| Summary: | In the mystery cycles of York and Towneley, Jesus Christ is compared to a jester or a (wise) fool by his opponents, something which is not so surprising if one takes into account the place given to the fool in medieval society. Indeed, despite his “wisdom” and because of his traditional lack of regard for his own person or status, the wise fool was the regular target of the same sort of abuse that the professional jester incurred, for it was the price they both had to pay for the special type of freedom they were awarded. The humiliations that Christ is subjected to in Christ Before Herod and The Buffeting, which his tormentors use to ridicule him, are evidence of their own folly and a testament to their victim’s fortitude. They exhibit the liminal qualities described by Turner in his analysis of the ritual process. And they are also a reminder of the truly abject condition of the professional fool.
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