Book Of Margery Kempe Analysis
The Book of Margery Kempe (BMK) records the latter portion of Margery Kempe’s life as she has visions of Christ and struggles with the inevitable backlash of the clergy. Questions of her authority are brought up as Margery is repeatedly arrested on counts of heresy and Lollardy. While these sentiments are within the text, her authority is also questioned by the outside reader. Modern readers and scholars diminish her work due to her obvious lack of mental stability, and her inability to distinguish herself from other mystics. However, by focusing on her mental state or other mystics, readers overlook Margery’s very calculated plans for furthering God’s word and her sainthood, and fail to notice her ability to give herself authority in a time
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She identifies this moment with the start of her visions because viscous illnesses and demonic figures plague her. After months of being tormented by forms of evil, Christ forgives Margery for her sins, and suddenly, she is cured of her psychotic behavior and sinister visions. From this point on we receive the stories of her discussions with Christ and her reflections on sainthood (potentially her own). Critics read the postpartum scenes as the prime example of her postpartum or postnatal psychosis, all in order to invalidate her later divine revelations and intentions. In the article “The Functional Eccentricity of Margery Kempe”, Mary Hardman Farley presents arguments regarding Margery’s mental well-being and her intentions as a writer. Farley’s prognosis reads as …show more content…
As stated, this scene is a parallel of Margery’s struggle with giving birth, seeing evil, and then Jesus’s appearance curing her. In this woman’s life, Margery is the holy Christ figure. She has cured the ill just like Christ has done for her and others. Margery’s literal embodiment of imitatio Christi establishes her power and command in the teachings of the divine. Despite her possible mental illness, Margery’s unwavering belief that she speaks and acts through Christ fulfills the trope for a mystic, and therefore, she cannot be written off as just another crazy woman. Her ability to formulate such a parallel demonstrates how fully conscious and strategically she plans out her
She identifies this moment with the start of her visions because viscous illnesses and demonic figures plague her. After months of being tormented by forms of evil, Christ forgives Margery for her sins, and suddenly, she is cured of her psychotic behavior and sinister visions. From this point on we receive the stories of her discussions with Christ and her reflections on sainthood (potentially her own). Critics read the postpartum scenes as the prime example of her postpartum or postnatal psychosis, all in order to invalidate her later divine revelations and intentions. In the article “The Functional Eccentricity of Margery Kempe”, Mary Hardman Farley presents arguments regarding Margery’s mental well-being and her intentions as a writer. Farley’s prognosis reads as …show more content…
As stated, this scene is a parallel of Margery’s struggle with giving birth, seeing evil, and then Jesus’s appearance curing her. In this woman’s life, Margery is the holy Christ figure. She has cured the ill just like Christ has done for her and others. Margery’s literal embodiment of imitatio Christi establishes her power and command in the teachings of the divine. Despite her possible mental illness, Margery’s unwavering belief that she speaks and acts through Christ fulfills the trope for a mystic, and therefore, she cannot be written off as just another crazy woman. Her ability to formulate such a parallel demonstrates how fully conscious and strategically she plans out her