Wisdom (play)
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''Wisdom'' (also known as ''Mind, Will, and Understanding'') is one of the earliest surviving
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
morality play The morality play is a genre of medieval and early Tudor drama. The term is used by scholars of literary and dramatic history to refer to a genre of play texts from the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries that feature personified concepts ( ...
s. Together with ''
Mankind Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are great apes characterized by their hairlessness, bipedalism, and high intelligenc ...
'' and ''
The Castle of Perseverance ''The Castle of Perseverance'' is a c. 15th-century morality play and the earliest known full-length (3,649 lines) vernacular play in existence. Along with '' Mankind'' and ''Wisdom'', ''The Castle of Perseverance'' is preserved in the Macro Manu ...
'', it forms a collection of early English moralities called "The Macro Plays". ''Wisdom'' enacts the struggle between good and evil; as an allegory, it depicts Christ (personified in the character of Wisdom) and Lucifer battling over the Soul of Man, with Christ and goodness ultimately victorious. Dating between 1460 and 1463, the play is preserved in its complete form in the
Macro Manuscript The Macro Manuscript is a collection of three 15th-century English morality plays, known as the "Macro plays" or "Macro moralities": ''Mankind (play), Mankind'', ''The Castle of Perseverance'', and ''Wisdom (play), Wisdom''. So named for its 18th ...
, currently a part of the collection of the
Folger Shakespeare Library The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materia ...
(MS V.a. 354). A manuscript fragment of the first 754 lines also belongs to the
Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...
(MS Digby 133). Although the author of ''Wisdom'' remains anonymous, the manuscript was transcribed and signed by a monk named Thomas Hyngman. Some scholars have suggested that Hyngman also authored the play.


Synopsis

Unlike other early morality plays, the character signifying man is split into nine different characters: Anima (the soul of man), the three faculties of the soul (Mind, Will and Understanding), and her five senses (known as ‘’the Wits”). Despite boasting a large cast list, the only six speaking roles in the play are Anima, Wisdom, Lucifer, Mind, Will and Understanding. Although the manuscript does not contain scene demarcations, the play can be divided into four sections, based upon a theological schematic of transgression and redemption: innocence, temptation, sinful life, and repentance. In the first part (Lines 1–324), Anima declares her love for Wisdom, the allegorical figure for Christ. The stage directions note that Anima is dressed in white, a symbol of her purity and position as the bride of Christ. The five Wits enter (dressed as virgins), and dance. Wisdom advises Anima and her three faculties (Will, Mind, Understanding) about how to live virtuously. In the second part (325-550), Lucifer tempts each of the three faculties – Will with lechery, Mind with pride, and Understanding with Perjury. In the third part (551-837), each faculty (having exchanged monkish, acetic robes for more fashionable and luxurious ones) devotes himself to sin and dances wildly with six followers. In the final part (838-1108), Wisdom returns to chastise the three faculties for falling into temptation. Anima, Will, Mind and Understanding repent, and the devils are chased from the stage. Recognizing that redemption requires more than her remorse, Anima asks for God's mercy and grace. Wisdom grants both, before turning to the audience and ending the play with a sermon on avoiding sin and seeking grace.


History

Like ''Mankind'', the
Macro Manuscript The Macro Manuscript is a collection of three 15th-century English morality plays, known as the "Macro plays" or "Macro moralities": ''Mankind (play), Mankind'', ''The Castle of Perseverance'', and ''Wisdom (play), Wisdom''. So named for its 18th ...
version of ''Wisdom'' bears a Latin inscription by the monk Thomas Hyngman and the phrase (translated), “Oh book, if anyone shall perhaps ask to whom you belong, you will say, “I belong above everything to Hyngham, a monk.” Similarities between this hand and the text of the play lead scholars to believe that Hyngman transcribed the play. Close parallels between the Digby version and Macro version (including congruence of transcription errors). The particularities of the playtext's dialect suggest that ''Wisdom'' dates between 1460 and 1470 (Davidson argues for a range between 1460 and 1463). The language is an East Midland dialect, particularly common to Norfolk and Suffolk at the time of composition. Although the play conventionally goes by the name ''Wisdom'' today, neither manuscript notes a title. Former owner Thomas Sharp referred to the play by the title '' "Mind, Will, and Understanding" '' (after the three major characters). The now common moniker '' “Wisdom” '' is shorthand for ''A Morality of Wisdom, who is Christ'', pioneered in an 1882 publication of the plays by the philologist
Frederick James Furnivall Frederick James Furnivall (4 February 1825 – 2 July 1910) was an English philologist, best known as one of the co-creators of the '' New English Dictionary''. He founded a number of learned societies on early English literature and made pion ...
. In August 1936, Joseph Quincy Adams, the Director of the Folger Shakespeare Library, purchased this manuscript along with ''Wisdom'' and ''The Castle'' from the antiquarian firm
Bernard Quaritch Bernard Alexander Christian Quaritch ( ; April 23, 1819 – December 17, 1899) was a German-born British bookseller and collector. The company established by Bernard Quaritch in 1847 lives on in London as Bernard Quaritch Ltd, dealing in rare ...
for £1,125 (approximately $5,625). The manuscripts had been purchased by Quaritch earlier in 1936 at a Sotheby's auction on March 30 for 440 pounds.


