The Brome play of Abraham and Isaac
Encyclopedia
The Brome play of Abraham and Isaac (also known as The Brome “Abraham and Isaac”, The Brome Abraham, and The Sacrifice of Isaac) is a fifteenth-century
play
of unknown authorship, written in an East Anglian
dialect of Middle English
, which dramatises the story of the Akedah, the binding of Isaac
.
prays to God
, thanking Him for His various blessings, most of all his favourite son, Isaac
. Next, God reveals to an angel that he will test Abraham's faith by asking him to sacrifice Isaac. The angel conveys this instruction to Isaac who, though he is distraught, agrees to comply with it. Abraham takes Isaac to the place of sacrifice, his grief made all the greater by Isaac (not yet knowing he is the “qweke best” intended for sacrifice) being eager to aid his father. When Abraham reveals that he means to kill him, Isaac at first pleads for his life. However, when he learns that it is God's will that he should die, Isaac acquiesces in his death, even urging his father not to tarry over the deed. Abraham binds Isaac so that he will not deflect his father's sword but when he draws that sword and prepares to strike, the angel appears and takes it out of his hand. The angel reveals that God is pleased with Abraham's obedience and that Issac need not be sacrificed after all. Leaving them with a ram, the angel departs. As they make the offering, God appears above (the medieval custom was to have God act at a higher level than other characters) and promises them that “for thys dede | I schall mvltyplye yowres botheres [both] sede | As thyke as sterres be in the skye”. In an epilogue a doctor
, a stock figure in medieval drama, appears and points the moral that we should obey God's commandments and not rail against the designs God has for us.
Manor, Suffolk
, England
. The manuscript itself has been dated at 1454 at the earliest. This manuscript is now housed at Yale University
's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
.
While Joseph Quincy Adams
reckoned the Brome Abraham “must be dated as early as the fourteenth century
,”, most other scholars assign various periods of the fifteenth century for the play's composition.
The Brome Abraham's relation to the play of the same subject in the cycle of Chester Mystery Plays
has attracted attention. A comparison of the texts reveals around 200 lines of striking similarity, in particular during the debates between Abraham and Isaac that are at the hearts of the plays. A. M. Kinghorn judged the Brome play to be a superior reworking of the Chester barbers' play of Abraham, and accordingly dated the play to late in the fifteenth century. However, comparing the two, J. Burke Severs decided that the Chester play was an expansion and reworking of the Brome one.
It is not known whether the play was originally part of a larger cycle of mystery plays, such as at Chester Mystery Plays
and York Mystery Plays
, or if it stood by itself, as Osborn Waterhouse of the Early English Text Society
believed, though he conceded that it was to be supposed “that the stage was the usual pageant, and the mode of performance practically identical with that of the regular cycle plays.”
The play is often considered the best of Middle English Abraham plays, humane in its treatment of infanticide, inventive in its language; Lucy Toulmin Smith
, a nineteenth-century editor, found it to be superior to others of the period on the same subject and in the twentieth century George K. Anderson thought the play, its "human qualities" and characterization, "unusually good", and Gassner thought it “a masterpiece”. Adams noted that it was often reprinted due to its being “justly regarded as the best example of pathos in the early religious drama”.
in Toronto
.
There is also another individual 15th-century English play on the binding of Isaac, the so-called Northampton Abraham, which is sometimes also referred to as the Dublin Abraham, as the manuscript is kept at Trinity College Library, Dublin
. The subject also features in the first part of the Cornish language
Ordinalia
.
15th century in literature
See also: 15th century in poetry, 14th century in literature, other events of the 15th century, 16th century in literature, list of years in literature.-Events:* 1403 - The Yongle Encyclopedia is commissioned in China....
play
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
of unknown authorship, written in an East Anglian
East Anglian English
East Anglian English is a dialect of English spoken in East Anglia. This easternmost area of England was probably home to the first-ever form of language which can be called English...
dialect of Middle English
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
, which dramatises the story of the Akedah, the binding of Isaac
Binding of Isaac
The Binding of Isaac Akedah or Akeidat Yitzchak in Hebrew and Dhabih in Arabic, is a story from the Hebrew Bible in which God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, on Mount Moriah...
.
The play
In the opening scene, AbrahamAbraham
Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
prays to God
God in Christianity
In Christianity, God is the eternal being that created and preserves the universe. God is believed by most Christians to be immanent , while others believe the plan of redemption show he will be immanent later...
