“Searching for Identity: The Religious Experiences of Norwich, Kempe, and Truth” Women have struggled, much like the fishermen sailing with a stormy sea, to relinquish their identity from the hands of man and regain control of it again. In waves, they have enjoyed brief moments of freedom and respect yet deep ruts of oppression and scorn. Even after years of efforts and progression, the storm, the struggle, is ongoing still. However, without the contribution of past women, there would be no foundation to build upon. In this essay, we will examine the religious experiences Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe, and Sojourner Truth, explore the similarities and differences of their experiences of being women and of being spiritual figures, and analyze how their lifestyles and writings contributed to the identity of Woman.
Norwich, like many women of the Medieval and Renaissance Ages, lived in seclusion. This lifestyle was both expected and imposed upon women by …show more content…
In the sixtieth chapter, Norwich shares a vision of God in which it is explained that, “He could not die any more, but he did not want to cease working,” and that it is through the collection of spiritual and earthly selves that his suffering, his work, should continue (Norton, p. 42). In other words, sufferance is a way to pay respects, to repent, and to serve. Though servitude and sufferance can, at times, imply submission, Peters, author of “Julian of Norwich’s Showings and the Ancrene Riwle: Two Rhetorical Configurations of Mysticism,” argues prayer and spiritual suffering is not another buckling of the lady’s knee beneath pressures of man but rather a way to help free “women’s bodies and turn their minds to contemplate the compassion they feel for others through God...” (Peters, p. 347). In other words, this new way of understanding and perceiving the world helps return personal power to
Norwich, like many women of the Medieval and Renaissance Ages, lived in seclusion. This lifestyle was both expected and imposed upon women by …show more content…
In the sixtieth chapter, Norwich shares a vision of God in which it is explained that, “He could not die any more, but he did not want to cease working,” and that it is through the collection of spiritual and earthly selves that his suffering, his work, should continue (Norton, p. 42). In other words, sufferance is a way to pay respects, to repent, and to serve. Though servitude and sufferance can, at times, imply submission, Peters, author of “Julian of Norwich’s Showings and the Ancrene Riwle: Two Rhetorical Configurations of Mysticism,” argues prayer and spiritual suffering is not another buckling of the lady’s knee beneath pressures of man but rather a way to help free “women’s bodies and turn their minds to contemplate the compassion they feel for others through God...” (Peters, p. 347). In other words, this new way of understanding and perceiving the world helps return personal power to