Durham E-Theses Virginity matters: power and ambiguity in the attraction of the Virgin Mary Warner, Martin Clive How to cite: Warner, Martin Clive (2003) Virginity matters: power and ambiguity in the attraction of the Virgin Mary, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3140/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk Virginity Matters: Power and Ambiguity in the Attraction of the Virgin Mary Martin Warner: PhD thesis. This thesis seeks to account for virginity as the source of Mary' s power to attract. The point of departure is the syncretistic culture of the classical world. Here, patristic use of Old Testament typology recognises the distinctive work of grace in Mary's virginity, thus allowing it to become the determining quality by which her experience is subsequently perceived and universalised. The thesis divides its exploration into the three categories by which Mary is portrayed in the gospels - woman, spouse, mother - concluding its investigation with the end of the nineteenth century and its new understanding of human identity in gender and sexuality. In each category the thesis attempts to identify ways in which the attraction of virginity has functioned through ambiguity (Mary as virgin and mother, mother and spouse of her son) as a positive quality of potency and freedom, rather than as a strictly biological human condition with negative association in contemporary culture. In order to assess the extent ofMary's attraction in periods that lacked the modem forms of articulating self-awareness, the thesis has considered the fabric of devotional practice in religious texts, art, drama and ritual, seeking to allow the perceptions of earlier periods of history (a medium in itself) to challenge our own. As expressions of attraction to Mary, these media have yielded an insight into the power of virginity as a statement of paradisal, heavenly life accessed by grace through male and female human experience. They have also shown virginity to be a source of power that can be exploited for political ends. Finally, the thesis suggests that the power ofMary's virginity has been subversive and liberating in Church and society, thus indicating its neglected significance as a statement about the ambiguity of our nature as human, gendered, and sexual beings. 1 VIRGINITY MATTERS: POWER AND AMBIGUITY IN THE ATTRACTION OF THE VIRGIN MARY A copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. Martin Clive Warner PhD Thesis University of Durham Department of Theology 2003 1 2 DEC 2003 .Y\ l'ABJLJE OIF CON1'1EN1'§ Abstract p. 1 Title Page p. 2 l'abne of Contents p. 3 List ofIllustrations p. 4 Declaration and Copyright Statement p. 5 Introc:hnctimn p. 6 Chapter :D. Mary tllne Virgin Woman p. 10 1. Is Mary a goddess? p. 12 2. Is Mary a person? p. 39 3. Virginity as power and ambiguity. p. 54 4. Conclusion. p. 72 Chapter 2 Mary the Virgin §pouse p. 74 Part 1: Marriage and the Medieval Cult ofMary. p. 76 a) Virginity, marriage, and continence. p. 76 b) Virginity and the attraction of difference. p. 83 c) Defining the enclosure of marriage. p.102 d) Conclusion. p.115 Part 2: Did the Virgin Spouse survive the sixteenth century? p.118 a) The submission of women in marriage and society. p.120 b) The marriage enclosure of the word. p.128 c) Iconography and substitution. p.137 d) Mary as the perfect work of art. p.160 e) Conclusion. p.174 Chapter 3 Mary the Virgin Mother p.177 1) Expressions of unmanliness: Virginity. p.179 2) Expressions of unmanliness: Class. p.l88 3) Expressions of unmanliness: Inversion. P.l99 a) In Roman Catholicism. p.l99 b) In the Church of England. p.208 4) Conclusion. p.220 Conclusion p.222 _jl).228 Bibliography p.241 3 !LlfS'I' OF lf!LJLUS1'1RA.1'Jf0NS 1. Piero della Francesca, The Nativity p.229 2. Rome, 4th century, The Good Shepherd p. 229 3. Rome, 2nd century, Diana ofEphesus p.229 4. Catacomb ofPriscilla, Mary and the Christ Child p. 229 5. Geertgen tot Sint Jans, The Man ofSorrows p.230 6. The Master of the Life of the Virgin, The Presentation in the Temple p. 230 7. Master of the St Lucy Legend, Virgin and Child with Virgin Saints p. 230 8. Apsidal Mosaic, S Maria in Trastevere p. 230 9. Masaccio, Madonna and Child with St Anne p.231 10. Jacopo di Cione, The Coronation