Before proceeding, read the play and a brief introductory lecture.
The Second Shepherd’s Pageant
exemplifies a prominent feature of Medieval mystery plays, namely the combining of
biblical stories with the experiences of familiar earthly characters and situations.
The play in this sense is analogous to its central religious subject, the
Incarnation, which is the original inspiration for all such blending of the sacred
and the profane.
The play concludes with a Nativity scene in Bethlehem (or middle-English “Bedlam”—not to be confused with a hospital for the mentally ill, a later meaning of the term)—a scene which occupies just 165 of the play’s 1,087 lines. The remainder is concerned with the comical folk tale of Mak the sheep-thief, his accomplice and wife Gill, and his victims, the shepherds Gib, Coll, and Daw. Tying the two parts together are the several ways in which the comic action anticipates and is incorporated into the Nativity scene.
There are moments, for example, when eating and bread references
allude to the ritual of the Eucharist in which the body of Christ (the literal
meaning of Corpus Christi) is consumed as bread by the
faithful. For example, at ll. 464-67 Mak complains that he is hungry and that he has
not eaten “sheep-meat” for at least a year. This is comical in that the sheep he
wishes “were flain” must be hidden in a crib and disguised as their baby until the
danger of being discovered has passed. The traditional association of Jesus with the
sacrifical “Lamb of God” would have been obvious to early audiences. More subtle
perhaps is the eating reference whereby Mak unwittingly implicates himself as a
communicant in the eucharistic rite, metaphorically consuming the body of Christ and
feeding his “spiritual” hunger.
Examine one or more of the following passages and comment on this
form of ironic foreshadowing. Describe first the literal context, then follow with a
brief examination of the passage’s possible religious significance and/or the ways
in which it anticipates the Nativity scene:
Identify and examine one other passage of ironic foreshadowing, commenting
on its significance.
Identify some other comical moment and explain why you find it funny.
The first part of the play (ll. 1-273) introduces the three shepherds, Coll, Gib, and Daw, who complain about the harsh conditions of their lives. Identify their concerns and examine one passage in particular that you find either moving or comical or both.
Now, examine the closing Nativity scene in which the shepherds have been magically transported from the English countryside to “Bedlam,” and transformed into the most unlikely of Magi bearing gifts for the Christ child. Instead of gold, frankincense, and myrrh as in the biblical account, the homely shepherds offer what gifts? Once you identify these, do a little research into their possible significance and share your findings with the class. Alternatively, speculate on your own as to how these gifts might fit the occasion.
Finally, identify a passage in this closing scene that you find particularly striking and tell us why.