"Puzel" or "Pussel" and the Virgin Mary: <i>1 Henry VI</i> and Anti-Catholic Polemic

Abstract

The collaborative nature of 1 Henry VI has long been accepted, like the identity of Christopher Marlowe as one of the play’s authors. This article does not engage with the question of authorship as such, but interrogates Marlowe’s possible involvement in the Joan Pucelle scenes. It investigates what the depiction of Joan La Pucelle as a witch and a whore owes to contemporary anti-Catholic polemic, and argues that the emphasis in the play on the figure of the Virgin Mary is distinctive and significant. It proposes to contextualize the treatment of Joan Pucelle by confronting it to Doctor Faustus and The Massacre at Paris, two plays that were performed the same year as 1 Henry VI at the Rose Theatre.