University of Basra

Collage of Arts

The Second Shepard Mystery Play

By: Sara Ammar

Supervisor: Dr. Samir Talib

What is Mystery Play?

Mystery plays were highly performed in York as a medieval tradition. It is a religious way
of delivering the stories from the bible to the city and streets in a huge celebration. The day of
performance is the great day of the Feast of the Corpus Christi. It was an influential way because
people at that time were illiterate and could not read the bible by themselves because it was
written in Latin. It is considered to be one of the earliest plays in the medieval period. In the fifth
century, these plays were presented into church services, they were usually presented as a cycle,
beginning with the story of creation and end with Last Judgment. The first Mystery plays were
performed in Latin according to the church services, writers and directors were monks or other
religious figures. The events are based on biblical scriptures like the fall of Lucifer, Adam and
Eve. Mystery play is one of the three fundamental plays in the medieval time (beside the miracle
and morality plays), they tackle stories from the bible that were already performed in Latin by
the clergymen (Davidson, 2014).
They became more popular by time when travelling companies existed, these companies
started travelling from town to town performing these kind of plays for commoners. It was by
then out of the church and so became popular. Mystery plays changed rapidly in terms of setting
as they started getting popular among commoners because it has been performed in public
squares and marketplaces. As a result to its separation from the church, these plays tended to
change even in core subjects. Consequently, it has been noticed that events in plays started to
mock priests and religious figures. Another major change in the performers, monks and priests
are replaced with member of guilds and craftsmen. Unity of time, place and action were not
crucial in Mystery Plays, and the play could start in any place or any time and each story does
not relate to one another (ibid).

The Second Shepard Play

A Medieval play which is composed by an anonymous author known as Wakefield
Master representing the biblical story about nativity. It starts with two shepherds looking after
their flocks and complaining about the cold weather, the first named Col and the second named
Gib. The first speech for Col starts by being grouchy for being obliged to work in rugged
weather for the rich gentry who makes them work more and “rob(s) them of their rest”. Gib
enters then and complains about his family issues. Another character enters without the other
shepherd’s attention, his name is Dave and as soon as he enters he starts complaining about the
master and how cruel he is for making them work extra time.
Then both Gib and Col see him and tell him to stop complaining and invites him for food.
Another Character then appears, Mak who is a thief. Mak enters and try to manipulate the
shepherds by telling them he is yeoman and have an important message from some lord, he even
threatens the shepherds that they will get flogged. The shepherds in return know that this person
is a deceiver and asked him whether he is married. Later he complained that his wife is alcoholic
and how he was not happy with her having too many children. Mak tries to gain the Shepard’s
sympathy to offer him some food, but the shepherds got tired and want to take a nap. They
convinced Mak to sleep between them and by the time when they fell asleep Mak stood up and
stole a sheep and ran to his house while his wife sees the sheep she gets scared and warns her
husband that he might get hanged for this. Consequently, he decided to slaughter the sheep right
away and eat it, but his wife says that’s a bad idea because maybe the shepherds will hear the
sheep’s cries. She came up with an idea to tell the shepherds that she had delivered a new baby
and brought the sheep and put it in the cradle so no one can notice it.

Mak afterwards returns to the shepherds and got back to sleep. When everyone wakes up
he declares that he dreamt that his wife is weak and delivered a baby and that he has to go to
make sure she was OK. The shepherds then go to check on the sheep and found out that there is
one missing, in the meantime Mak goes back to his house and warns his wife that the shepherds
will soon know that one sheep is missing, so Gill took the sheep and covered it and put it in the
cradle. Soon as they left, the shepherds felt sorry that they did not give Mak any money as a gift
for the baby, so they return back to Mak’s house and went to the bedroom, Dave hold the baby to
kiss him and was shocked that it was a sheep not a baby! They felt sorry for Mak and did not
report the incident as he will get hanged, but instead they punished him by tossing him and then
let him go.
The shepherds return to their sheep and went to sleep. When they slept an angel appears and sing
“Gloria in excelsis “the angel tells them about the birth of Christ’s child and asks them to visit
the baby in Bethlehem. They had the notion that this child is the new savior and decided to
follow the stars to reach to Bethlehem. When they reached to the baby’s place they approached
him each one alone, Coll offers the baby cherries, Gib offers a bird and Dave offers a ball. Merry
then tells Dave to tell others about the birth of Christ-Child. Then they said farewell to both the
mother and the child and left singing in harmony (Mack, 1978).
Play analysis:

