Noli Me Tangere and the Reception of Mary Magdalene in Early Modern England

Abstract

The second chapter assesses the early modern reception of the noli me tangere and hortulanus sequences of John 20. Early modern writers such as Robert Southwell, Gervase Markham, Thomas Walkington, and Nicholas Breton all reconstruct the pedagogical lessons vouchsafed to Mary throughout John 20. Mary is petitioned to recall to herself the words of Christ that she has already heard and to await patiently her post-resurrection reconciliation with Christ as Word of God. Several of these sixteenth- and seventeenth-century accounts of Mary at the tomb show a keen appreciation of the method of discipleship misunderstanding used by John, even emulating that rhetorical approach in their treatments of Magdalene’s misplaced grief. Final sections of the chapter discuss the glorification of Mary in Hans Holbein’s Noli Me Tangere painting as well as in the poetry and prose of Richard Crashaw, Henry Vaughan, and Anna Trapnel.