Katherine of Alexandria, one of the most popular saints of the Middle Ages, was
acclaimed for her great learning. This investigation focuses on the fraught relationship
between knowledge, the feminine and the idea of the body in the predominantly Catholic
society of late medieval England as it is revealed in John Capgraveâs fifteenth century
Life of Saint Katherine of Alexandria.
In chapter one the interrelations between Katherine, the Virgin Mary and Eve â
particularly with regard to each womanâs relation to knowledge â is considered.
Capgrave attempts to associate Katherine with the positive example of the Virgin Mary
and her relation to knowledge through Christ, the Word, in order to increase admiration
for Katherine as a saint. However, as the conversion scene is set in an enclosed garden it
recalls the Garden of Eden and the Fall thus also creating parallels between Katherine and
Eve. In this way an underlying uneasiness with Katherineâs exceptional level of
education as potentially disruptive and negative is achieved.
The centrality of marriage to Capgraveâs text is explored in chapter two. The
representation of Katherine and the Church as the brides of Christ and the ways in which
this essentially feminine image lends itself to associations with the body, as well as the
Churchâs simultaneous portrayal as the body of Christ, is considered. It is proposed that
Katherine may be perceived as a symbolic representative of the Church and although, both the bride and body images have implications of subservience for those placed in the
feminine role they also serve to express the intimacy of the relationship striven for with
God.
Chapter three examines Katherineâs use of the body of rhetoric. It is demonstrated that
the changes in her use of rhetoric after her conversion and mystical marriage indicate
that, as a woman making effective use of the body of rhetoric to argue for female rule,
she may be perceived as transgressing gender boundaries in medieval patriarchal society.
The âdiscipliningâ of Katherineâs âtransgressiveâ behaviour may be seen in her mystical
marriage to Christ as this is the decisive event which brings her under patriarchal control.
Therefore any threat she might have been seen to pose to the status quo is subtly
neutralised.
In chapter four the analogies relating to the body are further considered, particularly with
regard to the spiritual implications. Parallels between St Katherineâs passion and Christâs
Passion are noted to indicate how the imitatio Christi and sponsalia Christi themes
converge in Capgraveâs text to elide Katherine (as the âbodyâ and bride of Christ) with
the divine (perceived as male). The incident narrated in Capgraveâs prologue, where an
English priest has to consume a book in a dream before he can discover St Katherineâs
legend, may be seen to reveal her elision with the divine through the interrelations of
Katherine, the book containing her legend, the eucharist, the Passion, the Resurrection,
relics, the body and the translation of her legend as an âun-cagingâ of meaning. Thus Capgrave does not shy away from the issues of gender power-relations that were
pertinent to his society. Although he appears to be unique among his peers in allowing for
quite a balanced debate of these issues in his text, he includes aspects which subtly
undercut Katherineâs strident independence as a woman. In this way he is able to honour
the saint while simultaneously confirming the âproperâ position of women in medieval
patriarchal society by equating it to the position of humanity in the Church vis-Ã -vis
Christ. Consequently, Capgrave is able to openly consider challenges to, and yet subtly
affirm, the status quo of his society in this multivalent saintâs legend.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-09252007-141458 |
| Date | 25 September 2007 |
| Creators | Geldenhuys, Katharine Leigh |
| Contributors | Prof MM Raftery |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-09252007-141458/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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