English & Literature

Who is The Wakefield Second Shepherd's Pageant - The Shepherds from Everyman, and Medieval Miracle Plays and what is their importance? "Everyman

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As they are portrayed in the Bible, the Three Shepherds who visit Jesus on the night of his birth are barely characterized, if at all. In The Wakefield Second Shepherd's Pageant, the Shepherds are portrayed as hard-working, barely tolerant of the uncomfortable conditions (bad weather) in which they work, and unhappily married. They are comic characters, and at first glance seem unlikely to be blessed by the opportunity to see the Christ Child. There is the sense, however, in the pageant as in the Bible, that they (in contrast to the intellectually and financially aristocratic Three Wise Men) represent the ordinary people whom Jesus has come to teach, lead, and save. In other words, the story of the Shepherds is the story of all human kind—no matter what earthly troubles human beings face, the arrival of Jesus into the human experience brings joy, peace, humility and transcendence.