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From Feathers to Fur: Theatrical Representations of Skin in the Medieval English Cycle Plays

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dc.contributor.advisorJenny Adams
dc.contributor.advisorAdam Zucker
dc.contributor.advisorDonald Maddox
dc.contributor.authorGramling, Valerie Anne
dc.contributor.departmentUniversity of Massachusetts - Amherst
dc.date2023-09-23T09:29:10.000
dc.date.accessioned2024-04-26T14:35:21Z
dc.date.available2014-06-20T00:00:00Z
dc.date.issued2013-05-01
dc.description.abstractIn this dissertation I examine how skin, both human and non-human, was defined and represented on stage in the medieval English cycle plays, and more importantly how those material representations both reflected and transformed medieval understandings of skin and its relationship to the body. I consider how the creators of the medieval English cycle plays dramatized and expanded upon medieval readings of skin as a changeable and transformative outer covering that not only altered the body's physical shape but also defined its essential nature, demarcating the limits of human identity. I propose that skin was used both explicitly and implicitly throughout the cycles as a means of defining and distinguishing human bodies, and that this use enhanced the cycles' larger exploration of the creation, fall, and salvation of mankind. In addition to close readings of the play texts, I also draw on theatre history and production records to tease out an understanding of how the various types of skin depicted on stage were materially represented, as the necessities of theatrical staging required certain alterations and created a space for problematizing accepted readings and traditions. I argue that readings of skin as a literal covering and as a figurative garment regularly became conflated on stage, and the theatre's necessarily literal presentation of bodily change often amplified the metaphorical meanings. While in the gospels the Resurrection is a mystery that can be believed without being seen, on stage it must be embodied and a tangible representation of Jesus Christ's transformed body and skin depicted. In determining ways to present this body of Christ-as-divinity on stage, as well as the other human and non-human bodies within the plays, the medieval cycle producers fashioned outer skins that reflected traditional conceptions, yet also re-shaped and deepened their audiences' understanding. Ultimately, I argue that both the language of the plays and the material representations demonstrate and support a theological reading of skin as a permeable and changeable border between human and non-human, body and soul, and mortality and immortality that delineates not only the limits of the human body but of human identity itself.
dc.description.degreeDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
dc.description.departmentEnglish
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.7275/qz1h-k683
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14394/14986
dc.relation.urlhttps://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1465&context=dissertations_1&unstamped=1
dc.source.statuspublished
dc.subjectLanguage
dc.subjectliterature and linguistics
dc.subjectCommunication and the arts
dc.subjectTheatrical representations
dc.subjectEnglish cycle plays
dc.subjectMedieval theatre
dc.subjectSkin
dc.subjectLiterature in English, British Isles
dc.subjectMedieval Studies
dc.subjectTheatre History
dc.titleFrom Feathers to Fur: Theatrical Representations of Skin in the Medieval English Cycle Plays
dc.typecampus
dc.typearticle
dc.typedissertation
digcom.contributor.authorGramling, Valerie Anne
digcom.date.embargo2014-06-20T00:00:00-07:00
digcom.identifierdissertations_1/463
digcom.identifier.contextkey5709871
digcom.identifier.submissionpathdissertations_1/463
dspace.entity.typePublication
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