The Digby Mary Magdalene
The Role of “Ayens” Within the Digby Mary Magdalene The word “ayens” appears nineteen times within The Digby Mary Magdalene and has two specific connotations that correspond to ambiguities between God and authority within the play itself. Now in order to understand how this word resonates within the play it is crucial to explore one of its most frequent connotations, “in opposition to right (the law)” (MED). The earliest transcription of the Middle English word is within MS Laud 636, where it displays an opposition to authority/law by means of an opposition “agenes” the king for some sort of transgression: “on this kinges time […] agenes him rise sona tha ricemen […] hi the eorl heold Lincol agaenes the kingy (Fol. 089r, 090v c1135-40). In
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effect, the word “agenes” creates a dichotomy by means of the rich men being in opposition to the king and obtains authoritative connotations by holding Lincoln against the king—you are either for the king or against the king—both of which are outcomes of the word that are crucial when exploring Magdalene. The play itself begins with several tyrants who visually demonstrate their authority by means of “scaffolds [where the tyrants stand] ranged around the open playing space” (Rochester 46), by speaking long monologues that “command sylyns” (1), and through “expensive clothes” (Betteridge 81). Furthermore, each tyrant also verbally manifests an authority by repeatedly speaking the word “ayens”: Syrus declares that “who agens me don dare / All Betany at my beddying be” (61-2), which shows that to stand against him is to stand against all of Bethany; the Emperor states that “yff ther be any harlettys that agens me make replycacyon” (127), where the word “any” implies he will not let even a single person protest against him; and finally, Herod states if “ayens me make replycacyon, / I will suffer non to sprying of that kenred” (203-4), where he will not even allow the birth of a protester. The word “ayens” becomes an analogue of the tyrants’ authority in the first section of the play—to go against them is to go against what is “right (the law)” and to go against a doxa that the text initially establishes. These characters are controlling figures and it is self-evident by means their appearance and speech that opposing them would be irrational; thus, they are the doxa. However, there is a shift when Mary converts and within that shift lies the potency of the word “ayens”. I argue that after Mary converts, the word “ayens” becomes synonymous with Christianity, but it also carries with it the doxic authority that the tyrants establish; in Magdalene, the word “ayens’ shows that to oppose God is to oppose the king, which means going against an authority that in the “natural and social world [of the play] appears as self-evident” (Bourdieu 164). In the latter half of Magdalene we see representations of biblical characters and all but one use of the word “ayens” is by these characters: they function as harbingers of God’s authority within the play. The second most prominent association of “ayens” in Middle English texts is to “go against heaven” (MED), and within the latter half of the play this is the only context in which all the biblical characters speak it. Whether it is Jesus declaring that Mary “is the music ayens the hertys of vyolens” (1362) or Peter stating “to worship Jhesu they are behold, / Nore nevyr ayens him to make varyacyon” (1813-4), these characters always state the word “ayens” in relation to something that opposes God. In effect, any heart that contains violence opposes the rules of God and to not make variation or “have strange Gods before” (DRBO) him is against his literal commandments from Exodus 20:3. Moreover, if the tyrants are an analogue for the authority of law, then these characters are an analogue for the authority of God. The characters continually advocate for the strength of God and his laws, so much so that even Angels declare that “dorys shal opyn ayens us be ryth” (1605). Thus, there is a literal shift in the word “ayens”. Before the conversion of Mary, the tyrants are in charge or are the doxic group and they speak the word “ayens” because to oppose them is to oppose the law; and after her conversion, the doxa changes and with it the association of “ayens” becomes to go against heaven’s laws and therefore to oppose God. Nevertheless, the word does not discard its original associations; rather, it transfers the legal authority of the tyrants unto God. The doxic law becomes those laws that God declares and this is the Christian God, as characters also refer to him as Christ. Now splitting the associations of “ayens” between the former and latter half of the play is too clear cut, and the final use of the word shows that it contains both associations simultaneously: to go against God is to go against the King’s authority and vice versa. The doxa or the laws that appear self-evident in the natural and social world of the play are God’s laws, which the King enacts. As the play concludes the final tyrant to appear is the King and he states, “Chyrchys in cetyys I woll edyfye; / And whoso ayens ower feyth woll replye, / I woll ponyach [s]wych personnys” (1983-5). In effect, this is the only visually Christian tyrant within the play, as we literally witness his baptism and he is the only non-biblical character to use the word “ayens” after Mary’s conversion. Additionally, at this moment he is on stage alone with the Queen and is wearing the “expensive clothes”, delivering a monologue where he addresses the crowd—as the Queen is already aware of everything he states—he is on The Palace of Marseilles scaffold that separates him from the audience; and, he declares that to oppose his faith is to oppose his laws, as he will punish anyone who does so. At this point in Magdalene, there is no difference between the crown and Christianity: the equivalency of both becomes doxic within the play and here “ayens” contains both the authority of Christianity and a king’s authority. Thus, the word “ayens” is the embodiment of the relationship between a sovereign and God, between the shift from a sovereign only doxic view to one that requires the sovereign to be a harbinger of God’s laws and Magdalene exemplifies this shift in the word through its every use of “ayens”.
