The York Crucifixion Play Analysis

The York Crucifixion Play gains most of its emotions from the cruel behavior of the soldiers that crucify Jesus. These soldiers display their cruelty by insulting Jesus, calling him a “warlock” (ln. 63) and a “devil” (188). They also attempt to increase Jesus’s suffering, by asking themselves “What trick could increase his suffering” (125) and eventually using cords to “badly increase his pains” (145). To even further show their malice, the soldiers swear “by Mohammed’s blood” (61), which meant in the times of the play’s writing that the soldiers swore by the Devil. In a sharp contrast to the cruelty and evil of the soldiers, Jesus makes no attempt to retaliate, and instead asks God to “forgive these men that do me torment” (260). However, even when he does this, the soldiers continue to mock him, saying that he “jangles like a jay” (265) “patters
The example of a hazelnut presented by Julian fully explains the occasionally confusing concept of God’s love, as it lists three qualities that everything in creation has. Julian explains these qualities as “God made it, God loves it, and God keeps it.” (p. 292). These simple qualities allow one to easily understand that just like the hazelnut God cares about us, loves us, and will keep us from harm. The author also shows another example of God’s love in simple terms, saying that “He is our clothing that for love wraps and winds us, envelopes and embraces us, and all becloses us, hangs about us for tender love so that he may never leave us” (292). In these lines, Julian shows us once again how much God loves us, without needing to resort to vague terms and confusing ideas. Instead, the author shows us a pleasant and uncomplicated image of God, showing how “he is to us all thing that is good and comfortable” (292). Julian’s examples show us that even though God’s love seems incomprehensible, anyone can understand it when using simple