Minnewater
Date
2005
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Producer
Director
Performer
Choreographer
Costume Designer
Music
Videographer
Lighting Designer
Set Designer
Crew Member
Funder
Rehearsal Director
Concert Coordinator
Advisor
Moderator
Panelist
Alternative Title
Department
Haverford College. Department of English
Type
Thesis
Original Format
Running Time
File Format
Place of Publication
Date Span
Copyright Date
Award
Language
eng
Note
Table of Contents
Terms of Use
Rights Holder
Access Restrictions
Open Access
Terms of Use
Tripod URL
Identifier
Abstract
The lay religious women’s movement of the Beguines – specifically in the Low Countries in the mid-thirteenth century - allowed women a space in which to exist at least partially independently from the pervasive male-dominated clerical and secular worlds. This historical episode, era and location are the background for the linguistic space of “Minnewater” in which the central characters navigate and put pressure on the masculine boundaries created for them. Each character has been uniquely affected by contemporary misogynistic discourse, which claims that the female body is so contaminated by its sexuality that it inhibits access to divinity. The women initially express anxiety caused by this discourse, as well as individual desire, through visionary relationships with Jesus. As each struggles with the trauma of her past, they collectively join to find a way to be female in a context that has abused, regulated, and restricted them. This change occurs as they establish physical relationships with one another, acceptance of their bodies and connection to a female spiritual figure. They ultimately access spirituality not through denying their bodies as the Church demands but through incorporating sexuality and physicality into a unique religious experience. Even though they manage to construct a place for themselves at the Beguinage, the male voice – specifically that of the priest and the Pope - continually edits, regulates and dictates their experience and visions. The story ends as the ever-present male authority looms over the joyous, generative space they have created.