The contemporaneous plays of Magdalene contain the same conflicting views in regard to the word “ayens”, which shows its meaning is in flux during the play’s composition.
The saint play, The Digby Conversion of St. Paul shares both associations of the word “ayens” that Magdalene incorporates. Within the play, both Saul when he works for the priests Anna and Caiaphas, and the priests themselves speak the phrase, “Agaynst our lawes” (40, 47, 136, 392). The phrase parallels the doxic authoritative use of “ayens” throughout the former half of Magdalene by continually advocating for their laws and for their authority. Similarly, there is a shift when Saul converts, which causes “ayens” to begin carrying Christian associations. Saul begins stating lines such as “templys of Jues that be very hedyous, / Agayns almighty Cryst, that Kyng so precious” (586), due to the word itself being a representation of both God’s authority and a king’s authority—Jesus himself is a king and to go against him is to go against both law and God. Furthermore, not only do the Digby plays use the word in such a manner, but Episcopus in The Croxton Play of the Sacrament declares lines such as, “Now for thys offence that thu hast donne / Agens the Kyng of Hevyn” (912-3) near the play’s conclusion. The act of opposing king and God is the only association of “ayens” within the Play of the Sacrament paralleling both Magdalene and St. Paul, which alongside its antisemitism may be another reason why it “seems appropriately at home in East Anglia” (Sebastian). Thus, the word “ayens” in Magdalene is a signifier of change within the word itself, the word represents a king’s authority and the authority of god simultaneously within both the play and contemporaneous plays, due to the word itself having both associations during their composition. Yet, whether these authoritative ambiguities within “ayens” predict “debates on iconoclasm and the power of liturgical and theatrical representation […] in the
sixteenth century religious imagination” (Lerer 54) or align with “Tudor fascinations with display, surveillance, and spectacular judicial punishment” (Sebastian) are questions in relation to Magdalene that still require an answer.
effect, the word “agenes” creates a dichotomy by means of the rich men being in opposition to the king and obtains authoritative connotations by holding Lincoln against the king—you are either for the king or against the king—both of which are outcomes of the word that are crucial when exploring Magdalene. The play itself begins with several tyrants who visually demonstrate their authority by means of “scaffolds [where the tyrants stand] ranged around the open playing space” (Rochester 46), by speaking long monologues that “command sylyns” (1), and through “expensive clothes” (Betteridge 81). Furthermore, each tyrant also verbally manifests an authority by repeatedly speaking the word “ayens”: Syrus declares that “who agens me don dare / All Betany at my beddying be” (61-2), which shows that to stand against him is to stand against all of Bethany; the Emperor states that “yff ther be any harlettys that agens me make replycacyon” (127), where the word “any” implies he will not let even a single person protest against him; and finally, Herod states if “ayens me make replycacyon, / I will suffer non to sprying of that kenred” (203-4), where he will not even allow the birth of a protester. The word “ayens” becomes an analogue of the tyrants’ authority in the first section of the play—to go against them is to go against what is “right (the law)” and to go against a doxa that the text initially establishes. These characters are controlling figures and it is self-evident by means their appearance and speech that opposing them would be irrational; thus, they are the doxa. However, there is a shift when Mary converts and within that shift lies the potency of the word “ayens”. I argue that after Mary converts, the word “ayens” becomes synonymous with Christianity, but it also carries with it the doxic authority that the tyrants establish; in Magdalene, the word “ayens’ shows that to oppose God is to oppose the king, which means going against an authority that in the “natural and social world [of the play] appears as self-evident” (Bourdieu 164). In the latter half of Magdalene we see representations of biblical characters and all but one use of the word “ayens” is by these characters: they function as harbingers of God’s authority within the play. The second most prominent association of “ayens” in Middle English texts is to “go against heaven” (MED), and within the latter half of the play this is the only context in which all the biblical characters speak it. Whether it is Jesus declaring that Mary “is the music ayens the hertys of vyolens” (1362) or Peter stating “to worship Jhesu they are behold, / Nore nevyr ayens him to make varyacyon” (1813-4), these characters always state the word “ayens” in relation to something that opposes God. In