Abstract
Although pregnancy is often figured as the defining quality of womanhood, there is a surprising amount of gender fluidity in portrayals of pregnancy and birth in medieval literature and theology. Given the significance of the Nativity to the medieval mystery cycle, these plays are an ideal site for queer and trans readings of pregnancy. Through performance, they not only take up complex theological issues of gender, they also embody them physically. Cross-gendered performance adds a layered trans resonance to portrayals of pregnancy, and the challenge of performing birth onstage presents further opportunities for gender play. Despite this rich material for the queering of pregnancy in medieval drama, the subject remains underexplored.
In this paper, I will examine the imagery of pregnancy, labor, and birth in the mystery plays through a trans studies lens. Focusing specifically on the Creation of Adam and Eve, The Nativity, and The Crucifixion, I argue that these pivotal episodes are connected by the performance of labor and birth. Beginning with Adam giving birth to Eve, then Mary giving birth to Christ, and finally Christ giving birth to the church, I trace the imagery of labor pain and birth through the plays to read all three episodes as instances of queer pregnancy. The parallels between Adam, Mary, and Christ in the mystery plays not only speak to the transness of medieval drama, but also reveal the extent to which the embodied performance of pregnancy queers the salvation narrative and the civic celebrations that surround it.
Recommended Citation
Whitacre, A.E.
(2026)
"Trans Pregnancy in Performance: Birth Imagery in the Mystery Plays,"
ROMARD: Vol. 62, Article 6.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/romard/vol62/iss1/6
