Margery Kempte Gender Roles Essay
The Book of Medieval Manipulation: Feminist/Gender Criticism of The Book of Margery Kempe
The Book of Margery Kempe is an autobiography, verbally composed by Margery Kempe to an unnamed priest, recollecting her life and experiences as a Christian mystic. After Margery has her first child she goes through a post partum psychosis and has a spiritual transformation involving a strong connection with Christ. Twenty years and fourteen children later, Margery breaks from the cycle and her husband agrees to a chaste marriage so that she can become a public virgin to fulfill her self claimed penance to God. There are many times when Margery conforms to the gender roles and other times when they are seemingly broken. In The Book of Margery Kempe, Margery lives …show more content…
as a common fifteenth century woman who then uses religious manipulation to considerably break free from her expected gender role.
As a women in the late middle ages, Margery was allowed to be nothing less than Mrs.
John Kempe. Her life was existent merely to serve his needs and to continue his bloodline. Back in the 1500s, this was the norm for all women and any who opposed or tried to break free entirely were beaten or killed. Even after Margery became a public virgin and traveled, there were times when her husband still was the more important asset. An example of this was when Margery was thought a lollard by a group of monks at Canterbury who threatened her by saying, “Take and burn her” (Kempe 22). Without her husband there she was a sitting duck for a man to make decision of. Luckily for her, two young men saved her, as she had requested from God. However, if these two were not present, or as kind, who could know what would have happened to her. Her story most likely would have never been told because just being a woman, let alone a woman who is sometimes taken as a liar by claiming to be a mystic, could have gotten her killed. She need a man to step up and save the day, just like all medieval gender roles would suggest. This hierarchical dualism of man/woman that is created in this patriarchal time devalues woman when man is
valued.
After a post partum depression, or some say psychosis, Margery’s life took a major turn in events as she became a Christian mystic. She was no longer going to be like the rest of the women in the medieval times. Her reason for life was no longer going to be about servicing her husband but about a much higher, spiritual purpose. Many places Margery traveled led her to many different experiences being a woman mystic. There were some who angrily disbelieved in what she was saying and even went as far as to believe she was talking to the Devil. Then there were those who supported Margery “...the mystic can influence God as much as God can influence the mystic” (Grevatt). These religious characters that were in belief of Margery’s gift felt that she really could connect directly to Christ. Then from there connecting with Margery could mean extreme benefits in their spirituality because they believed that as a mystic she could influence what God had planned.
Throughout Margery Kempe’s autobiography you get an extremely good glimpse of what being a woman really meant in the middle ages. The set of rules and norms set by the people at the time really put women into a very small, defined, unchanging box of freedom, if you could even call it that. After a spiritual transformation Magery found a way to penance herself that also allowed her to slightly step outside the scrupulous box of women's “rights”.
The Book of Margery Kempe is an autobiography, verbally composed by Margery Kempe to an unnamed priest, recollecting her life and experiences as a Christian mystic. After Margery has her first child she goes through a post partum psychosis and has a spiritual transformation involving a strong connection with Christ. Twenty years and fourteen children later, Margery breaks from the cycle and her husband agrees to a chaste marriage so that she can become a public virgin to fulfill her self claimed penance to God. There are many times when Margery conforms to the gender roles and other times when they are seemingly broken. In The Book of Margery Kempe, Margery lives …show more content…
as a common fifteenth century woman who then uses religious manipulation to considerably break free from her expected gender role.
As a women in the late middle ages, Margery was allowed to be nothing less than Mrs.
John Kempe. Her life was existent merely to serve his needs and to continue his bloodline. Back in the 1500s, this was the norm for all women and any who opposed or tried to break free entirely were beaten or killed. Even after Margery became a public virgin and traveled, there were times when her husband still was the more important asset. An example of this was when Margery was thought a lollard by a group of monks at Canterbury who threatened her by saying, “Take and burn her” (Kempe 22). Without her husband there she was a sitting duck for a man to make decision of. Luckily for her, two young men saved her, as she had requested from God. However, if these two were not present, or as kind, who could know what would have happened to her. Her story most likely would have never been told because just being a woman, let alone a woman who is sometimes taken as a liar by claiming to be a mystic, could have gotten her killed. She need a man to step up and save the day, just like all medieval gender roles would suggest. This hierarchical dualism of man/woman that is created in this patriarchal time devalues woman when man is
valued.
After a post partum depression, or some say psychosis, Margery’s life took a major turn in events as she became a Christian mystic. She was no longer going to be like the rest of the women in the medieval times. Her reason for life was no longer going to be about servicing her husband but about a much higher, spiritual purpose. Many places Margery traveled led her to many different experiences being a woman mystic. There were some who angrily disbelieved in what she was saying and even went as far as to believe she was talking to the Devil. Then there were those who supported Margery “...the mystic can influence God as much as God can influence the mystic” (Grevatt). These religious characters that were in belief of Margery’s gift felt that she really could connect directly to Christ. Then from there connecting with Margery could mean extreme benefits in their spirituality because they believed that as a mystic she could influence what God had planned.
Throughout Margery Kempe’s autobiography you get an extremely good glimpse of what being a woman really meant in the middle ages. The set of rules and norms set by the people at the time really put women into a very small, defined, unchanging box of freedom, if you could even call it that. After a spiritual transformation Magery found a way to penance herself that also allowed her to slightly step outside the scrupulous box of women's “rights”.