Shadows of Mary: Understanding Images of the Virgin Mary in Medieval Texts

by Teresa P. Reed

Overview

The figuration of the Virgin Mary was often contradictory in medieval texts and theological, philosophical and social perceptions of her greatly influenced both sacred and secular literature. In this study Teresa Reed explores five examples of Marian figuration in Chaucer's Constance, the Wife of Bath, the medical women of the English Trotula , St Margaret of Antioch and the Pearl Maiden. As Reed illustrates, medieval concepts of 'the feminine' and womanhood can be traced through the figure of the Virgin Mary and were a means for the church especially to express their worldly concerns and anxieties.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780708317976
Publisher:	University of Wales Press
Publication date:	07/02/2003
Series:	University of Wales - Religion and Culture in the Middle Ages
Pages:	171
Product dimensions:	(w) x (h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Teresa P. Reed is Associate Professor of English at Jacksonville State University, Alabama.  She has published articles dealing with gender and genre in Chaucer and Pearl and has contributed numerous entries to the Chaucer Encyclopedia.

Table of Contents

Series Editors' Preface
 
Acknowledgements
 
Introduction: Going by Contraries: Eve, Mary and Meaning in the Medieval Church
 
1  Shadows of the Law: Death in The Man of Law's Tale
 
2  Shadowy Differences: Marian Tales of Gender in The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale
 
3  Dispersing Faith: Seinte Marherete, Maternal Bodies, and Telling Stories
 
4  Mary, the Maiden and Metonymy in Pearl
 
Notes
Bibliography
Index