The Book of Margery Kempe is a spiritual autobiography dictated by the titular Margery Kempe. To this day, there is still much scholarly debate as to whether Margery should be considered a genuine spiritual mystic, a madwoman, or simply a fraud. Throughout her life, Margery had visions in which she talked to Jesus, Mary, and various saints. In many of these visions, Jesus very directly gives Margery advice regarding how she should live her life. Interestingly enough, Margery was and illiterate laywoman and so her slow evolution into a religious enthusiast garnered much suspicion from her contemporaries (and from modern readers as well!). The fact that Margery most often expressed her religious fervor through fits of crying, weeping, screaming, …show more content…
and roaring during religious services only served to worsen her peers already low opinion of her. In the end, her contemporaries accused her of fraud and heresy, and many of today’s readers today still consider her hysterical and mad. However, the goal of this paper is, in fact, to show that Margery Kempe is a genuine mystical figure, who lived her life for Christ the best that she could. Central to the discussion will be the physicality of Margery’s devotion to her faith and how that sets her apart from others. The way Margery Kempe experiences religious devotion is extremely physical in nature. She weeps excessively, has vivid life-like visions of Christ, and generally brings a physical quality to experiences that are typically internal and private. This is what makes not only Margery’s more abstract spiritual experiences concrete but also her physical experiences spiritual. Her physical expression of her religious devotion brings scorn and hatred from her peers, and essentially ostracizes her from society. For scholars, the question of Margery’s authenticity is still debated, but one interesting argument comes from Santha Bhattacharji. She argues that Margery is actually extremely genuine because she can see the humanity of Christ and thus can experience Christ in the humanity around her, thus supporting the idea that Margery is legitimate. Margery’s deep understanding of Christ relationship with humanity and her lack of fear of social ostracization, show how truly genuine and devoted Margery’s is. Many readers would agree that one of the most striking aspects of the story of Margery Kempe is the extreme physicality that she brings to experience that generally private and internal.
She physically expresses the extreme emotions she feels because she is unable to contain her spiritual fervor. One of the key examples of this physical outpouring is Margery’s weeping which is her most common form of religious expression. As previously mentioned she also experiences vivid visions that sometimes involve hearing heavenly music, feelings of warmth and pleasure, and smelling divine scents. One such vision is when Margery experiences embracing and marrying Jesus. The physicality of all of this serves to make Margery’s more abstract experiences very concrete and to also justify how her physical experiences are therefore also …show more content…
spiritual. Margery’s physical responses of violent outpouring of emotions allow other to see and thus take part in her religious fervor. Though, it is worth noting that Margery does acknowledge that perhaps she may have made some misinterpretations regarding her visions and experiences: “For sometimes what she understood as bodily was to be understood as ghostly…and she had no joy in the feeling till she knew by experience” (160). Margery does admit that perhaps she expressed things physically too much over her life, but she highly valued the experiential experience and the suffering she went through made her better able to understand Christ’s suffering. Let us take a moment to delve deeper into the tears that Margery often uncontrollably weeps. When she worships or even thinks of God, Margery often bursts forth into violent roaring tears, no matter what the setting (so she often ends up disturbing church services to some extent). Margery posits that the tears a sent to her from God but she admits to confusion since she does not know exactly what they mean. Fortunately, as often occurs, Margery has a vision of Christ that explains why she weeps they way she does. Margery’s tears are an outward expression to the world of the love she feels for Christ himself. The tears come because it is important for her peers to be able to see the depth of Margery’s faith. This is a spiritual burden that Margery must bear, and is it a source of both pride and difficulty for her. Margery’s tears bring with them suggestion of the suffering of Christ who was tortured and crucified in order to save all of humanity. Thus Margery’s tears are symbolic and serve as a form of worship that can also teach others. Margery tears are also extremely important because they are indicator of how thoroughly dependent on God Margery is. She has absolutely no control over her body as she violently weeps and this shows how much control Christ has over her. As she is often called throughout the narrative, Margery is a “creature” of Christ: she is a thing created and controlled by God. Thus, even though the weeping can be trying at times for the suffering it brings her, Margery actually considers it a blessing, for it shows how truly holy she is. There are two very compelling scenes involving tears that exemplify how holy Margery really is. First is when Margery visits the Archbishop of York in Chapter 52 of the Book. Margery is fervently praying and dissolves in to tears: When her crying was passed, she came before the Archbishop and fell down on her knees, the Archbishop saying full roughly unto her, “Why weep you so, woman?” She answering, said, “Sir, you shall wish some day that you had wept as sorely as I.” (Kempe 92) Margery confidently retorts the Archbishop of York when he suggests her actions may have been inappropriate. She has no shame even when being questioned by a powerful religious authoritative figure. Her self-confidence is part of the true holiness granted her by God. Her tears give her the courage and strength to stand up and even rebuke a man so powerful as a an archbishop. She tells him that one day he will one day wish he understood Christ’s suffering the way Margery does. Her tears are an expression of her vehement religious fervor and as such are not punishment (though they may seem that way at times), but a blessing to which everyone should aspire. Later on in the text (Chapter 60), Margery visits Norwich and is at one point overcome as she gazes upon a statue of Mary holding Christ’s body that she is compelled to cry loudly as if she herself were dying. As