In this project, I consider four exempla from Robert Mannyng of Brunne’s Handlyng Synne: “The Tale of the Bloody Child,” “The Tale of the Sacrilegious Carolers of Colbek,” “The Tale of the Midwife Who Christened the Child Wrongly,” and “St. Gregory’s Tale of the Nun Who Spoke Naughty Words.” I read these exempla through the theoretical texts of Georges Bataille, Jacques Derrida, Julia Kristeva, and Mary Douglas, as well as others, and conclude that speech acts, whether deviant or sanctioned, make identity at any level (de)constructable. I hope to show that while this is particularly noticeable against the historical and ideological backdrop of Mannyng’s day, linguistic differance always opens identity constructs. Language always poses a threat to individual, deific, and institutional identity, and so society attempts to control it through ritual. Complete symbolic quarantine, however, proves to be impossible, and so the unstable self must be written onto the physical space of the monstrous and grotesque body.
","abstract_html":"<p>In this project, I consider four exempla from Robert Mannyng of Brunne’s <em>Handlyng Synne</em>: “The Tale of the Bloody Child,” “The Tale of the Sacrilegious Carolers of Colbek,” “The Tale of the Midwife Who Christened the Child Wrongly,” and “St. Gregory’s Tale of the Nun Who Spoke Naughty Words.” I read these exempla through the theoretical texts of Georges Bataille, Jacques Derrida, Julia Kristeva, and Mary Douglas, as well as others, and conclude that speech acts, whether deviant or sanctioned, make identity at any level (de)constructable. I hope to show that while this is particularly noticeable against the historical and ideological backdrop of Mannyng’s day, linguistic differance always opens identity constructs. Language always poses a threat to individual, deific, and institutional identity, and so society attempts to control it through ritual. Complete symbolic quarantine, however, proves to be impossible, and so the unstable self must be written onto the physical space of the monstrous and grotesque body.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Russell, Emily"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Open Access Thesis","degree_discipline":"English Language and Literature","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Christine Neufeld","Dr. Natasa Kovacevic"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2009,"date_issued":"2009-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2009-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:16:36Z","subjects":["Mannyng","Robert","fl. 1288-1338. Handlyng synne","Didactic poetry","English History and criticism","Functionalism (Linguistics)","Pastoral poetry","Christianity and literature England History To 1500","English Language and Literature"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.emich.edu/theses/263","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Christine Neufeld","Dr. Natasa Kovacevic"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Russell, Emily"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English Language and Literature"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Open Access Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Mannyng","Robert","fl. 1288-1338. Handlyng synne","Didactic poetry","English History and criticism","Functionalism (Linguistics)","Pastoral poetry","Christianity and literature England History To 1500","English Language and Literature"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/263"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["In this project, I consider four exempla from Robert Mannyng of Brunne’s Handlyng Synne: “The Tale of the Bloody Child,” “The Tale of the Sacrilegious Carolers of Colbek,” “The Tale of the Midwife Who Christened the Child Wrongly,” and “St. Gregory’s Tale of the Nun Who Spoke Naughty Words.” I read these exempla through the theoretical texts of Georges Bataille, Jacques Derrida, Julia Kristeva, and Mary Douglas, as well as others, and conclude that speech acts, whether deviant or sanctioned, make identity at any level (de)constructable. I hope to show that while this is particularly noticeable against the historical and ideological backdrop of Mannyng’s day, linguistic differance always opens identity constructs. Language always poses a threat to individual, deific, and institutional identity, and so society attempts to control it through ritual. Complete symbolic quarantine, however, proves to be impossible, and so the unstable self must be written onto the physical space of the monstrous and grotesque body.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Here tunggë made here slayn: Dangerous speech acts in four exempla from Robert Mannyng of Brunne’s Handlyng Synne"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Christine Neufeld","Dr. Natasa Kovacevic"],"dc:creator":["Russell, Emily"],"dc:description.abstract":["In this project, I consider four exempla from Robert Mannyng of Brunne’s Handlyng Synne: “The Tale of the Bloody Child,” “The Tale of the Sacrilegious Carolers of Colbek,” “The Tale of the Midwife Who Christened the Child Wrongly,” and “St. Gregory’s Tale of the Nun Who Spoke Naughty Words.” I read these exempla through the theoretical texts of Georges Bataille, Jacques Derrida, Julia Kristeva, and Mary Douglas, as well as others, and conclude that speech acts, whether deviant or sanctioned, make identity at any level (de)constructable. I hope to show that while this is particularly noticeable against the historical and ideological backdrop of Mannyng’s day, linguistic differance always opens identity constructs. Language always poses a threat to individual, deific, and institutional identity, and so society attempts to control it through ritual. Complete symbolic quarantine, however, proves to be impossible, and so the unstable self must be written onto the physical space of the monstrous and grotesque body.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/263"],"dc:subject":["Mannyng","Robert","fl. 1288-1338. Handlyng synne","Didactic poetry","English History and criticism","Functionalism (Linguistics)","Pastoral poetry","Christianity and literature England History To 1500","English Language and Literature"],"dc:title":["Here tunggë made here slayn: Dangerous speech acts in four exempla from Robert Mannyng of Brunne’s Handlyng Synne"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["English Language and Literature"],"thesis:degree_level":["Open Access Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:16:36Z"}