ofthe Virgin p.231 11. Staaliche Karlsruhe Diptych, Madonna p.231 12. St lames's Church, Zbraslav, Madonna p. 231 13. Jenikov Altarpiece (detail) The Unicorn p.232 14. WolfTraut, Altarpiece p.232 15. Bartolome Esteban Murillo, The Two Trinities (1640-42) p.232 16. Bartolome Esteban Murillo, The Two Trinities (1681) p. 232 17. Simone Martini, The Finding in the Temple p.233 18. Bartolome Esteban Murillo, The Christ Child asleep on the Cross p.233 19. Martin Schongauer, Annunciation p.233 20. Gerard David, Annunciation p. 233 21. Quentyn Massys, Virgin and Child enthroned p.234 22. Lukas van Leyden, The Virgin with two Angels p.234 23. Diego Velazquez, The Immaculate Conception p.234 24. El Greco, The Coronation ofthe Virgin p.234 25. Annibale Carracci, The Coronation ofthe Virgin p.235 26. Francesco Albani, The Trinity with the Virgin Mary and Angels p.235 27. Arthur Hughes, The Annunciation p. 236 28. Edward Burne-Jones, The Annunciation p.236 29. John Everett Millais, Christ in the House ofHis Parents p.236 30. William Holman Hunt, The Shadow ofDeath p.236 4 31. Giambattista Tiepolo, St Joseph with the Christ Child p. 237 32. Pietro da Cortona, The Assumption p. 237 33. El Greco, The Trinity and The Assumption p. 238 34. Albrecht Durer, Adoration ofthe Trinity p. 238 35. Michelangelo, Pietti (Florence) p. 239 36. Robert Campin (?) or Rogier van der Weyden, Throne of Grace p. 239 37. The Lorch Pieta p. 239 38. Robert Campin, Master ofFlemalle, Salting Madonna p. 239 39. Woodcut, The Virgin shows her breast to her son p. 240 40. Woodcut, Christ shows his breast to the Father p. 240 41. Aubrey Beardsley, A Large Christmas Card p. 240 42. Aubrey Beardsley, The Lady with the Monkey p. 240 Declaration No material contained in this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree in this or any other university. Copyright The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. 5 VffiGllNJITY MA1f1fEJR§: JP>OWJER ANID AMI!UGlJJI'JI'Y JIN TJBDE ATTRACTION OF 'f:UJE VIRGJIN MARY ][NTRODlUCTJION The Virgin Mary has inspired some of the loftiest architecture, some of the most moving poetry, some of the most beautiful paintings in the world; she has filled men and women with deep joy and fervent trust .... But the reality her myth described is over. 1 It is the intention of this thesis to investigate Mary's power to attract, seeking to address a question that could be regard as problematic: Does virginity matter? For some, the power of virginity might be regarded as a culturally and historically determined category of attraction, a myth applied to Mary. And if we wished to loosen its association with her, could we perhaps qualify Mary's identity as virgin and thereby discover the woman who, as Joseph's wife and the mother of his children lives a life that enfolds the miraculous birth of the word made flesh with an experience more like our own? To what extent would we then locate Mary's power to attract in her identity as virgin, and to what extent in her experience as woman, spouse and mother? Attraction is itself an expression of power. We therefore begin this investigation with a chapter that seeks to identify the source ofMary's power to attract. It charts what her place might be in the Christian tradition that had its formative years in the syncretistic culture of the Mediterranean. The issue that confronts us in that context is whether Mary enters Christian devotion as a figure derived from the slender and sometimes unpromising profile of her in the gospels, or from the assembly of goddesses that enchanted the ancient pagan world. But even the recognition ofMary as human and creaturely, not a goddess, does not eliminate other questions about the - 1 Marina Warner, Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and Cult of the Virgin Mary (London: Picador, 1985) p. 338. 6 power of her attraction. Might she be a personification of the projection of female human experience into the life of the divine, of God? How relative might this projection be? How does it connect with the figure ofMary in the gospels? Against these questions we set out in the first chapter the early patristic account of Mary's virginity as a scriptural sign ofpre-lapsarian and heavenly life revealed in the new creation of the birth of Jesus.