Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 5518
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Tasioulas , J.A.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Between Doctrine and Domesticity: The Portrayal of Mary in the N-Town Plays [argues that the N-Town author sought to emphasize both Mary's purity and humanity in the depiction of her conception and childhood].
  • Source: Medieval Women in Their Communities.  Edited by Diane Watt.  University of Toronto Press, 1997.  Pages 222 - 245.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Essay
  • Subject (See Also): Children in Literature Literature- Drama Mary, Virgin, Saint- Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception Mary, Virgin, Saint in Literature N- Town Plays
  • Geographic Area: British Isles
  • Century: 15
  • Related Resources: J.A. Tasioulas' article "Between Doctrine and Domesticity: The Portrayal of Mary in the N-Town Plays" looks at the contested (and apocryphal) events in the childhood of the Virgin Mary. The portrayal of these events in the N-Town Conception Play emphasizes Mary's domesticity, physicality, and motherhood. These themes, Tasioulas argues, show the community's interest in Mary's humanity. In the process, the playwright offers a more complex image of women than stereotypically either good or evil. Tasiolulas then goes on to suggest that the Mary of the N-Town plays was an ideal model for all women." From the review written by Katherine L. French of "Medieval Women in Their Communities," "Medieval Review" (TMR ID: 96.12.11). [Reproduced by permission of the "Medieval Review."].
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  • Abstract:
  • Author's Affiliation: Stirling University
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 1997.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 0802042899
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