medieval mystery plays contexts for the miller’s tale
TRANSCRIPT
Medieval Mystery Plays
Contexts for The Miller’s Tale
What is a Mystery Play?A series of dramatic reenactments of episodes from the Bible --think greatest hits from the Bible --- in English
Starts with Creation and ends with the Last Judgment
Performed from sunrise to sunset annually on the feast of Corpus Christi in late Spring
Performed by amateur actors either on mobile wagon-stages in a procession through streets of the city or on fixed scaffolding
Episodes, or pageants, are produced by the city’s guilds, organizations of workers with a shared craft or occupation, i.e. smiths, tanners, and carpenters
No price of admission --- they were free!
What is a Mystery Play?A series of dramatic reenactments of episodes from the Bible --think greatest hits from the Bible --- in English
Starts with Creation and ends with the Last Judgment
Performed from sunrise to sunset annually on the feast of Corpus Christi in late Spring
Performed by amateur actors either on mobile wagon-stages in a procession through streets of the city or on fixed scaffolding
Episodes, or pageants, are produced by the city’s guilds, organizations of workers with a shared craft or occupation, i.e. smiths, tanners, and carpenters
No price of admission --- they were free!
What is a Mystery Play?A series of dramatic reenactments of episodes from the Bible --think greatest hits from the Bible --- in English
Starts with Creation and ends with the Last Judgment
Performed from sunrise to sunset annually on the feast of Corpus Christi in late Spring
Performed by amateur actors either on mobile wagon-stages in a procession through streets of the city or on fixed scaffolding
Episodes, or pageants, are produced by the city’s guilds, organizations of workers with a shared craft or occupation, i.e. smiths, tanners, and carpenters
No price of admission --- they were free!
What is a Mystery Play?A series of dramatic reenactments of episodes from the Bible --think greatest hits from the Bible --- in English
Starts with Creation and ends with the Last Judgment
Performed from sunrise to sunset annually on the feast of Corpus Christi in late Spring
Performed by amateur actors either on mobile wagon-stages in a procession through streets of the city or on fixed scaffolding
Episodes, or pageants, are produced by the city’s guilds, organizations of workers with a shared craft or occupation, i.e. smiths, tanners, and carpenters
No price of admission --- they were free!
What is a Mystery Play?A series of dramatic reenactments of episodes from the Bible --think greatest hits from the Bible --- in English
Starts with Creation and ends with the Last Judgment
Performed from sunrise to sunset annually on the feast of Corpus Christi in late Spring
Performed by amateur actors either on mobile wagon-stages in a procession through streets of the city or on fixed scaffolding
Episodes, or pageants, are produced by the city’s guilds, organizations of workers with a shared craft or occupation, i.e. smiths, tanners, and carpenters
No price of admission --- they were free!
What is a Mystery Play?A series of dramatic reenactments of episodes from the Bible --think greatest hits from the Bible --- in English
Starts with Creation and ends with the Last Judgment
Performed from sunrise to sunset annually on the feast of Corpus Christi in late Spring
Performed by amateur actors either on mobile wagon-stages in a procession through streets of the city or on fixed scaffolding
Episodes, or pageants, are produced by the city’s guilds, organizations of workers with a shared craft or occupation, i.e. smiths, tanners, and carpenters
No price of admission --- they were free! All estates could attend.
In The Miller’s Tale
“Somtyme, to shewe his lightnesse and maistrye,
He pleyeth Herodes upon a scaffold hye” (ll. 3383-4)
“’Hastou nat herd,’ quod Nicholas, ‘also,
The sorwe of Noe with his felaweshipe
Er that he myghte brynge his wyf to the shipe?
Hym hadde be levere, I dar wel undertake…,
That she hadde had a shipe hirself allone’” (ll.3538-43)