proper nature of masculinity may exist.
- I want to inform my readers of what I'm writing
- More importantly, I want to make it clear to myself that I understand what I'm writing.
This paper is for my medieval devotional literature course. For this paper, I'm examining the York Corpus Christi mystery plays. Corpus Christi mystery plays were communal dramatic performances quite common to medieval England, with each play performed by a particular guild as part of its civic obligations. The plays of the northern English city of York have taken on particular importance, thanks to their completeness and their stylistic innovations.
I'm interested in the figure of Joseph, foster-father of the young Jesus. For a member of the Holy Family, Joseph has been treated astonishingly cavalierly. As the Catholic Encyclopedia points out, there are few references to Joseph in the gospel, with the most information coming from apocryphal sources like the Protevangelium and The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew. Moreover, only in the course of the 15th century did the celebration of St. Joseph really begin to take off, 14 centuries after his death. Abundant evidence suggests that, to medievals, Joseph was seen as a laughable figure, as the stereotype of the old man cuckolded by his younger wife with the sole unique point being that God was the adulterer.
My argument will be that although this portrayal is subversive of the Chruch's official doctrine, at the same time there is a vein of empathy with Joseph. His portrayal in rhe three plays of the York cycle where Joseph features--the Pewterers and Founders' Joseph’s Trouble about Mary, the Tilthatchers' The Nativity, and the Marshals' The Flight Into Egypt--demonstrates in part a challenge to gender stereotypes. The depictions of Joseph represent a belief in a more balanced gendered division of labour whenever appropriate, and a certain fluidity in gender roles, a belief that the model of Joseph--as the man chosen to be foster-father of Jesus--is superior to whatever other beliefs on the proper nature of masculinity may exist.
