THE 3311 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Wakefield Mystery Plays, Subplot, Tennis Ball
18 Feb 2019
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"mystery cycles" ("mysterium") : guilds or tradesmen in latin. Assigned different corpus christi cycle plays to perform. Must"ve been someone very familiar with the area and local dialects of that area. Symbolism of shepherds" gifts : cherries-red symbolizes the blood of christ, a bird-represents a dove (peace), and a tennis ball- played by nobility, ball can be associated with something a monarch would have held on the staff. Playwright probably had a sense of humor since the just threw in the religious ended randomly at the end and an angel appeared. They had to include religion somewhere or the church would get mad. Complains about his marriage can be relatable to audience members. One of the shepherds is old enough to complain about his wife and one is very young. Can edit dialogue and sexist material to make it more suitable for modern audiences.
