"A Revelation of Love" and "The Book of Margery Kempe"
Frame three detailed questions you have about A Revelation of Love by Julian of Norwich. By detailed I mean grounded in specific chapters and passages. I encourage you to address what is disturbing or confusing about this work. Try to answer your questions by using the intro material and by engaging with other passages / chapters of the Revelation.
1. What is the significance of the number sixteen? Julian of Norwich deliberately numbers her visions, one through sixteen: “the second is… the third is… the fourth is…” (349).
Keeping an accurate account is part of Norwich’s style. In Chapter 3, she very precisely recounts that she “lay [sick] three days and three nights; and on the fourth night I took all my rights” (351). The factual tone lends credibility to the story of her visions.
2. Why is the “mind and feeling of his [God’s] blessed passion” referred to as a “wound” (351)?
Chapter 2 mentions “three gifts of God: the first was mind [remembrance or recollections, according to the footnotes] of the passion, the second was bodily sickness… the third was to have of God’s gift three wounds… the wound of very contrition, the wound of kind compassion and the wound of willful longing to God” (350). The wound in question is the “second wound, of Our Lord’s gracious gift,” which would be the compassion of the third gift (351). The narrator desires to empathize with Christ’s pain. This allusion to the crucifixion sheds light on why the word “wounds” was chosen, but I still do not understand it completely.
3. Are “pain” and “sin” interchangeable? See Chapters 27 and 28. “Thus I saw how Christ hath compassion on us for the cause of sin. And right as I was before in the passion of Christ fulfilled with pain and compassion… (355).” Usually, I think of pain as the cause or result of sin.
In Chapter 27, sin includes “all the pains that ever were or shall be” (354).This supports my claim about pain. However, when Norwich says that Christ’s compassion provides “comfort in our pain,” it seems that the meaning of pain is very close to the meaning of sin (355).
Do the same for The Book of Margery Kempe.
1. Why does Kempe refer to herself as a “creature” when she describes how she wrote this tale (367)?
Julian of Norwich does the same thing in her introduction, who calls herself “a simple creature that could no letter [i.e. who could not read]” (350). It could be a reflection of how women perceived themselves. Their familiarity with worship and the church would have made them aware of the limitations of their knowledge; they were not scholars, but they would have known that there were studious men reading and writing about Christianity. Norwich and Kempe may have regretted their lack of education.
Alternatively, “creature” may serve to highlight the magnificence of God over fragile, sinful humans. The book begins with the assertion that “whatever grace he works in any creature if for our benefit” (366). In this case, it seems that everyone can be labeled as a creature.
2. Who is the devil, to Margery Kempe? How tangible, real, or personable is he? While “the devil put it into her mind that God had forsaken her,” he seems to be more of an anti-Holy Spirit-like force, rather than a person (372).
When “Christ said in her soul, ‘Daughter, there is much tribulation coming to you,’” it seems that Kempe experienced a gut feeling rather than heard a direct voice (374). However, Kempe and Christ go on to have a conversation. This makes ethereal communication more human, yet the deity or devil is not thought of in terms of human characteristics.
3. Why does the story end early?
I looked this text up on SparkNotes, which said that the story goes on to describe the end of Margery’s life, including the death of her husband and a journey with her daughter-in-law. Her character is aptly described where our class version chooses to end, with Margery “greatly thanking God” for an act most would curse (380). If this is the main message of Margery’s life, then perhaps this is a reasonable place to conclude the story.
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