The Figure of Mahomet in the Towneley Cycle

Abstract

The Figure of Mahomet in the Towneley Cycle Michael Pauli Many studies have asserted the important role that typology plays in establishing the structural and thematic unity of English cycle drama.1 For the most part, these studies maintain that the individual cycles present only those characters and stories which prefigure or are related to those two most dramatically climactic events, the Passion and the confrontation of Christ and Antichrist that marks the beginning of the Judgment. Yet, in dealing with the typology of the various plays and characters, especially the villainous characters, there is relatively little said about the figure of Mahomet, the god of the drama’s antagon­ ists. Although he never appears on stage, we know of him through the countless oaths sworn in his name by such characters as Pharaoh, Herod, Christ’s torturers, and, most important, Pilate. Attempting to account for the anachronism of selecting the founder of Islam as the god under whom all of the New Testament villains are united, Walter Meyers argues (pp. 53-54) that the cycles derive this use of Mahomet from the French romances where he is most often part of the pagan trinity along with Termagant and Apollo. Meyers concludes, therefore (p. 53), that the Mahomet of the cycles is a fictionalized character, unknown to the times, with no real connection to the “historical” Mahomet, and that he fits into the typological scheme of the drama as an artistically conceived type of the devil. This argu­ ment for the source of Mahomet and his function in the typology of the cycles seems both unlikely and overly generalized. First, Mahomet is not presented in the plays, as he is in the French romances, as an icon who shares his power with other gods. Rather, he is the one and all-powerful god of Christ’s enemies. Secondly, for the cycles’ authors to ignore the “historical” Mahomet in the way suggested by Meyers would be untypical and inconsistent with the methods used in selecting the other characters. 187 188 Comparative Drama The significance of the selection of Mahomet as the god of Pilate and Herod derives from widely known medieval historical interpretations of his life and religion. Basically, these views, which were incorporated in popular literature of fourteenthcentury England, presented Mahomet as a type of Antichrist. Even more relevant to the times, such contemporaries of the drama as Langland and Wyclif picture Mahomet as a type of the false prelates and friars who were threatening to undermine the Church. The cycle plays draw on both of these comple­ mentary typologies to establish Mahomet as the exact antithesis of Christ. But, perhaps more than any other cycle, the Towneley cycle exploits Mahomet to the greatest extent by incorporating him into more plays and uniting more villains under his leader­ ship. As a result, the characters in the cycle and their con­ comitant types are clearly defined according to whether they worship Christ or Mahomet/Antichrist. In so far as Mahomet is a type of Antichrist, he has historical and immediate relevance, for he links those who crucified Christ with those who were promoting the decay of the English church. Within the drama he performs the role of a ground bass in a concerto grosso, a line against which the pretensions of Herod and Pilate are played and hence are revealed for what they are. The standards by which the villains in the cycle are judged seem not only implicit in their own actions, but are also revealed in their unyielding faith in Mahomet as the supreme god. In all instances, their faith appears as a mockery of Christianity. However, Mahomet as god is ultimately unefficacious. Like Antichrist, he thus ulti­ mately serves Christ by underscoring both His power and the absurdity of those who would deny Him. Western Europe’s understanding of Mahomet was based on a long and popular tradition of propaganda, half-truths, and pseudo-history. The Christian view of Mahomet as a rene­ gade Christian, inspired by the devil, was established in the East shortly after his death.2 This view was then transmitted, via Spain, to the West, where it was nurtured, altered to make it more...