Loading...
Being the bigger ram: Arable vs pastoral masculinities in the Towneley Mactacio Abel
Black, Daisy
Black, Daisy
Authors
Editors
Other contributors
Affiliation
Epub Date
Issue Date
2022-12-01
Submitted date
Subjects
Alternative
Abstract
This article addresses the construction of rural masculine identities through a study of the Towneley manuscript play Mactacio Abel (The Killing of Abel) and the relationships the play stages between human, animal, and land. It argues that the Mactacio Abel places pastoral and arable agricultural labor in competition through the play’s two brothers, and that this competition takes the form of a gendered attack on the masculinity of each. The article begins with Cain’s arable farming and how the character’s antagonistic relationship with the earth hints at his failures as laborer and as a man. It examines Cain’s interactions with Abel and the way the brothers’ different experiences of farming inform their relationships with God, before turning attention to Cain’s vicious attack on his brother’s masculinity and occupation through scatological language and hints that Abel is committing bestiality with his sheep. Finally, the article examines the play’s blurring of distinctions between food and kin, and human and animal meat. Broadening the current critical focus on the intersection of urban drama and identity, this study shows that the Mactacio Abel stresses contemporary anxieties about rural performances of masculinity and labor.
Citation
Black, D. (2022) Being the bigger ram: Arable vs pastoral masculinities in the Towneley Mactacio Abel. Medieval Feminist Forum, 58(1), pp.84-105.
Publisher
Journal
Research Unit
DOI
PubMed ID
PubMed Central ID
Embedded videos
Additional Links
Type
Journal article
Language
en
Description
© 2022 The Authors. Published by University of Michigan Press. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence.
The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/mff/vol58/iss1/7/
Series/Report no.
ISSN
1536-8742