ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the concept of domestic disturbance in order to suggest that certain controversial features of medieval English drama belong to a style of representation with which medieval audiences were familiar. It focuses specifically on the domestic disturbance instantiated by the Virgin Mary. Few modern plays are as chronologically ambitious as medieval English cycle drama, which dramatizes a Christian narrative from Creation to Doom. The Chester and York cycles offer many interruptions, from the simple use of local place names, to the invention of full-scale conflict between biblical husbands and wives. Joseph plays a role in only two of the four canonical gospels: Matthew and Luke. In Matthew, angels visit Joseph to assure him of Mary's virginity, to warn him to flee with Christ to Egypt, and to advise him to return with Christ to Nazareth. The effect of the conflict created between Joseph and Mary is to highlight God's power.
