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He had to admit that the tale began rightly, with a call to virgins to listen and love the Lord. Margaret, the daughter of a pagan prince, was fifteen when she was sent to live with her stepmother in a village far from her father’s palace. She chose virginity over marriage, seeking Christ as her lover and beloved. Ranaulf frowned, though he did not pause in forming each letter. He could see that women needed to think of God as a husband, given their natural desires, but such language, such words, lover and beloved, they could as easily enflame a woman’s desire as direct it toward Christ. How would the anchoress respond? He wondered if she would recognize such a conceit, that union with Christ paradoxically meant virginity.

Explanation and Analysis:

Not long after his father dies and he becomes Sarah’s patron, Sir Thomas commissions Father Ranaulf to copy a Life of St. Margaret for her. As he does so, Ranaulf makes editorial choices that will result in Sarah’s cop...

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Original

Romeo

(aside) She speaks.
O, speak again, bright angel! For thou art
As glorious to this night, being o’er my head,
As is a winged messenger of heaven
Unto the white, upturnèd, wondering eyes
Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him
When he bestrides the lazy-puffing clouds
And sails upon the bosom of the air.

Juliet

O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art though Romeo?
Deny they father and refuse they name.
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.

Modern

Romeo

(to himself) She speaks. Speak again, bright angel! For tonight you are as glorious, there up above me, as a winged messenger of heaven who makes mortals fall onto their backs to gaze up with awestruck eyes as he strides across the lazy clouds and sails through the air.

Juliet

O Romeo, Romeo! Why must you be Romeo? Deny your father and give up your name. Or, if you won’t change your name, just swear your love to me and I’ll give up being a Capulet.

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