Can I Be Forgiven? Expressing Conversion through the Eyes of Mary Magdalene: Lope de Vega and Richard Crashaw

Gama De Cossio, Borja

Publication:
Can I Be Forgiven? Expressing Conversion through the Eyes of Mary Magdalene: Lope de Vega and Richard Crashaw

dc.contributor.advisor	Albert Lloret
dc.contributor.author	Gama De Cossio, Borja
dc.contributor.department	University of Massachusetts Amherst
dc.contributor.department	Hispanic Literatures & Linguistics
dc.date	2023-09-23T07:35:53.000
dc.date.accessioned	2024-04-26T20:34:46Z
dc.date.available	2012-11-27T00:00:00Z
dc.date.issued	2013-01-01
dc.date.submitted	February
dc.description.abstract	The present study examines the figure of Mary Magdalene in the poetry of Lope de Vega and Richard Crashaw. I propose that while setting Mary Magdalene as the perfect example to convert, both authors could also express their conversion through the composition of two different poems: “Las Lágrimas de la Magdalena” by Lope de Vega and “Saint Mary Magdalene or, The Weeper” by Richard Crashaw. Each poem is centered on the idea of Mary Magdalene’s copious tears as the performative mark of her repentance which will effect her conversion. These two conversions are placed within two European literary traditions, Spain and England; as well as two different processes: on the one hand, Lope de Vega would go from a licentious life in his early years to becoming a priest at the end of his life, thus, devoting his life to religion. On the other hand, Richard Crashaw’s conversion would take place in between two conflicting religious beliefs, i.e., his transition from Protestantism to Catholicism. The other main goal of this work is studying these poems through the Baroque movement developed at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Hence, Lope de Vega’s poem is full of Baroque characteristics typical of the Spanish conceptism despite his reluctance consider his poetry Baroque. Crashaw, on his side, presents a poem which differs from the literary production in England in the first part of the seventeenth century. His Baroque sensibility would be, accordingly, influenced by his readings of the Spanish Golden Age authors. Therefore, anomaly, exaggeration, tempus fugit, conceptism, contradiction, paradox, and binary oppositions are Baroque characteristics both authors have in common in regard to their own particular description of both Mary Magdalene’s biblical stories and tears. Lastly, both poems will lead us to draw parallels with the Song of Songs in terms of spiritual conversation, and feminine identification.
dc.description.degree	Master of Arts (M.A.)
dc.identifier.doi	https://doi.org/10.7275/3493824
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14394/44431
dc.relation.url	https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2101&context=theses&unstamped=1
dc.source.status	published
dc.subject	Baroque
dc.subject	repentance
dc.subject	conversion
dc.subject	Mary Magdalene
dc.subject	early-17th century
dc.subject	tears
dc.subject	Literature in English, British Isles
dc.subject	Spanish Literature
dc.title	Can I Be Forgiven? Expressing Conversion through the Eyes of Mary Magdalene: Lope de Vega and Richard Crashaw
dc.type	campus
dc.type	article
dc.type	thesis
digcom.contributor.author	isAuthorOfPublication\|email:bgamadec@acad.umass.edu\|institution:University of Massachusetts Amherst\|Gama De Cossio, Borja
digcom.date.embargo	2012-11-27T00:00:00-08:00
digcom.identifier	theses/1006
digcom.identifier.contextkey	3493824
digcom.identifier.submissionpath	theses/1006
dspace.entity.type	Publication