This post is about a suggestion from one of my committee members, that I be prepared to discuss "the project of the text." To prepare, I'm going over each of my primary text notes and churning out a brief statement of about two sentences or so involving my overall reading of the text.
My fear in this aspect is that my understanding of the "project" of the text may differ from the more standard readings thereof. One committee member, for example, mentioned Piers Plowman as a text that is generally concerned with the balance between justice and mercy. Hearing that statement, I can see how the text could be seen that way, but that's not the way I was introduced to the text. Instead, many of my classes have come from professors focused on newer criticism, most of which intentionally pushes back against classic readings of text. My intro to Piers Plowman suggests more that this is a text that inevitably breaks downs attempts at teleological readings because it has a rhythm of construction and destruction, that as Will moves forward in his journey he is shown a proper method that has all of the answers and then almost immediately sees that method torn down. I'll talk about this below, but my concern is that if I'm not providing the readings that are expected of me I may run into trouble. That said, I know that, logically, if I provide clear and logical basis for my readings I should be fine, but that doesn't do much to settle my nervousness.
King Horn: a "Matter of England" romance, King Horn spends a great deal of time on male beauty, but the whole seems to be about the social instabilities caused when a leader is absent. Each time Horn leaves one place to dispel Saracens from another, trouble brews where he has left.
Havelok the Dane: a Cinderella tale, Havelok involves a double plot in which two kingdoms suffer usurpation, Havelok's and Goldborrow's. Havelok at large seems to be about the social values of the rising "middle class"; Havelok grows up among laborers and tradesmen and is constantly willing to put in a hard day's work; additionally, Havelok's upholds contracts and agreements while his opponents are constantly willing to break contracts.
Bevis of Hampton: this text is about a hero and his horse. Beyond that, Bevis of Hampton is a romance about the inconsistencies of women; Bevis' father and Bevis himself are betrayed by his mother, and thus Bevis is continuously unable to trust his eventual bride Josain, despite all of her acts of loyalty.
Athelston: for this text I would turn to Richard Firth Green's Crisis of Truth to argue that the text is about the tension between the shifting definitions of the term "truth"; the four brothers all make a pact, falling under the older meaning of the term, but acting under the "truth of the facts" as Athelston understands them causes Athelston to break his pact.
Sir Amadace: this text is largely interested in the moderation of largesse. Amadace's extreme generosity lands him in poverty, a la MC Hammer, but in the end it is that same generosity, of a more moderate variety, that ameliorates his condition. This also feeds into the Golden Mean.
The Martyrdom of St. George: With its gratuitous explorations of new and more creative ways to attempt to martyr St. George, this text is less about the act of martyrdom and more the audience seeing those extreme acts failing, ultimately suggesting the performative nature of martyrdom.
St. George and the Dragon: Reading like a romance disguised as hagiography, this text revolves around the agency of St. George taming the dragon and saving a princess in the meantime; there may be some meat to the TEAMS introduction that suggests that hagiography like this that involves dragons are really about the defeat of pagan religions.
St. Jerome and the Lion: this text is about the dangers of a profit economy to interrupt spiritual labor; the lion is working under contract for the monastery's "profyght," but when the merchants arrive and steal the ass they are disabling the honest work to continue.
The Life of St. Francis: Much like St. Jerome and the Lion, this text is concerned with the disruption that the profit economy can represent to spiritual labor. St. Francis uses his father's goods to engage in proper divine work, but fears the worldly retribution his father may exact on him and hides in a ditch to avoid it.
Wynnere and Wastoure: this text is, predominantly, about maintaining the proper balance between spending and saving, as embodied by the allegorical figures of Wynnere (Earner) and Wastoure (spender). The overall solution is to strike a balance between the two, falling into the Golden Mean.
"The Killing of Abel" from the Towneley Play Cycle: containing a great deal of comedic relief, the predominant issue in this play revolves around Cain's inability to discern the spiritual economy as separate and ultimately preempting of the agricultural economy.
"Noah" from the Chester Mystery Play Cycle: part of a larger tradition focusing on Noah's wife, this play is generally an anti-feminist treatise displaying the poor qualities of a women that interfere with Noah's God-given purpose. That said, there is some contrast with Noah's daughters-in-law who work alongside their husbands, but their identities are subsumed therein.
"Abraham and Isaac" from the Brome, Suffolk Play: this play is largely interested in the pathos of sacrifice from both Abraham and Isaac, emphasizing this with a few hundred lines of discussion between the father and son.
"The Second Shepherd's Play" from the Towneley Cycle: the best way I can understand this play is from a carnivalesque perspective. The play is supposed to function as a witness to the birth of Christ, yet this plays a small role. Instead, what we have is an very comedic scene in which Mak attempts to pass off a small lamb as his newborn child in order to swindle the shepherds, subverting around the expected roles of representation of the Lamb of God.
"The Crucifixion" from the York Cycle: what struck me in this play is the focus on the soldiers conducting the "work" of crucifixion, that they are more interested in the specifics of their labor and see Christ as an object thereof. My good friend Case Tompkins added in my previous post on this text that this is part of the focus on work for both the soldiers and guild actors alike, "Yet Christ manifests in that work, as he does amid their chapel, almost without their notice."
Everyman: this play is focused on the transience of this life, taking a man who is well established in goods, kin, and friends and reducing him to nothing as he moves towards the end of his life, desperately trying to settle the balance on the account of his soul.
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