Margery Kempe, the main topic of this essay, was in fact a controversial person. During her lifetime peoples' opinions about her were quite polarized. She was a conspicuous person and was in many conflicts with mostly clerical authorities. Some contemporaries looked up to her, while many others did not really know how to deal with her and her extraordinary behaviour. It is pretty much the same thing today. While some credit her as a mystic, others just condemn her as crazy. During the course of this essay, I will try to answer the question if she was a mystic or not. One approach could be made by looking at definitions of the terms "mystic" and "mysticism":
The "Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church" defines it as "an immediate
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She did not report much about her youth, but the readers get to know that she was not capable of reading and writing. Most noticeable evidence is the fact that she dictated the book to a priest. In 1393, Margery was married to John Kempe at the age of twenty. Soon afterwards, she became pregnant (she altogether had twenty children). Following the birth of her first child, she became mad. This period is described in the first chapter and finishes with a vision of Jesus, who spoke to her: "Daughter, why have you forsaken me, and I never forsook you?" This vision had the effect that Margery was sane again. She reverted back to life in a glamorous way, by wearing extravagant clothes and starting her own businesses, which both failed. Shortly after these failures, it came to her mind that God wanted to punish her for her sins. Her life changed some more, when she started to hear sweet melodies at night: "This melody was so sweet that it surpassed all the melody that might be heard in this world, without any comparison, and it caused this creature when she afterwards heard any mirth or melody to shed very plentiful and abundant tears of high devotion, with great sobbings..." From now on she had no longer the desire for sexual intercourse with her husband and decided to lead a life in chastity. She also attended church longer and more often and started to fast. Moreover she had more and stronger revelations, e.g. in chapters 6-7 she became Mary's handmaiden and
In 1393, at the age of twenty, Margery married John, who was well-known for his talent in business. Becoming pregnant soon afterward, she began to have frightening encounters with Satan, whom she claims tortured her by making her feel guilt and extreme remorse for a sin
“She wishes she had asked him to explain more of what he meant. But she was impatient…to be done with sewing. With doing everything for three children, alone…” (1125, 3), and “Respect, a chance to build. Her children at last from underneath the detrimental wheel. A chance to be on top” (1124, 2) both reveal the motives behind getting married to this man, despite the religious conflict. She is torn between the pros and cons of this new life. It’s although she is trying to convince herself, but the negative thoughts just keep surfacing.
During that time, it was considered improper for a woman to express her feelings like anger or dislike. She says, "I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes" (pg278), and the narrator blamed it on her mental condition rather than saying that she was actually tired of her husband's way of treating her illness. She felt secluded, useless and trapped. Yet, she still had to follow and accept that kind of social rule. Women were expected to be good in doing the house chores and taking care children. In the story, the narrator mentions about John's sister who was a perfect housekeeper and hoped for no better profession. There is also Mary who was so good with the Baby. The author was actually trying to send images to the readers that it was expected attitudes in her society and was part of their culture which women were forced to follow.
After an extended period of mourning, her father asked her why she would not remove her veil, for surely "the woman...led you into wickedness. How long will you mourn her, who deserves no mourning?" to which the girl replied, "It is my own...sin that I mourn." From then on she slunk about in rags and with ashes covering her face, forgotten by most everyone, and always sitting by the hearth, refusing to wash up, for she was "glad to be humble before God and men."
Ultio, is the Latin word for Revenge, which the witchcraft craze of the 1800’s was indirectly a result of. Richard Godbeer argues that women and men, alike, were accused of witchcraft by vengeful neighbors. These vengeful acts, however, were a direct result of tensions in and around the colonies. In a new land faced by harsh weather, disease, and war with neighboring Native American tribes, many colonists needed an escape, something they could easily control and defeat. Accusing neighbors of witchcraft, was not only an act of revenge, but a way for colonists to band together against a common enemy they could destroy. They essentially created a substitute for their fears and hatred.
She complains that the stories in the Bible that denigrate women are written by monks who have no experience with them, and that the stories would be far different if women were to write them. After Jankin struck her, she appeared dead, but when she revived he was so penitent that he ceded all authority in the marriage to her. From that point onward she was kind to him, for he had given her what she truly wanted.
“‘She was competent, decisive, self-reliant; perhaps she intimidated them, for before long they drifted their attentions elsewhere’” (93).
Mary Rowlandson, like other Puritans in the 1600’s, lived to figure out God’s purpose for her. Because of this, Rowlandson makes several allusions to the Bible to compare her situation to that of Biblical stories and characters and interprets her situation accordingly as either punishment or a
The film “The Water Diviner” is to a large extent historically accurate. The story takes you on an adventure about a father (Joshua Connor) who lost his three sons in Gallipoli. The movie is to some extent realistic as it’s based on a real father who travelled from Gallipoli to Australia to find his son’s bodies. The film is also realistic as it uses the correct weapon and armoury that they used in the real battle and it is based on a real battle (Gallipoli). There is also unrealistic in the movie. This includes how somehow the Father can “sense” where his son’s bodies lay.
Flannery O’Connor once noted that all good stories are ones of conversion (Wood, 217), and Wise Blood is no exception. The central spiritual struggle of the book is that of the character Hazel Motes. The protagonist goes through not simply one but several conversions throughout the book. His spiritual quest is his realization of the Church Without Jesus, and his search for a new jesus. As analysis in this paper will elucidate, Hazel spiritual arc is a critique of approaches to knowing God. The first such method, nihilism, is a belief in nothing. This exists not only as a rejection of belief in an areligious sense, but is an active love of the concept of nothing itself. The second method comes in the debate of how one can come to know God,
Edna Pontellier is a woman of great needs. Although she has a husband who cares for her and two children, she is very unhappy. She plays her roles as a mother and wife often, but still keeps doing things unmarried, barren women should do: enjoy the company of other men, ignore her children's cries, dress unladylike for the times. The story is set in the late 1800's, when women were to be in the kitchen preparing a meal for their family, giving birth to more children to help with daily chores, or sitting quietly at home, teaching the children while the husband was at work. Edna Pontellier was a woman not of her time. At only 28, she would have rather been out gallivanting with different men, traveling with them, and painting
Reading this book has been interesting and heartbreaking experience. A Year of Magical Thinking, a journey through the grieving process. While dealing with the death of her husband, she is confronted with the sickness of her only child. This book touches me, and it makes me think of what would happen if my loved one died. This paper is a reflection of my thoughts and feelings about this woman’s journey that has been explored by book and video. I will also explore the author’s adjustment process, and how she views her changed self.
By the novel, Mary discusses several issues related to relationships which terrorize aspects of her personal life, including birth and childhood, the death of her mother, her miscarriage and new child and her coming across with the events which occurred in the summer of 1816 (see notes).
"I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too!" The Wicked Witch of the West...
Two very powerful female figures are presented in Error of The Faerie Queene, and Sin of Paradise Lost. These two characters are quite similar in description, Milton making a clear tribute to Spencer's work. Both characters have the same monster qualities, and both posses allegorical names and qualities.