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York Crucifixion Essay

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In mystery plays, the unknown author often dramatizes Biblical material to educate an illiterate medieval audience on Christian history. This is an idea that is reflected in the York play of the Crucifixion. While the unknown author of the play faithfully retains some details of the Crucifixion depicted in all the Gospels, he or she seems to favour particular aspects of one gospel and alter the presentation of the characters to reflect the message in that specific gospel. By analyzing the York play of the Crucifixion and the four gospels, this paper will argue that the unknown author of the York Crucifixion play draws extensively from the Gospel of Luke and alters the presentation of the characters in order to stimulate a sympathetic response from their medieval audience that reflects God’s own sense of forgiveness for humanity. While the author of the York Crucifixion play likely had …show more content…

As the Gospel of Luke deals more directly with the theme of forgiveness and compassion than the other three gospels, the unknown author’s unique presentation of the characters makes the audience witness the events of the Crucifixion in a way that encourages a sympathetic or forgiving response because this ability to forgive would bring a medieval audience spiritually closer to God. Furthermore, the possibility that the soldiers might attain spiritual salvation further suggests — to a medieval audience — that spiritual salvation is possible with the belief that God is a forgiving Creator. Ultimately, the unknown author of the York Crucifixion play creates a work that seems to be mindful of the religious politics in late medieval England and emphasizes God’s sense of forgiveness for a medieval

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