The N-Town Presentation of Mary in the Temple and the Production of Rhetorical Knowledge

Abstract

In this article, I argue that the Virgin Mary’s translating, glossing, and reciting of the fifteen Gradual Psalms upon her entrance to the Temple serve as models of the type of rhetorical and interpretive work that the lay audience of the Presentation of Mary is to emulate. Such work entails assiduous rhetorical inquiry into spiritual truths and humbly acknowledges the need for divine revelation. I then explore how Mary’s rhetorical efforts inform an encounter later in the play, when an angel feeds her heavenly food, and she, in turn, distributes conventional food to the impoverished people outside the Temple walls. I connect Mary’s eating and distribution of food to the late medieval metaphor likening food to spiritual teaching and argue that, by using Mary to distribute the spiritual “food” to the masses, the playwright signals the process by which spiritual instruction becomes more applicable to the interpretive situations of the play’s audience. I also argue that the playwright is advocating for a much larger group of rhetors, one that includes all who wish to take part in the rhetorical process started by Mary. I then explore the ways in which the playwright contributes to the late medieval debate concerning interpretive control over scripture and conclude by pointing out the essential relationship between Mary’s role as rhetorical catalyst and her more commonly recognized role as an exemplum of humility and charity.

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