Character Clues

Character Analysis

Sex and Love

Kempe more or less tells us that sex is her Achilles's heel (she refers to it as the sin of lechery). Although she is a married woman with fourteen children, she sees the act of sex as inherently naughty, something that will keep her from the best joys of heaven—which are traditionally reserved for those who die as virgins. It's such a big deal for her that she tells Jesus she wished she'd died as soon as she was baptized, so that she could give her purest self to God.

Chastity presents a major problem for Kempe, and not just because she has a husband and otherwise suffers from the temptations of the flesh. Others see her desire to be chaste and live the life of a nun as hypocritical—after all, she has had sex. A lot of it, actually. But Kempe feels encouraged by her conversations with Christ, who tells her that wholehearted love for God is always acceptable—even if you've spent time enjoying the flesh.

Family Life

We don't learn much about the logistics of Margery Kempe's family life. She's a wife and a mom of fourteen, but we rarely see any acknowledgement of her motherhood or any discussion of how she managed a contemplative life with a household of that size to direct. We do know that at some point, Kempe leaves her husband's home in order to pursue a more purely spiritual existence.

Frankly, Kempe's more concerned with her involvement with another family. Her mystical experiences always drop her in the middle of the Holy Family's drama. Whether she imaginatively plays the role of maidservant to St. Anne (the maternal grandmother of Jesus) or to Jesus's mother Mary, Kempe makes herself busy as wife, mother, daughter, and servant to Christ.