From Medieval French Mystery Plays to English Narrative Poem: Abraham’s Temptation, 1834

Abstract

This article examines the uncanonical nature of the little-known poem Abraham’s Temptation (1834) written by an Anglican governess, Emily Bowes, later Emily Gosse. It shows how Bowes resists the customary interpretation of Genesis 22, characterizing Abraham as a fearful and indecisive old man, and Isaac as a bold warrior. It suggests, by a comparison of certain verbal and situational features, that Bowes used Théodore de Bèze’s play, Abraham sacrifiant (1550), as her model. It contends that since Bèze borrowed ideas and imagery from the Abraham story in the Mistère du Viel Testament ( c.1450), Bowes unwittingly imbibes and reproduces the medieval idiom in her poem. As a result, certain utterances and tropes appear in Bowes’ poem that recall the English mystery plays on the same theme. The article proposes a transmission of ideas and imagery across temporal, linguistic, cultural, and generic boundaries.