The Book of Margery Kempe Good versus Evil Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Page)

Quote #7

"[...] Daughter, you shall well see when you are in heaven with me that no man is damned unless he is well worthy to be damned, and you shall hold yourself well pleased with all my works." (I.65.198)

Kempe has a really hard time accepting that any person's soul might be damned to hell. She thinks that Christ is too good, and if he did damn someone, wouldn't that make him somehow not so great? Here, Jesus tries to explain to Kempe that damnation has nothing to do with his desire for vengeance. It's a matter of justice and is a course that is chosen by humans—not willed by God.

Quote #8

"Nevertheless, daughter, I have ordained you to be a mirror amongst them, to have great sorrow, so that they should take example from you to have some little sorrow in their hearts for their sins, so that they might be saved; yet they have no love to hear of sorrow or of contrition." (I.78.226)

Although Kempe thinks of herself as a miserable sinner, Jesus assures her that she is actually a good example to all humankind. Because she has learned to be humble and not exalt in her errors, she has a thing or two to teach humanity. It's just a pity that most people aren't willing to learn.

Quote #9

They parted, and soon afterwards the same young man went overseas on business, and then, what with the evil enticing of other people, and what with his own folly, he fell into the sin of lechery. (II.1.267)

Kempe only speaks of one of her fourteen children with any specificity, likely because he undergoes a conversions experience. At this time, this son is living a kind of dissolute life. Kempe warns him not to engage in premarital sex, but it seems that the enticements of "foreigners" prove to be too much for him. The story of the son's struggle with chastity is a real psychomachia, or struggle for the soul.