Jewish-Christian Debate and the Didacticism of Drama in the Jeu D’adam

This article takes a closer look at the understudied debate between Isaiah and Judeus in the Anglo-Norman Jeu d’Adam, situating their exchange within the larger context of twelfth-century Jewish-Christian polemical literature. Consistent with this tradition, Jewish doubt in the play prompts responses designed to provide instruction for a Christian audience. The play differs in that Judeus’s objections, informed by Augustinian semiotics, range beyond the proper interpretation of Old Testament signs to question the ability of the play itself and the dramatic medium in general to present sacred truth. Isaiah’s response likewise draws on Augustinian sign theory to defend the superiority of visual signs, or res significandi, over words in teaching Christian doctrine. This vindication of dramatic res is reflected in the extensive use of stage directions, props, costumes, gestures, and scenery as a means of communicating meaning in the play as a whole.