Paper Summary:

This paper looks at Margery Kempe's book through a feminist lens, and describes her attempts to gain acceptance by subverting the very patriarchy whose acceptance she sought. The paper outlines the visions Kempe received from Christ, and her subsequent dependence on these visions and her need for spiritual validation.

From the Paper:

"Margery Kempe (1373?-1448?), medieval laywoman and visionary, completed a book near the end of her life (with the help of scribes) which detailed her life relating to visions she received from Christ starting at the age of twenty. Reading The Book of Margery Kempe from a feminist viewpoint can open up the text in a way which helps the reader understand Margery's struggles to be heard and to be accepted, as well as why she may have been so desperate to free her life of carnal pleasures. By looking at the Book in this manner, one realizes that Margery needed others, men in particular, to validate her. The Book scarcely mentions Margery's contact with other laywomen, and other holy women are mentioned primarily as comparisons with Margery designed to authenticate her actions. The paucity of women is due to their inability to further her appeals for acceptance by the church; only learned and influential men could do that. So, ironically, Margery needed the very patriarchy whose dominance she wished to be free from. Without the pleasures she once derived from living in the world, Margery needed Jesus to speak to her everyday, she needed the mystical marriage with the Godhead, and, most importantly, she needed for clerics and bishops to validate her spirituality. Even if Margery rejected the bodily life associated with her husband, she nonetheless needed men to establish her place in the world. Whether these men were her scribes, her confessors, or Christ himself, Margery relied on them to maintain her chaste life."

Visitors who viewed this Analytical Essay also liked these:

• Analytical Essay # 10008 : "The Book of Margery Kempe"
• Analytical Essay # 113784 : "Sex and Sensuality in "The Book of Margery Kempe"
• Book Review # 109596 : "The Book of Margery Kempe"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: