Martyrdom Of St. Perpetua And Felicity Analysis

The Martyrdom of St. Perpetua and Felicity, which is a story about Perpetua’s trial due to her beliefs in Christianity, was written in the year 203 by three different authors, Perpetua, Satururs, and an unknown narrator. Perpetua wrote her part of the story while she was in prison, perhaps to give others the strength to stand up for what they believe in. Perpetua lived in Carthage under the Roman Empire, where the paterfamilias meant everything. The paterfamilias is the father of the household; they have the ability to take away the life of their children which means they have complete control over them. However, in The Martyrdom of St. Perpetua and Felicity, Perpetua disobeys her father. In this paper I will argue that the text was intended for Christians instead of the Romans based on the way Perpetua is praised in the text and how Perpetua’s disobedience towards her father who was the paterfamilias was most shocking to the Romans. Essentially this autobiography was written for Christian’s, particularly for those who were or later

She gets flipped by a bull and immediately stands up to straighten her clothing. She makes sure her hair looks nice and keeps her composer. Perpetua even helps the amateur soldier place the sword at the correct spot to end her life, she is humble and sees it as pure joy to be martyred for her faith. Always trying to honor and glorify her god while she is being tried. Once Perpetua is killed who took care of the child, who made sure he was nourished and got what he needed. Perhaps Perpetua’s father was being very reasonable when he asked for her to make the sacrifice in order to save his grey hairs as well as to save her own son. Maybe Perpetua did not think that far ahead. Outsiders probably thought that Perpetua was being selfish when in fact she was trying to be selfless, she was sacrificing her body for her beliefs in order to bring glory to her