Foil

Character Role Analysis

John Kempe

We never get a glimpse of Margery and John's life before her conversion experience, so it's hard to know how simpatico these two might have been in the beginning of their married life. We know that Kempe has to negotiate to free herself from marital obligations so that she can live the contemplative life. John symbolizes for Kempe everything that is troublesome with the flesh: lust, hunger, illness. Kempe wants to escape to the spiritual world and stay there, which is why she eventually lives apart from John and resents having to take care of him at the end of his life.