Language:
English
Year of publication:
2000
Titel der Quelle:
Exemplaria; a Journal of Theory in Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Angaben zur Quelle:
12,2 (2000) 327-357
Keywords:
Antisemitism History Middle Ages, 500-1500
;
Jews
;
Judaism Relations
;
Christianity
;
Christianity and other religions Judaism
;
Christianity and antisemitism History To 1500
;
Antisemitism in literature
;
English literature History and criticism
;
Jews in literature
;
Judaism in literature
Abstract:
In the early days of Christianity, from the Patristic period through the Middle Ages, the categories Jew, Christian, pagan were not as watertight as some researchers believe. Argues that theatricality emerged as a means of erecting boundaries between Christian and Jew. Christian or Jewish identity could be constructed by theatrical means such as ritual, costuming, etc. The Jew was assigned stereotyped roles and became a spectacle in the public space in medieval Christian Europe. One way this was done was via the "spectacularization" of violence, the Jew appearing as torturer of the Christian body in passion plays, dramatic accounts of host desecrations, and versions of ritual murder. Such elements of theatricality often led to real persecution. The Jews were seen as acting out their part in Christian theology. Discusses many examples from medieval English literature; e.g. contends that Chaucer's "Prioress's Tale" stresses the theatricality of anti-Judaism. Ambivalent Christian views of the Jew paralleled ambivalence about the theater, which not only constructs but also blurs boundaries and identities. This complexity helps explain the deep ambivalence about the Jew and his role in medieval society as theatricalized and as represented in the image projected onto him and his body.
Note:
Especially in medieval England.
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
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