Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Margery Kempe
So that Margery Kempe character was pretty crazy huh? Screaming in church, having visions, talking to the Devil. If someone claimed to do that stuff today they would get a one way ticket to the loony bin. But if we were to look at how she acted and such in respect to the time, was she really all that crazy? We have read about a few other people, talking about mystics in particular, all of whom were from the same general time period. The period of religion being huge and playing a apart in almost every day to day activity, also teh time were magic is accepted to be real and evil. These other people also had some very crazy characteristics to them as well. Take just being an anchoress for example, they choose to live in a cell for probably about half of their life. If someone today just like asked to be put in jail, the concept would be so crazy to us we would make a movie about it.(Not thinking of any movie in particular) So there were a lot of crazy people back then, compared to our times perspective. But if they were all crazy back then, why was Margery Kempe actually considered crazy by people back then? Like everybody was crazy but this girl was just a bit more crazy and also crazy in different aspects, like wanting for her husband to die. All in all, every one was crazy so I don't feel like Margery was really as crazy as we think her to be. She was still crazy though, like really crazy.
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Although there were other people during her time period that did do some pretty crazy things, she tops them all! She tried getting a stranger to have sex with her, she wept in public, she even tried killing herself. No offense, but I think she was a crazy lady! Though there is nothing wrong with crazy as long as she is not endangering herself or anyone else, which she only did for a little... So she is not all that crazy, but she sure was out of the norm.
ReplyDeleteI think Margery Kempe was considered crazier than the rest, because from the small excerpts we read it did not seem like she offered a lot to the table. With the other mystics, we read about, they were a bit crazy but they offered knowledge, and guidance. Margery just wept and wailed. The other women became anchoresses and were respected by the church; I mean their rooms were attached to them. On the other hand, Margery was escorted out of the church for excessive wailing. Also she self mutilated and like you said earlier she wanted her husband dead. I think homicidal thoughts up the crazy-o-meter.
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