ABSTRACT
This chapter considers more closely the moment and the kinds of dramatic and ideological weight it carries. While that raises questions about the availability of vernacular printed texts, as in the challenge to Verity's New Testament, this is not the only means of textual engagement. By itself, Verity's name might suggest only a general conception of Truth; but by the mid-sixteenth century her identity had become both more precise and rather more polemical. While the focus on its vernacularity and English printing suggests that Verity's book is not a purely symbolic allegorical attribute, it is still a stage representation rather than a literal object. As throughout, the play hovers between allegorical and literal action; but these theatrical dimensions also suggest confessional implications. After this first striking scene, books, texts, and translation all remain important throughout the play, enabling dynamic performance of many of its central preoccupations.
