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Gender and Pilgrimage in The Digby Mary Magdalene

Authors

Jiamiao Chen

Abstract

The anonymous late medieval Digby Mary Magdalene play has long been regarded as sprawling and episodic. It was not until the mid-twentieth century that more and more scholars have attempted to achieve a fuller appreciation of the play by demonstrating its structural and thematic unity and by studying it in its medieval contexts. However, few scholars have examined the structural and thematic significance of ‘pilgrimage’ in the play. This essay contextualizes the Digby Mary Magdalene in the medieval society and culture of which pilgrimages formed a crucial part and argues that pilgrimage is one of the most important themes and motifs that creates unity within the play. In particular, I examine the gendered dimension of the different forms of “pilgrimages”—either physical, or spiritual, or metaphorical—undertaken by the titular heroine Mary Magdalene to investigate how the Digby Magdalene participates in the contemporary concerns over the relationship between women and pilgrimages and how it shapes the Magdalene into an exemplary pilgrim and her life into an exemplary pilgrimage. The Digby Magdalene, overall, can be read as a play featuring its female pilgrim’s progress into the heavenly kingdom.

Comparative Drama is carried by JSTOR and Project MUSE.

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