, thanking Him for His various blessings, most of all his favourite son, Isaac
Isaac
Isaac as described in the Hebrew Bible, was the only son Abraham had with his wife Sarah, and was the father of Jacob and Esau. Isaac was one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites...
. Next, God reveals to an angel that he will test Abraham's faith by asking him to sacrifice Isaac. The angel conveys this instruction to Isaac who, though he is distraught, agrees to comply with it. Abraham takes Isaac to the place of sacrifice, his grief made all the greater by Isaac (not yet knowing he is the “qweke best” intended for sacrifice) being eager to aid his father. When Abraham reveals that he means to kill him, Isaac at first pleads for his life. However, when he learns that it is God's will that he should die, Isaac acquiesces in his death, even urging his father not to tarry over the deed. Abraham binds Isaac so that he will not deflect his father's sword but when he draws that sword and prepares to strike, the angel appears and takes it out of his hand. The angel reveals that God is pleased with Abraham's obedience and that Issac need not be sacrificed after all. Leaving them with a ram, the angel departs. As they make the offering, God appears above (the medieval custom was to have God act at a higher level than other characters) and promises them that “for thys dede | I schall mvltyplye yowres botheres [both] sede | As thyke as sterres be in the skye”. In an epilogue a doctor
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
, a stock figure in medieval drama, appears and points the moral that we should obey God's commandments and not rail against the designs God has for us.
Scholarship
The text of the play was lost until the 19th century, when a manuscript was found in a commonplace book dating from around 1470-80 at BromeBrome, Suffolk
Brome is a small village in Suffolk, England.Its church, St Mary, is one of 38 existing round-tower churches in Suffolk.-External links:*, a round-tower church...
Manor, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The manuscript itself has been dated at 1454 at the earliest. This manuscript is now housed at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library was a 1963 gift of the Beinecke family. The building was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft of the firm of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, and is the largest building in the world reserved exclusively for the preservation of rare books...
.
While Joseph Quincy Adams
Joseph Quincy Adams
Joseph Quincy Adams, Jr. was a prominent Shakespeare scholar and the first director of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C....
reckoned the Brome Abraham “must be dated as early as the fourteenth century
14th century in literature
See also: 14th century in poetry, 13th century in literature, other events of the 14th century, 15th century in literature, list of years in literature.-Events:*c.1330 - Production of the Macclesfield Psalter.*1331 - Production of the Nuremberg Mahzor....
,”, most other scholars assign various periods of the fifteenth century for the play's composition.
The Brome Abraham's relation to the play of the same subject in the cycle of Chester Mystery Plays
Chester Mystery Plays
The Chester Mystery Plays is a cycle of mystery plays dating back to at least the early part of the 15th century.A record of 1422 shows that the plays took place at the feast of Corpus Christi and this appears to have continued until 1521. Plays on Corpus Christi Day in 1475 included 'The trial...
has attracted attention. A comparison of the texts reveals around 200 lines of striking similarity, in particular during the debates between Abraham and Isaac that are at the hearts of the plays. A. M. Kinghorn judged the Brome play to be a superior reworking of the Chester barbers' play of Abraham, and accordingly dated the play to late in the fifteenth century. However, comparing the two, J. Burke Severs decided that the Chester play was an expansion and reworking of the Brome one.
It is not known whether the play was originally part of a larger cycle of mystery plays, such as at Chester Mystery Plays
Chester Mystery Plays
The Chester Mystery Plays is a cycle of mystery plays dating back to at least the early part of the 15th century.A record of 1422 shows that the plays took place at the feast of Corpus Christi and this appears to have continued until 1521. Plays on Corpus Christi Day in 1475 included 'The trial...
and York Mystery Plays
York Mystery Plays
The York Mystery Plays, more properly called the York Corpus Christi Plays, are a Middle English cycle of forty-eight mystery plays, or pageants, which cover sacred history from the creation to the Last Judgement. These were traditionally presented on the feast day of Corpus Christi...
, or if it stood by itself, as Osborn Waterhouse of the Early English Text Society
Early English Text Society
The Early English Text Society is an organization to reprint early English texts, especially those only available in manuscript. Most of its volumes are in Middle English and Old English...
believed, though he conceded that it was to be supposed “that the stage was the usual pageant, and the mode of performance practically identical with that of the regular cycle plays.”
The play is often considered the best of Middle English Abraham plays, humane in its treatment of infanticide, inventive in its language; Lucy Toulmin Smith
Lucy Toulmin Smith
Lucy Toulmin Smith was an Anglo-American antiquarian and librarian, known for her first publication of the York Mystery Plays and other early works.- Life :...