Sources

Much of the play's theological material directly quotes the
Vulgate Bible The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Roman Church. Later, of his own initia ...
, including selections from
Song of Songs The Song of Songs (), also called the Canticle of Canticles or the Song of Solomon, is a Biblical poetry, biblical poem, one of the five ("scrolls") in the ('writings'), the last section of the Tanakh. Unlike other books in the Hebrew Bible, i ...
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Psalms The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of B ...
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Proverbs A proverb (from ) or an adage is a simple, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and are an example of formulaic language. A proverbial phrase or a proverbial ...
,
Lamentations The Book of Lamentations (, , from its incipit meaning "how") is a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. In the Hebrew Bible, it appears in the Ketuvim ("Writings") as one of the Five Megillot ("Five Scrolls" ...
,
Malachi Malachi or Malachias (; ) is the name used by the author of the Book of Malachi, the last book of the Nevi'im (Prophets) section of the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh. It is possible that ''Malachi'' is not a proper name, because it means "messenger"; ...
,
Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes ( ) is one of the Ketuvim ('Writings') of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly used in English is a Latin transliteration of the Greek translation of the Hebrew word ...
,
Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Chinese Elm ''Ulmus parvifolia'' Christianity * Matthew the Apostle, one of ...
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Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
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Ephesians The Epistle to the Ephesians is the tenth book of the New Testament. Traditionally believed to have been written by the Apostle Paul around AD 62 during his imprisonment in Rome, the Epistle to the Ephesians closely resembles Colossians ...
, and
Colossians The Epistle to the Colossians is the twelfth book of the New Testament. It was written, according to the text, by Paul the Apostle and Timothy, and addressed to the church in Colossae, a small Phrygian city near Laodicea and approximately f ...
. The characterization and costuming of Anima as the Bride of Christ come from passages of
Henry Suso Henry Suso, OP (also called Amandus, a name adopted in his writings, and Heinrich Seuse or Heinrich von Berg in German; 21 March 1295 – 25 January 1366) was a German Dominican friar and the most popular vernacular writer of the fourteenth c ...
’s ''Horologium Sapientiae''. Lucifer’s arguments to the three faculties in the temptation scene are mutations of 14th century mystic
Walter Hilton Walter Hilton, Can. Reg. (c. 1340/1345 – 24 March 1396) was an English Augustinian mystic, whose works gained influence in 15th-century England and Wales. He is commemorated by the Church of England and by the Episcopal Church in the Unit ...
’s writings in his ''Epistle on mixed life''. At the play’s conclusion, sections of Anima’s repentance (particularly the language of Mind, Will and Understanding) come again from Hilton, in his major work ''The Scale of Perfection''.Klausner, ''Two Moral Interludes''


Editions and Facsimiles

Several editions of ''Wisdom'' have been printed in the past century and a half, including: *Baker, D. C., J. L. Murphy, and L. B. Hall, Jr., eds. ''The Late Medieval Religious Plays of Bod¬leian MSS Digby 133 and E. Museo 160.'' Oxford:
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 1982. *Bevington, David, ed. ''The Macro Plays: A Facsimile Edition with Facing Transcription.'' New York: Johnson Reprint, 1972. *Coldewey, John, ed. ''Early English Drama: An Anthology.'' New York: Garland, 1993. *Eccles, Mark, ed. ''The Macro Plays.'' EETS o.s. 262. London: Oxford University Press, 1969. *Riggio, Milla Cozart, ed. ''The Play of Wisdom: Its Texts and Contexts.'' New York: AMS Press, 1998. *Walker, Greg, ed. ''Medieval Drama.'' Oxford: Blackwell, 2000.


Notes

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References

*Baker, D. C., J. L. Murphy, and L. B. Hall, Jr., eds. ''The Late Medieval Religious Plays of Bod¬leian MSS Digby 133 and E. Museo 160.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982. *Beadle, Richard and Piper, A.J. eds. "Monk Thomas Hyngham’s hand in the Macro Manuscript", ''New Science out of Old Books: Studies in Manuscripts and Early Printed Books''. Aldershot: Scolar Press, 1995, pp. 315–41. *Bevington, David, ed. ''The Macro Plays: A Facsimile Edition with Facing Transcription.'' New York: Johnson Reprint, 1972. *Coldewey, John, ed. ''Early English Drama: An Anthology.'' New York: Garland, 1993. *Davenport, William. ''Fifteenth-Century English Drama: The Early Moral Plays and Their Literary Relations.'' Boydell & Brewer, 1982. *Eccles, Mark, ed. ''The Macro Plays.'' EETS o.s. 262. London: Oxford University Press, 1969. *Furnivall, Frederick James and Pollard, Alfred William eds. ''The Macro Plays.'' For the Early English Text Society, 1904. *Gibson, Gail McMurray. ''The Theater of Devotion: East Anglian Drama and Society in the Late Middle Ages''. University of Chicago Press, 1994. *Klausner, David N, ed. ''Two Moral Interludes: The Pride of Life and Wisdom.'' Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications, 2008. *Riggio, Milla Cozart, ed. ''The Play of Wisdom: Its Texts and Contexts.'' New York: AMS Press, 1998. *Smart, Walter. ''Some English and Latin Sources and Parallels for the Morality of Wisdom''. 1912. *Walker, Greg, ed. ''Medieval Drama.'' Oxford: Blackwell, 2000.


External links


Images of the Macro Plays
from the
Folger Shakespeare Library The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materia ...
Digital Image Collection 15th-century plays Medieval drama Allegory