Saints and the Audience in Middle English Biblical Drama

Download or read book Saints and the Audience in Middle English Biblical Drama written by Chester Norman Scoville and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2004-01-01 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Saints and heroes were often central characters in Middle English biblical plays, although scholarship has tended to focus more on the villainous than the virtuous. In this study, Chester Scoville examines how medieval playwrights portrayed saints and how they used them to convey feelings of social virtue, devotion, compassion and community in the audience. Although looking also at performance practices, costume, gesture and scenert, the main emphasis is on language and rhetoric in biblical drama and the position of saints lying between the earthly and ultimate community. Four `role models' are jeld up for close examination: Thomas the Doubter, Mary Magdalene, Jospeh and Paul.