Martyrdom Of Perpetua Analysis

Perpetual Strength

Religion has been a sensitive and powerful subject throughout the course of history. This controversial topic has reaped wars, forcing people to defend their religious beliefs. When people start to venture into a specific type of religion, they usually develop a sense of attachment and adoration for some type of divine god. As their admiration for their religion grows, these individuals build up so much passion and glorification that they are willing to put their lives at stake as a mark of sacrificial appreciation. This idea and practice is present in the primary source document The Martyrdom of Perpetua & Felicity, as it recounts one of the first known acts of martyrdom in the early Roman age. In this document, a female martyr named Perpetua exhibits great strength and passion for Christ and is often portrayed in masculine ways in order to underscore the influence and authority that Christianity has on God’s believers. Although the primary source document may have
highlighted Perpetua’s past deeds as a female martyr to glorify the faith for Christ, this document and act stirred a lot of controversy during this time. At this point in history, women were not as significant or beloved as they are today. Women were depended on to care for their children and manage the household duties that they are wrongfully perceived to do. When people heard about Perpetua and other female martyr’s, they became afraid of the dangers behind these sacrificial acts. In this day and age, women are constantly depicted in a positive light and are given the benefit of the doubt the majority of the time. Due to feminist movements towards liberation in the past, women have been given the opportunity to speak out about their opinions and beliefs about society, which include their individual views on religion. Their rise towards freedom and liberation from corrupted gender norms in the past has allowed for our culture today to understand and appreciate the role of women. When we hear of stories about female martyrs, we “make them exceptional figures and thereby downplay the dangerous and politically powerful image of the female killer.” (Dunn) Oppositely, in 203 AD during Perpetua and Felicity’s martyrdom, those who witnessed these impending sacrificial acts did not think of them as exceptional figures. They were afraid of the message and faith that these women had exhibited. They had seen nothing like it as these women were doing things that men had normally done during this time period. Although it had been extremely controversial, Perpetua’s acts of heroism proves to be worth the risk in the end, as she has become such an influential role model to the lives of many Christians. Gender roles have been relevant in society as far back as written history goes, and it would have been extremely hard to transcend the strict gender roles that had been in place during this era of the Roman society. However, in The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity, Perpetua was not confined to the traditional role of a woman. She did not act the way that women were expected to act at the time, and instead took on the masculine approach and conformed to a strict feminine and masculine binary structure. During this time, men were associated with strength and heroism, and women were associated with weakness, passivity, and maternal roles. Although Perpetua was an extremely strong woman, her diary entry did not refute the power and advantages that came with being a man. Her faith in God had been so intense and influential that she was willing to surrender her femininity to God and risk her life as a way of exposing her commitment to Christ. Through her faith in Christianity, she tried to spread the idea that God values and takes to heart everything that we accomplish for Him. He acknowledges all acts of kindness and giving, and recognizes all of the Martyrs’ motives. This fact alone shows the strength and influence that he has over his believers. Disciples, such as Perpetua and Felicity, do not hesitate when it comes to giving to God. They are willing to abandon the love that they share with their families and beloved children in order to invest that love towards Christ. Psalm 29:11 reads “The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.” This verifies that because of Perpetua’s love for God, she was given the strength to speak out against her enemies, and was eventually blessed with peace in the end. This narrative upheld the idea that the characteristics of heroism and strength were only associated with men, and God gave her the ability to transcend her gender role several times throughout the text. The first example of the change in gender roles for Perpetua was the rejection of her role as a mother.
Although she was obviously a caring parent, she took pride in cutting off the connection with her child as she thought it was an essential turning point in her journey, allowing her to come even closer to becoming a true martyr of
Christ.
Quoting an excerpt from The Martyrdom of Pepertua & Felicity: “Then because my child had been used to being breastfed and to staying with me in the prison, straightway I sent Pomponius the deacon to my father, asking for the child. But my father would not give him. And as God willed, no longer did he need to be suckled, nor did I take fever; that I might not be tormented by care for the child and by the pain of my breasts.” (Perpetua)

This part of the diary is crucial in understanding the change in gender roles for Perpetua. Her baby and her breasts were strong symbols for her femininity and sexuality. At first, she was a very nurturing and caretaking mother that devoted her love to her child in very unselfish ways. However, once her child no longer needed her care, she was relieved from the “torment” of her child and “the pain of [her] breasts” (Perpetua). Since her faith had been so strong, Perpetua was elated that she had been able to finally separate herself entirely from her femininity and move towards becoming a true martyr. Without the responsibilities of caring for her child, she was no longer worried about being a woman, and had transformed into a masculine martyr, essentially rejecting her generalized image of womanhood. Through her confidence in Christianity, she was able to discover a resolution in losing her child and continue on with life in a positive manner. God gave her the courage and strength to completely disconnect herself from motherhood so that she could exemplify the influence and authority that Christ has on His believers. Interestingly enough, Felicity actually went through a similar experience that Perpetua had felt. Before she had given birth to her baby, she had felt “very sorrowful as the games drew near” fearing that her pregnancy would keep her back from joining her fellow martyr’s (Narrative). Thankfully, she had prayed to God about her dilemma, and her baby was soon born. Felicity, like Perpetua, completely disregarded the care for her child and disconnected herself from motherhood. She felt blessed and fortunate that she could partake in the martyrdom games and wanted to join her fellow martyrs in showing the world the strength and authority that Christ possesses. In addition to Perpetua’s denial of motherhood, Christ also gave her strength and authority during her encounters with her father and the gladiatorial games. During her interaction with her begging father, Perpetua had reversed her role as a woman with her father and had ultimately taken on the dominant and masculine role in their relationship. The diary entry portrays her father in an emotional and desperate state and it even says that he was “kissing [her] hands and groveling at [her] feet; and with tears he named [her], not daughter, but lady.” (Perpetua) With the faith of Christ by her side, she was able to overcome her father’s emotional attachment, and became the stronger, masculine person that society had looked up to at the time. According to Mary R. Lefkowitz, “we can recognize in Perpetua’s resistance to her father and gradual withdrawal from her family the standard behavior pattern of conversion; a wish to break with the past, a need to substitute strong new ties that can replace the old.” (Lefkowitz) Without Christ in Perpetua’s life, she would not have found the strength to withstand her father’s emotional outbursts, and she also would not have been able to triumph in the gladiatorial battle. During these times, women were not expected to win these hostile battles, so she transcended her gender role and masculinized herself through the support of God. By transforming her gender role, she got stronger and was able to display her authority over her adversary. Through the strength of Christ, once again, she was able to triumph in the gladiatorial games and “go with glory to the gate called the Gate of Life” (Perpetua). In Perpetua’s account about her journey towards martyrdom, she takes on a masculine approach that Christ equips her with in order to overcome the obstacles that she must face.
Her faith in God gives her the power and glory that she desperately needs to become a true martyr of Christ. Although Perpetua’s narrative may seem to degrade a woman’s importance in society, it is actually a representation of a strong woman who possessed masculine traits and abilities. The narrative gives us one of the first instances in which a woman transcends the societal boundaries in order to become a dominant role model in the rise of
Christianity.

Works Cited
Dunn, Shannon. "The Female Martyr and the Politics of Death: An Examination of the Martyr Discourses of Vibia Perpetua and Wafa Idris." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 78.1 (2010): 202-225.
Lefkowitz, Mary R.. "The Motivation for St. Perpetua 's Martyrdom." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 44.3 (1976): 417-21.
Maitland, Sara. The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity. Evesham: Arthur James, 1996.