she cries: Then came to her the lady’s priest, saying, “ Damsel, Jesus is dead long since.” When her crying was ceased, she said to the priest, “Sir, his death is as fresh to me as if he had died this same day, and so I think it ought to be to you and to all Christian people. We ought ever to have mind of his kindness and ever think of the doleful death that he died for us.” (Kempe 109) Margery once again faces questioning from a religious figure regarding her disruptive emotional religious displays. And yet again Margery responds confidently and without fear. Her response chastises the priest and questions his own personal religious fervor. Margery weeps as though Christ’s death was still a fresh wound and she believes that all true Christians should mourn as she does. Again Margery’s tears a highly symbolic: Margery cries because she can always feel and understand the deep sacrifice that Christ made for humankind. The tears are her way of reminding all of those around her of Christ’s suffering and love, lest they ever forget. Margery’s true holiness means that not only is she herself as religious as she can be, but she also actively encourages other to do the same. Tying in well with this is Santha Bhattacharji’s argument regarding Margery’s spirituality. In her paper, Bhattacharji explores the tradition of religious weeping (Specifically with loud violent sobbing, shouting, writhing, roaring, etc.) through Margery Kempe. She posits that Margery’s weeping is a penitence for her own sins as well as the sins of the world. Margery also weeps because she feels such a strong empathy for the sufferings of Christ. Margery gains a sense of deep joy and satisfaction from her weeping because, in a way, it provides her with a sense of spiritual nourishment. What truly makes her weep is how much like humans Christ is. Humanity is not so far removed from Christ, and so when Margery sees flashes of Christ in the people around her, she weeps bitterly at the reminded loss. Her bawling bears witness to the eternal present-ness of the humanity of Christ and of Christ in humanity (Bhattercharji 237). It brings to light Margery’s spirituality and how she experiences her faith. She tries to help other begin to experience religion in the way she does and that is what makes her a truly holy woman. Ultimately, Margery Kempe’s experiences should be considered genuine.
She behaved the way she felt was right according to her very devout faith and tries to live her life as God instructed her as best she could. She faced scorn from not only her husband, but also her fellow Christians and peers and yet she never backed down. She stood up against great suffering in order to do what she felt was right, much like Christ himself. Margery Kempe was anything but the stereotypical medieval woman; she was a faithful woman of God who was far more concerned with her heavenly pursuits that her earthly life. While she may have annoyed many of her fellow Christians and peers, and may seems fraudulent or insane to a modern reader, Margery Kempe was a genuine mystic who lived as devout a life as she
could.
H. Talbot, she states, “Her visions and prophecies show a strong yet imaginative mind, which expressed in this way her moral convictions and her insight into events and character and which gave her the support and comfort she needed to maintain a chosen course of action” (484). It is clear that although Christina of Markyate was in fact a woman, that she was strong minded and that the patriarchal roles in her life were afraid of what she could do. Because she was strong in her convictions, her father trusted her and the Bishop forced her to marry Burthead. Through this, the reader can see that she conquered the patriarchy by making them fear her and what she was capable of, but also did so by respecting her and believing in her character, even though she was a woman. She fully represents a rebel to the social norm in her actions and through her visions. A rebellious medieval woman first and foremost would not marry; they would decide to become a part of the church themselves, rather than being forced to in order to please their Heavenly Father. Through the readings of Christina of Markyate and Hrosvit of Gandersheim’s Mary, the reader can see that a rebellious medieval woman, like Christina of Markyate, would leave her marriage and refuse to consummate it, or like the character of Mary, would become sexually curious and
Medieval England was considered to be a Patriarchy, due to the serious gender roles which cast men as superior to women. Margery Kempe attempted time and time again to break the boundaries of the gender roles put in place by society. The men in her life tried to stop her, and bring her back to the social norms of what it meant to be a women living in the time period: John Kempe, her priest, Christ etc. To analyze Kempe, it is first important to note what was expected of medieval women; “the classical females are portrayed as vessels of chastity, purity, and goodness” (O’Pry-Reynolds, 37). She was not your typical female; she wanted to break free from the strict expectations of women; “Men and women of the medieval period and medieval literature
Saint Christina of Markyate’s story provides more than the religious experiences of a hermit, it presents twelfth-century life in, mostly, the Huntington area of England in a very detailed manner. Baptized as Theodora, Christina of Markyate’s path of religious devotion is claimed to have begun in her early teen years with a vow of chastity (35). This vow was only known to one other person, a close friend named Sueno, until her parents attempted to arrange a marriage for her. Being described as attractive and intelligent, as well as coming from a wealthy family, this was not uncommon for women in Christina’s lifetime. Upon declining the first suitor, a bishop, her hardships begin and, at times, seem as though they were both unlikely to end and
the ultimate Puritan. Was the glory to God or to herself? She also relates here
Edmund Emil Kemper III was born on December 13, 1948 in Burbank, CA. He was born to the union of Edmund E. Kemper Jr. and Clarnell Strandberg. After his parents divorced, Clarnell took Kemper along with his two sisters to live by her very high standards and abusive ways. She berated Kemper mentally by having him sleep in a windowless basement because she feared of the harm he may cause to his sisters. In turn, this caused the hatred that he had for her to fester and turn into hatred against all women. On many occasions Kemper would break off the heads and hands of his sister’s dolls and also have them play the game he called “The gas chamber” in which he was the victim to be executed (Fisher, 2003a).
