ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an illustration of the non-actionable forms of transgressive language which were condemned in the sermons and which contribute to characterization. It looks at the association between forms and prosodic styles, and illustrates the important conventions governing the use of transgressive language as a dramatic device. The chapter then considers the significance of context, and shows that the complex interplay of form, intention, style, and the prior knowledge of the audience produce almost unlimited diversity in the range of transgressive language found in medieval drama. This diversity contributes to dramatically effective variations in the characterization of biblical characters, and of abstract personifications in the morality plays, defining their social and spiritual status, and making their actions and attitudes recognizable to medieval audiences. All the forms of transgressive language indentified in the chapter are both high-and low-status characters in medieval drama, and where they are used by characters who represent high social status they signify low spiritual status.
