I don't have an auctoritas handy, but I had always taken those beams of
light (pointing to the BVM's ear, rather than to her head) to be
representative of the "Word made Flesh" in Mary's womb; that upon hearing
the word of God from the mouth of Gabriel she immediately conceived. The
Physiologus (13th c.) picked up on the aural conception theme and
attributes this genetive trait to either the weasel or the hyena, I forget
which - in pious emulation, of course.
Since theatre has been mentioned (applause!), I'll throw in an example from
Byzantium, an 8th-c. Greek play about the Annunciation where Joseph (in his
comic cuckold role) berates Mary for allowing a strange young man (the
Angel) to visit her privately. The episode is thus doubly charged, the
playwright lending verisimilitude to the doubts and fears expressed by
Joseph in the Gospel accounts. The ambiguity of the dramatic situation is
not relieved by Mary's response to his admonitions: she threatens to run
off with the handsome stranger unless he behaves!
Carol Symes
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