Part 9 Summary

"The York Pageant of the Carpenters - The Resurrection" The editor's introduction outlines the complex history of the pageant's development, linking it with both biblical and apocryphal texts as well as with earlier liturgical plays. He also comments on the author's skill at characterization, specifically referring to the way biblical characters are given contemporary traits.

The Pageant - In Scene 1, Pilate and his allies (high priests Caiphas and Annas - see "Characters") congratulate themselves on having forestalled the potential social and political activism that seems to have been developing at the time of Jesus' crucifixion. Their self-congratulation is interrupted by the arrival of a Centurion, who warns them that they have made a mistake, executing such a "Holy Man." Pilate and the others tell him to leave and to keep quiet. After he goes, Pilate and his allies discuss the prophecy that Jesus...