Representations of the Body in Middle English Biblical Drama

Estella Ciobanu is Associate Professor of English at Ovidius University of Constanţa, Romania. Her academic interests include iconization studies and gendered representations of the body in anatomo-medical practices and the arts. She has authored The Spectacle of the Body in Late Medieval England (2012) and The Body Spectacular in Middle English Theatre (2013).

• 1.  Introduction: The Demonic/-ised Subaltern’s In-sight.- 2.  The Slaughter of the Innocent(s): The Meek, the Muted and the Discursive Spear of Power.- 3.  The Tyrant Is Dead. Long Live the Tyrant!.- 4.  The Body in Pieces: Judicial Torture and/as Musical Dismemberment in the Passion Plays.- 5.  Commemorations of Christ’s Passion Body: Ostentatio Vulnerum, Redemptive Theology and Violence of Representation in the Post-Crucifixion Plays.- 6.  Noah’s Wife in the Flood Plays: The Body of Argument between Argumentum ad Verecundiam, Argumentum ad Hominem and Argumentum ad Baculum.- 7.  Stipendia Enim Peccati, Mors.- 8.  Conclusion.

“Encouraging those who work in the domain to take a renewed perspective on the many forms of subjugation that these plays rehearse gives much food for thought as to how to tackle the parts of biblical drama that should cause critical discomfort. In this regard, it is a most welcome contribution to early drama studies.” (Sarah Brazil, Speculum, Vol. 95 (1), January, 2020)