Think you’ve got your head wrapped around The Book of Margery Kempe? Put your knowledge to
the test. Good luck — the Stickman is counting on you!
Q. "Great was the holy conversation that the anchoress and this creature had through talking of the love of our Lord Jesus Christ for the many days that they were together" (I.18.78-79). Who is the anchoress in this conversation?
Julian of Norwich
Bridget of Sweden
Mary Magdalene
Catherine of Siena
Q. "And then the Father took her by the hand [spiritually] in her soul, before the Son and the Holy Ghost, and the Mother of Jesus...saying to her soul, 'I take you, Kempe, for my wedded wife...'" (I.35.123). What the heck is going on here?!
Kempe spiritually attends the wedding at Cana.
God makes Kempe renew her wedding vows to John.
God the Father spiritually marries himself to Kempe.
Kempe attends an elaborately themed wedding in Lynn.
Q. "'And make my body free to God, so that you never make any claim on me requesting any conjugal debt after this day as long as you live—and I shall eat and drink on Fridays at your bidding'" (I.11.60). What has Kempe just negotiated here?
A divorce
A permanent, mutual vow of chastity with her husband
Commitment as a cloistered nun
A new and interesting diet plan
Q. "'Daughter, it is more pleasing to me that you suffer scorn and humiliation, shame and rebukes, wrongs and distress, than if your head were struck off three times a day every day for seven years'" (I.54.170). Um, what exactly is Christ advocating here?
that Kempe stop trying to get the neighbors to cut her head off
that Kempe see her persecution as effective as martyrdom
that Kempe stop complaining about her lack of popularity
that Kempe look for more opportunities to annoy people
Q. "She would have killed herself many a time as they stirred her to, and would have been damned with them in hell, and in witness of this she bit her own hand so violently that the mark could be seen for the rest of her life" (I.1.42). What is driving Kempe to despair here?
guilty conscience; post-partum depression; wicked demons
physical abuse; mental illness; hatred
sexual frustration; identity crisis; religious mania
social isolation; anger; poverty