There Goes the Bride: Creating and Re-Creating the Ideal Christian Wife in Text, Art and Film

Kathlyn A. Breazeale presented wonderful images as part of her presentation on There Goes the Bride:Creating and Re-Creating the Ideal Christian Wife in Text, Art and Film:

This paper examines the historical development of the concept of the ideal Christian wife in Western culture by analyzing religious, economic and political factors used to construct this archetype. I demonstrate how the texts for defining "wife" shift from biblical scripture to the miracle and mystery plays of the early medieval church, and then to the street drama and woodcut illustrations of the Renaissance and Reformation period. I examine the dramatic influence of capitalism and the resulting needs of the new middle class on religious beliefs about the role of the Christian wife. Following this historical overview, I discuss how the Christian archetype of two wives - Eve and Mary - continues to influence the portrayal of wives as good or bad in contemporary films in the United States.