Research Article

Allured by Satan, the World and the Flesh: Representations of Temptation in Medieval English Drama

Number: 42 December 25, 2019
TR EN

Allured by Satan, the World and the Flesh: Representations of Temptation in Medieval English Drama

Abstract

According to medieval Christian understanding, human beings have three obstacles or adversaries that mankind must overcome to achieve salvation: Satan, the world and the flesh. The Holy Trinity embodied in the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost is in contrast to Satan, the world and the flesh. The ideas of heaven and hell are developed with regard to the avoidance of temptation, putting emphasis on the possibility of being abstained from temptation. Medieval dramatists represent the temptations in several mystery and morality plays so as to warn their audience against temptation, present temptation as something to be abstained from through biblical accounts, beginning with Satan’s temptation, followed with an individual’s falling into temptation oneself. Accordingly, this article aims to analyse the dramatic representations of the temptations by medieval playwrights with references to specific mystery and morality plays in order to reveal how spiritual and earthly temptation is handled in the plays. Thereby, an individual’s own temptation with/without the possibility of salvation is questioned.

Keywords

References

  1. Bonhoeffer, D. (1997). Creation and fall temptation: Two biblical studies. New York: Touchstone.
  2. Cooper, H. (2004). The English romance in time: Transforming motifs from Geoffrey of Monmouth to the death of Shakespeare. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  3. Cushman, L. W. (1900). The devil and the vice in the English dramatic literature before Shakespeare. Halle: Niemeyer.
  4. Davenport, W. A. (1984). Fifteenth century English drama: The early moral plays and their literary relations. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
  5. Gilkey, L. (1985). The christian understanding of suffering. Buddhist-Christian Studies, 5, 49-65.
  6. Gray, D. (Ed.). (1985). The Oxford book of late medieval verse and prose. Oxford: Clarendon.
  7. Happé, P. (Ed.). (1985). English mystery plays. London: Penguin.
  8. Helterman, J. (1981). Symbolic action in the plays of the Wakefield master. Athens: The UP of Georgia.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Creative Arts and Writing

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Publication Date

December 25, 2019

Submission Date

September 18, 2019

Acceptance Date

December 19, 2019

Published in Issue

Year 2019 Number: 42

APA
Taşdelen, P. (2019). Allured by Satan, the World and the Flesh: Representations of Temptation in Medieval English Drama. Selçuk Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, 42, 149-162. https://doi.org/10.21497/sefad.675134
AMA
1.Taşdelen P. Allured by Satan, the World and the Flesh: Representations of Temptation in Medieval English Drama. SEFAD. 2019;(42):149-162. doi:10.21497/sefad.675134
Chicago
Taşdelen, Pınar. 2019. “Allured by Satan, the World and the Flesh: Representations of Temptation in Medieval English Drama”. Selçuk Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, nos. 42: 149-62. https://doi.org/10.21497/sefad.675134.
EndNote
Taşdelen P (December 1, 2019) Allured by Satan, the World and the Flesh: Representations of Temptation in Medieval English Drama. Selçuk Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 42 149–162.
IEEE
[1]P. Taşdelen, “Allured by Satan, the World and the Flesh: Representations of Temptation in Medieval English Drama”, SEFAD, no. 42, pp. 149–162, Dec. 2019, doi: 10.21497/sefad.675134.
ISNAD
Taşdelen, Pınar. “Allured by Satan, the World and the Flesh: Representations of Temptation in Medieval English Drama”. Selçuk Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi. 42 (December 1, 2019): 149-162. https://doi.org/10.21497/sefad.675134.
JAMA
1.Taşdelen P. Allured by Satan, the World and the Flesh: Representations of Temptation in Medieval English Drama. SEFAD. 2019;:149–162.
MLA
Taşdelen, Pınar. “Allured by Satan, the World and the Flesh: Representations of Temptation in Medieval English Drama”. Selçuk Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, no. 42, Dec. 2019, pp. 149-62, doi:10.21497/sefad.675134.
Vancouver
1.Pınar Taşdelen. Allured by Satan, the World and the Flesh: Representations of Temptation in Medieval English Drama. SEFAD. 2019 Dec. 1;(42):149-62. doi:10.21497/sefad.675134

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