effect, any heart that contains violence opposes the rules of God and to not make variation or “have strange Gods before” (DRBO) him is against his literal commandments from Exodus 20:3. Moreover, if the tyrants are an analogue for the authority of law, then these characters are an analogue for the authority of God. The characters continually advocate for the strength of God and his laws, so much so that even Angels declare that “dorys shal opyn ayens us be ryth” (1605). Thus, there is a literal shift in the word “ayens”. Before the conversion of Mary, the tyrants are in charge or are the doxic group and they speak the word “ayens” because to oppose them is to oppose the law; and after her conversion, the doxa changes and with it the association of “ayens” becomes to go against heaven’s laws and therefore to oppose God. Nevertheless, the word does not discard its original associations; rather, it transfers the legal authority of the tyrants unto God. The doxic law becomes those laws that God declares and this is the Christian God, as characters also refer to him as Christ. Now splitting the associations of “ayens” between the former and latter half of the play is too clear cut, and the final use of the word shows that it contains both associations simultaneously: to go against God is to go against the King’s authority and vice versa. The doxa or the laws that appear self-evident in the natural and social world of the play are God’s laws, which the King enacts. As the play concludes the final tyrant to appear is the King and he states, “Chyrchys in cetyys I woll edyfye; / And whoso ayens ower feyth woll replye, / I woll ponyach [s]wych personnys” (1983-5). In effect, this is the only visually Christian tyrant within the play, as we literally witness his baptism and he is the only non-biblical character to use the word “ayens” after Mary’s conversion. Additionally, at this moment he is on stage alone with the Queen and is wearing the “expensive clothes”, delivering a monologue where he addresses the crowd—as the Queen is already aware of everything he states—he is on The Palace of Marseilles scaffold that separates him from the audience; and, he declares that to oppose his faith is to oppose his laws, as he will punish anyone who does so. At this point in Magdalene, there is no difference between the crown and Christianity: the equivalency of both becomes doxic within the play and here “ayens” contains both the authority of Christianity and a king’s authority. Thus, the word “ayens” is the embodiment of the relationship between a sovereign and God, between the shift from a sovereign only doxic view to one that requires the sovereign to be a harbinger of God’s laws and Magdalene exemplifies this shift in the word through its every use of “ayens”.
The contemporaneous plays of Magdalene contain the same conflicting views in regard to the word “ayens”, which shows its meaning is in flux during the play’s composition.
The saint play, The Digby Conversion of St. Paul shares both associations of the word “ayens” that Magdalene incorporates. Within the play, both Saul when he works for the priests Anna and Caiaphas, and the priests themselves speak the phrase, “Agaynst our lawes” (40, 47, 136, 392). The phrase parallels the doxic authoritative use of “ayens” throughout the former half of Magdalene by continually advocating for their laws and for their authority. Similarly, there is a shift when Saul converts, which causes “ayens” to begin carrying Christian associations. Saul begins stating lines such as “templys of Jues that be very hedyous, / Agayns almighty Cryst, that Kyng so precious” (586), due to the word itself being a representation of both God’s authority and a king’s authority—Jesus himself is a king and to go against him is to go against both law and God. Furthermore, not only do the Digby plays use the word in such a manner, but Episcopus in The Croxton Play of the Sacrament declares lines such as, “Now for thys offence that thu hast donne / Agens the Kyng of Hevyn” (912-3) near the play’s conclusion. The act of opposing king and God is the only association of “ayens” within the Play of the Sacrament paralleling both Magdalene and St. Paul, which alongside its antisemitism may be another reason why it “seems appropriately at home in East Anglia” (Sebastian). Thus, the word “ayens” in Magdalene is a signifier of change within the word itself, the word represents a king’s authority and the authority of god simultaneously within both the play and contemporaneous plays, due to the word itself having both associations during their composition. Yet, whether these authoritative ambiguities within “ayens” predict “debates on iconoclasm and the power of liturgical and theatrical representation […] in the
sixteenth century religious imagination” (Lerer 54) or align with “Tudor fascinations with display, surveillance, and spectacular judicial punishment” (Sebastian) are questions in relation to Magdalene that still require an answer.