Given its popularity, the play received numerous and diverse criticism. Most critics agree that
Coll and Gyb are best viewed not as independent characters but as an interdependent unit or
whole. Jeffrey Hiltermann, for example, suggested that Coll, Gyb, and Daw have a more
important collective effect than the contributions made by their individual personalities.
Similarly, F. P. Manion identifies the benefits of seeing the shepherd’s not as separate entities
but as a kind of choir working in unison with each other and with the plot. Or the role it
occupies in the text. Instead, it is generally seen as merely an echo or extension of his followers,
Cole and Dao. Embodying this belief, John Gardner asserts that the vast majority of second
sponsor speeches do not provide new information or announce new topics for the contest. On
the contrary, they just "pick up Cole's tone." These sentiments permeate current analyses as
well. Recent essays by Lee Templeton and Ken Heltner echo, or at least fail to challenge, the
views of past sponsors. Examining the carnival atmosphere within The Pageant and its use of
punishment and political parody respectively, they tend to view Coll, Gyb, and Daw as a single
unit and close them down at fixed points of repetition (Abate,2005).

The play argues first about the earthy matters verses spiritual matters. In the first part it appears
that the shepherds are concerned only on the earthy matters whereas the spiritual matter is not so
clear. In the second part the spiritual aspect is clearly presented and is in relation to the earthy
aspect. One important detail which contradicts the relationship with the earthy matters which is
the length of the trip on foot to Bethlehem would take weeks or even months and yet when they
arrived Jesus appeared as a child. Apparently this piece of information was not important in the
play, ignoring the geography and time by that the author might be a message that sacred matters
does not bind to earthy matters.
The play also discusses the idea of charity. It is not only to give the poor, but also to forgive and
when man forgives he will for sure be rewarded by God. When the shepherds spared Mak for
stealing their sheep god rewarded them and had them see Christ and get redemption. Also, when
the shepherds offered Jesus gifts although humble, but this shows that they are learning the
course of giving and god will reward them for that (Kemp, 1969).
The punishment inflicted on Mak by the shepherds when they finally realize the baby is a sheep
is also quite amusing. Stealing is a serious crime that has been for a long time. Mak was simply
wrapped in a blanket and tossed up and down a few times by the shepherd. When the shepherds
have finished punishing Mak, they return to guard their sheep. The plot shifts from comedy to
seriousness at this point in the play. Aside from the three shepherds remaining as characters in
the play, the entire plot shifts. The three shepherds learn that a baby Jesus has been born in
Bethlehem. The action moves quickly from one to the anther; it is almost two separate plays
(Kibin, 2022).

References

Abate, M. A. (2005). Oversight as Insight: Reading “The Second Shepherds’ Play as The Second
Shepherd’s Play.” Early Theatre, 8(1), 95–108. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43499238

Davidson, C. (2014). Concerning English mystery plays. https://booksc.org/ireader/2617815

Kibin. (2022). An analysis of the second shepherd's play, a medieval mystery play by the wakefield
master. http://www.kibin.com/essay-examples/an-analysis-of-the-second-shepherds-play-a-medieval-
mystery-play-by-the-wakefield-master-4ZtEOpqk

Mack, M. (1978). The Second Shepherds’ Play: A Reconsideration. PMLA, 93(1), 78–85.

https://doi.org/10.2307/461821
 Malone, Kemp; Albert C. Baugh (1969). Albert C. Baugh (ed.). Literary History of England:
Vol 1, The Middle Ages  (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. p. 281. ISBN 0203392736.