, a nineteenth-century editor, found it to be superior to others of the period on the same subject and in the twentieth century George K. Anderson thought the play, its "human qualities" and characterization, "unusually good", and Gassner thought it “a masterpiece”. Adams noted that it was often reprinted due to its being “justly regarded as the best example of pathos in the early religious drama”.
Productions
The Brome Abraham was performed in 1980 by Poculi Ludique SocietasPoculi Ludique Societas
PLS, or Poculi Ludique Societas, the Medieval & Renaissance Players of Toronto, sponsors productions of early plays, from the beginnings of medieval drama to as late as the middle of the seventeenth century....
in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
.
See also
All of the surviving English mystery cycles deal with the story of Abraham and Isaac:- Chester Mystery PlaysChester Mystery PlaysThe Chester Mystery Plays is a cycle of mystery plays dating back to at least the early part of the 15th century.A record of 1422 shows that the plays took place at the feast of Corpus Christi and this appears to have continued until 1521. Plays on Corpus Christi Day in 1475 included 'The trial...
- N-Town PlaysN-Town PlaysThe N-Town Plays are a cycle of 42 medieval Mystery plays from between 1450 and 1500.-The manuscript:...
- Wakefield Mystery PlaysWakefield Mystery PlaysThe Wakefield or Towneley Mystery Plays are a series of thirty-two mystery plays based on the Bible most likely performed around the Feast of Corpus Christi probably in the town of Wakefield, England during the late Middle Ages until 1576...
- York Mystery PlaysYork Mystery PlaysThe York Mystery Plays, more properly called the York Corpus Christi Plays, are a Middle English cycle of forty-eight mystery plays, or pageants, which cover sacred history from the creation to the Last Judgement. These were traditionally presented on the feast day of Corpus Christi...
There is also another individual 15th-century English play on the binding of Isaac, the so-called Northampton Abraham, which is sometimes also referred to as the Dublin Abraham, as the manuscript is kept at Trinity College Library, Dublin
Trinity College Library, Dublin
Trinity College Library Dublin, the centrally-administered library of Trinity College, Dublin, is the largest library in Ireland. As a "copyright library", it has legal deposit rights for material published in the Republic of Ireland; it is also the only Irish library to hold such rights for the...
. The subject also features in the first part of the Cornish language
Cornish language
Cornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...
Ordinalia
Ordinalia
The Ordinalia are three medieval mystery plays written in Cornish from the late fourteenth century. The three plays are Origo Mundi, , Passio Christi and Resurrexio Domini...
.
Further reading
- Non-cycle plays and fragments by Norman Davis, Early English Text SocietyEarly English Text SocietyThe Early English Text Society is an organization to reprint early English texts, especially those only available in manuscript. Most of its volumes are in Middle English and Old English...
, reprinted 1970, OUP - The Metres of the Brome and Chester Abraham and Isaac Plays, by Margaret Dancy Fort
- The Mediaeval Stage by E. K. Chambers
- A Comparison Between the Brome and Chester Plays of Abraham and Isaac by Carrie Anna Harper, Ginn and Company, Boston, 1910
- The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Theatre edited by Richard Beadle and Alan J. Fletcher, Cambridge University PressCambridge University PressCambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
- LevinasEmmanuel LévinasEmmanuel Levinas was a Lithuanian-born French Jewish philosopher and Talmudic commentator.-Life:Emanuelis Levinas received a traditional Jewish education in Lithuania...
and Medieval Literature edited by Ann W. Astell and J. A. Jackson, Duquesne University PressDuquesne University PressDuquesne University Press, founded in 1927, is a publisher that is part of Duquesne University, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.The Press is the scholarly publishing arm of Duquesne University, and publishes monographs and collections in the humanities and social sciences...
, 2009 ISBN 9780820704203
-
- Chapter, “Doing Justice to Isaac: Levinas, the Akedah, and the Brome Play of Abraham and Isaac” by Daniel Kline
External links
- The Brome Play Of Abraham And Isaac. At From Stage to Page - Medieval and Renaissance Drama. NeCastro, Gerard, ed.
- The Sacrifice of Isaac in Medieval English Drama by Clifford Davidson
- Text of the Chester play of Abraham and Isaac. At From Stage to Page - Medieval and Renaissance Drama. NeCastro, Gerard, ed.