Question

On its surface, the two episodes in The 2nd Shepherd's Play seem unrelated. Using a deep reading of the symbolism in the text connect the sheep thief episode in The 2nd Shepherd's Play to the shepherds meeting Jesus at the end. Why spend the majority of the play dealing with a largely secular story? Please use quotes from the play to support your argument, and remember to use in-text citations.

Answer 1

The comic, secular story of the thief and the stolen sheep in The Second Shepherd's Play is intended to entertain the people who view it, and to draw parallels with the story of the Nativity, which is the lesson that a mystery play like The Second Shepherd's Play is intended to teach. The shepherds' gifts to the baby Jesus also foreshadow the gifts of the Magi.

The Second Shepherd's Play was written by an anonymous playwright during the Medieval period, at some time between 1400-1450. The play is part of what is termed the " Wakefield Cycle" of plays, which is a collection of thirty-two mystery plays, which present stories from the Bible and about the life of Jesus Christ.

The plays were performed by and for the people of the city of Wakefield in north-central England usually during the Feast of Corpus Christi, which occurred in either May or June, depending on the Church calendar for that particular year. The Second Shepherd's Play was performed as part of the "Wakefield Cycle" from the time the play was written until about the 1570s.

The Wakefield plays and other religious-oriented plays were written in English rather than in Latin, the language of the Church, so that illiterate people could readily understand the plays and learn the story about the Bible or Christ's life that the plays presented.