Marie d’Oignies’ gift of tears, causes a crisis between her and the parish priest who is present for her episode of extreme sobs and cries. The crisis occurs when the priest asks her to restrain her tears during mass. According to the text he, “exhorted her with honey-tongued rebukes to pray in silence and to restrain her tears” ( Petroff 179). However, a significant element of Marie’s performance is that she can not control these tears because they are divinely inspired. According to Jacques de Vitry in The Life of Marie d’Oignies, “ when she tried to restrain the intensity of the flowing river, then a greater intensity wondrously sprang forth (de Vitry 50). The fact that she could not control these tears plays a significant role in her performance a the handmaid of Christ. In order to prove that she is in God’s favor, the performance must be kept up, which directly leads to the redressive action. In order for Marie to have a successful performance, she must in some way prove to the priest that he was wrong about her tears, that she can not control them and …show more content…
Her social drama relied on the actions solely of herself and God. In order for her performance to be successful it was imperative that God intervene and play his important role, giving the priest the gift of tears. Without the assistance of God, Marie would not have been able to prove to the priest that she was not controlling her tears, and that they were divinely inspired by Christ. Similar to the importance of God’s intervention in Marie’s drama, is the fact that God is the director of Perpetua’s performance. Perpetua claims that all of her actions are in the name of god, and God is ultimately the director of her play. As Jacques de Vitry is the director of Marie’s performance, Perpetua is an instrument of God throughout hers. Although the two examples of social drama differ in layout and structure, their ultimate purposes are