Rappresentazioni di un’eroina ambigua: Giuditta nella Bibbia e in due componimenti medievali inglesi

ABSTRACT The most original factor to distinguish the biblical Book of Judith lies in the extreme ambiguity of its central character: Judith, a prestigious widow from the small Hebrew village of Bethulia, appreciated because of her deep religiosity and irrepressibly pious conduct, turns herself into a shrewd temptress – almost paradoxically inspired by God – to save her nation, concocting a bold plan which not only does involve the killing of her enemy Holofernes, but also the deceitful use of her physical beauty, unusual fact for a Christian heroine. The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the changes through which Judith goes, from her appearance in the 2 nd cent. B.C. to the two Anglo-Saxon works titled after her – namely the anonymous poem and the homily, written by Abbot Ælfric, both composed between the 10 th and the 11 th cent. Furthermore, we will attempt to illustrate the reason why, up until medieval times, the Book of Judith was deemed exemplar and as such to be suitable to convey the message of its English authors. To this purpose, in the first part of our work we have provided a report of the original character’s features as they emerge from the analysis of its alleged literary and religious influences, both biblical and extra-biblical. Firstly, the survey has drawn a deep parallelism between Judith and Ugaritic, Assyrian and Greek divinities, but also between her narration and Herodotus’ Histories and other extra-religious sources; secondly, it has highlighted Judith’s connections with those characters in the Old Testament which seem to have influenced her author, from the Books of Pentateuch to those of Wisdom, not leaving aside the Historical Books, among which the story of our heroine finds its place. The portrait thus obtained seems to illustrate Judith’s deep ambiguity: on the one hand, she appears to be a benign saviour of the community – thus resembling the figures of Judges in the Prophets’ Books – as well as a sage figure, divinely chosen and fitting the role of God’s bride – like the goddesses Athena and Anat; on the other hand, not only is she revealed as being a masculine warrior and hunter, but also an impious temptress and a vengeful murderer, thus reflecting the aggressive attitudes typical of tribal societies – and consequently getting closer to the heathen women guilty of idolatry in the Bible. In the second half of our dissertation, we have attended to Judith’s depersonalization at the hands of patristic exegesis, where she is turned into the mere means of God’s Will and her responsibility in beheading Holofernes – and in saving the Israelites – is sharply diminished. Instead, she incarnates Christian wisdom, chastity and faith, and is raised the tropological symbol of Ecclesia. As we have tried to demonstrate, it is in this disguise that Judith will be depicted in the Anglo-Saxon milieu, where the burden of representing an inspirational archetype of military resistance will be added to her allegorical role. In the homily, where her allegorical function is reprised and amplified, particularly in relation to the doctrinal message on Chastity, the narrative remains quite similar to the original. The emphasis on Judith’s role as ‘militant resistor’, instead, is further developed in the poem, where the poet operates modifications, cuts and additions to the biblical material – taking into account some earlier renditions – aimed at harmonizing this episode with the Anglo-Saxon taste for heroic epic, both 3