in The Life and Repentance of Mary Magdalene — Wager, Lewis
Metadata
Play
The Life and Repentance of Mary Magdalene
Author
Wager, Lewis
Year (catalogued)
1566
First performance
1558
Decade
1560s
Genre
Moral
Play type
Interlude
Speech prefix(es)
Iustifica ion. | Iustifica tion.
Words
352
Characters
1854
Typicality
0.29 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A14625
BritDrama no.
209
Cluster
Cluster 14 — Law & judgment
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
A question right necessary to be moved, For thereby many errors shall be reproved, It were a great error for any man to believe That your love did deserve that Christ should forgive Your sins or trespasses, or any sin at all: For so to believe is and error sanaticall. And how can your love desire forgiveness of your ill Sing that the law it is not able to fulfil? The law thus commandeth as touching love: Thou shalt love thy Lord God as it does behoove, With all thy Heart, with all thy soul, & w to all thy stre ̄ gth, And thy neighbour as thy self. He says also at length: There was never man born yet that was able, To perform these precepts joust, holy, and stable, Save only Jesus Christ, that lamb most innocent Which fulfilleth the law for such as are penitent: But love followeth forgiveness of sins evermore, As a fruit of faith, and goes not before, In that parable which unto you he recited, Wherein he declared your sins to be acquitted, He called you a debtor not able to pay. Then your love paid not your debts perceive you may The forgiveness of your sins you must refer, Only to Christ's grace, then you shall not err. Of this thing plain knowledge you may have In these words go in peace thy faith does thee save. So by faith in Christ you have Justification Freely of his grace, and beyond men operation, The which Justification here I do represent, Which remain with all such as be penitent. Here comes love a special fruit of Faith, As touching this, hear meekly what he says. Of this matter we might tarry very long, But then we should do our audience wrong, Which gently hath herd us here a long space, Wherefore we will make and end now by Gods grace, Praying God that all we example may take Of Marry, our sinful lives to forsake: And no more to look back, but to go forward still Following Christ as she did and his holy will.
Plot summary
Plot — The Life and Repentance of Mary Magdalene
Christ has recently come to Jewry, and Infidelity is keen to interfere with his work: his plan is to influence the religious establishment against Christ and thereby ensure his crucifixion. Meanwhile, he encourages Mary Magdalen to enjoy her youth while she can, and introduces her to three companions who will help: Pride, Cupidity, and Carnal Concupiscence (all of whom go under less damaging names). They recommend fashionable clothes and hairstyles, which will attract men, but also advise her against marriage. Mary meets The Law of God and Knowledge of Sin, and experiences the stirrings of conscience: she despairs, thinking herself surely damned and God unjust. Christ casts seven devils out of Mary and drives away Infidelity: she is given the grace to repent. Simon the Pharisee is suspicious of Christ because he is lower-class and uneducated, and invites him to dinner. During the meal, Mary washes his feet with her tears and anoints them. Simon is outraged, but Christ emphasizes the universality of forgiveness: Mary is a genuine penitent, whereas Simon is merely a hypocrite wanting to show off his wealth and presumed holiness. Simon is offended and sets Infidelity and Malicious Judgement to follow Christ, spy on his preaching, and have him brought to trial. Mary ends the play in the company of Love and Justification, who emphasize that she is saved through her faith alone.