...Christian values in her own way in order to justify her character’s actions, in addition to using religion as a way of explaining what she thinks of herself. On the other hand, Margery Kempe was a woman who took religion to a new level as a result of “supposedly” having very intense visions and experiences with Jesus Christ. The result was a woman who believed that she had more religious authority than an archbishop of the church and who possessed the strength to continue on her path, despite allegations of being psychotic.
...mily is in reference to the disciples. No matter what it the acions were, they followed grandmother, the Christ-like figure. They also were oppressed, but by death, in a way as the disciples were for following Christ.
Baron Richard Von Krafft-Ebing, a 19th century German psychiatrist, was quoted as having said, "We find that the sexual instinct, when disappointed and unappeased, frequently seeks and finds a substitute in religion." This may have been the condition of Margery Kempe when she desired to cease all sexual activity with her spouse because of her devotion to God. Instead of performing her duties as a wife, she chose instead to spread her knowledge of God to her community and did so not only in speech, but also in literature. Whatever her motivation for creating such descriptive language, it is evident that her faith in God conquered both her fear of public opinion and the constraints placed upon all women during the period. Living in the 1400s, she steps out of a woman's role and into the territory of a man by living her life publicly, abandoning her position of mother and wife, and recording her life in writing. Fortunately, because she was writing for religious reasons, her work was both permitted and accepted. In The Book of Margery Kempe, she describes her experiences with brilliant imagery, some of which is sexual, all of which is sensual. By using her own senses to portray her spiritual...
Catherine of Siena. The Dialogue of the Divine Providence . Trans. Algar Thorold. 1907. 25 Feb. 2004 .
...Jesus commands to Margery the contrary saying on one occasion “…go again to her husband and pray him to grant her what she desired” (Windeatt, 59). Margery lived well aware of her desires and, though they often caused temporary conflict such as her chastity, did not neglect herself to such extremes as hiding the desires of her heart or the absence of knowledge. Similarly of the two texts, the practice of contemplation suggests that one comes to know God on the basis of both intellect and emotions. Margery clearly understands this emotional tie to the divine in her relation to the passion of both Christ and Mary and her sufferings on the behalf of them both.
Teresa the Avila is the last of the most accomplished women of the Middle Age. She was a Spanish nun, like Hildegard, who had mystic visions. She viewed Jesus as a spouse. After a while in her convent she decided to go all through Spain sharing her religious faith. On this quest she was able to create 25 more monasteries throughout Spain. She suffered considerably because of her visions because her confessor told her to ignore them since they came from the devil. She did not challenge this in a direct confrontation, but instead decided to choose a different priest to be her confessor. Her vision, were finally given authority by the church when she got help from Peter de Alcantara.
“The moment I saw her I say in all truth that the vital spirit, which dwells in the inmost depths of the heart, began to tremble so violently that I felt the vibration alarmingly in all my pulses, even the weakest of them. As it trembled, it uttered these words: (behold a god more powerful than I who comes to rule over me).” (4)
With the lady, and demands of the court, the future of knights was shifted in a different direction; she demanded that a knight act with strength on one hand, and courtesy and respect on the other. A knight should respect women; he should defend them in their hour of need, shunning the magnetic gravity of mere lust. Love could be a powerful influence over a knight, a force that could propel him to greatness beyond his own abilities; the church declared that only the spiritual love of Christ was superior to the love of a woman, the important aspect here is love was added as a chivalric element.
Since the dawn of time, the desire for immortality and eternal beauty has all but governed humans as a species. A fallacy that such a thing could be procured as the proverbial fountain of youth has consumed, destroyed, and even sent some into a spiraling descent of madness. From the destitute to the affluent and everyone between, no one has ever fully escaped the hypnotic lure of the notion of being forever young and beautiful. The journey to acquire such an unattainable object has even motivated some to implement unspeakable and deplorable acts against their own kind. One individual in particular, a late Hungarian Countess by the name of Elizabeth Bathory, is a perfect example of lust for perfection and beauty taken too far.