The Body in Crisis: Contemporary Articulations of Purgatory

Abstract

In Hamlet in Purgatory, Stephen Greenblatt traces the development of the concept of Purgatory in Catholic doctrine. He identifies many of the key texts that elaborated this concept for Catholic communities: descriptions of journeys through Purgatory and visual depictions of repentant sinners suffering the fires and other torments of Purgatory. He notes that Purgatory was based on earlier Pagan Practices of honouring and praying for the dead, and it also acknowledged the need for an intermediate state between the devotee and the damned. However, Greenblatt’s main interest is in the power of Purgatory to engage Church-members in a bodily, even visceral way. Like many other Catholic doctrines and symbols, Purgatory retains its hold on the popular, including secular, imagination to this day. This is not to say that many contemporary Westerners accept the Catholic doctrine about Purgatory, however the idea is still used metaphorically to describe a particular state of being, which is related to its original conception: to be in Purgatory is to be in a state of torment, wishing or waiting for something better. In this paper, I explore the secular expression of Purgatory in texts such as ballet dancer, Sergei Polunin’s performance of Hozier’s song, “Take Me to the Church.” Hozier’s song is an anguished protest against the Irish Catholic Church’s refusal to accept his sexuality. Polunin’s performance explores these concerns about religion, the sacred, the body, being, identity and sexuality, and also references his own tormented history as a dancer.