sacrifice of Issac in medieval English drama, The

Papers on Language and Literature, Winter 1999 by Davidson, Clifford

Along with the Brome play, the Northampton Abraham and Isaac play has generally been highly regarded (Williams 683). This play was formerly sometimes called the "Dublin play" since its text is uniquely found in Trinity College, Dublin, MS. D.4.18. The Dublin Chain Book records a Corpus Christi Weavers' pageant of "Abraham Ysack, with ther auter and a lambe and ther offerance" (Gilbert 1: 239), but the Trinity College manuscript has no connection with that city and instead is determined from its other contents to be a commonplace book of 1461 from Northampton, where the play may have been written and copied (Davis xlvii-lviii). There is no proof that the play was ever performed there, however, though late medieval Northampton had a town square that would seem to have been ideal for the kind of fixed-stage production required by the Abraham drama. The storage of pageants (presumably pageant wagons) in St. George's Hall in Northampton in the earlier sixteenth century (Cox 184) does not necessarily have any link with the play. The play itself is unique among British Abraham dramas, for it includes the role of Sarah and also calls for two servants, whose presence is derived from the biblical account.37 And it uses horses for transport to the mount where the sacrifice is to be made-an indication that the staging involved at least two locations considerably separated from each other.38

The beginning of the play introduces Deus, who, announcing that he is the "begynnere" of "all king" (1), expresses his dissatisfaction with the human race. But there is one "of his kynd [who] shal plese me ayeyne" (10), and this is Abraham to whom he has granted a child late in life. He announces that he will test him by commanding that he should "make sacrifise vnto me of Isaac his son 3ynge" (25). The angel whom he sends down to earth to communicate his command will come before Abraham at just the moment when he is affirming the dependence of all things on God and giving thanks for his beloved son. The message will here, as in the other plays on this topic, be a harsh one, but Abraham does not hold back or complain, " [f] or of me his wille shal neuer be withnayde / Whil I am on lyve" (62-63). The play thereafter will examine the difficulty of executing God's will, especially since it is guaranteed to be contrary to the will of his spouse Sarah as well as his own natural feeling.

Sarah, then, provides a complicating factor not present in the other British plays on the subject. Abraham would rather face her displeasure than God's, but still the opportunity is present for the actor playing the role to stress the anxiety that naturally would come of such a conflict. Interestingly, he does not at this point think about the welfare of his son; if God will grant him the determination to do the deed, he will fulfill it "Without fraude outher cauelacion" (71 ) . It would seem that the actor is expected to illustrate his agitated state when he comes to the door of the house and demands that the "yates" be opened. When Sarah lets him in, she shows at once that she senses a grievous change in him. He will then equivocate, for he will only tell her about the command to sacrifice "vpon pat hille on hye" (96) at once and not about the child to be sacrificed. He nevertheless must overcome her reluctance to allow Isaac to accompany him, and he will deceive her by his insistence that it is time for the child to "know and se / How pat God shal plesid be" (17-18).