The Body in Pain: Spectacle and Witness in Marie Corelli's Barabbas: A Dream of the World's Tragedy

Author(s)	Ms. Rehsly Samuel
Country	India
Abstract	Marie Corelli’s Barabbas: A Dream of the World’s Tragedy recounts the trial and death of Christ while also placing characters as audiences, witnessing the suffering of Christ and how they react to the violence inflicted upon him. Drawing from Susan Sontag’s distinction of Spectacle and Spectator in her work Regarding the Pain of Others - this paper examines the body of Christ as a site of suffering and pain. While Sontag’s spectacle covers the universal landscape of war, this study locates its spectacle in a smaller unit i.e. the body of Christ. The question of how the spectators in the text read and interpret first the suffering of Christ as an objective experience, and secondly how they experience pain within themselves allowing resonance with his body will be looked at through assessment of collective/ cultural notion of pain as well as Individual lived experiences. This will be achieved by referring to scholars such as David Morrison and Mark Zborowski and there remarkable work on pain studies.
Keywords	Marie Corelli, Barabbas: A Dream of the World’s Tragedy, Body of Christ, Spectacle and Spectatorship, Pain Studies, Cultural Memory, Witnessing, Redemption and Punishment, Crucifixion, Power and Discipline.
Field	Arts
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 2, March-April 2026
Published On	2026-03-07

About IJFMR Fees & Payment Current Issue Publication Archive	Submit Research Paper Track Submission Status Publication Guidelines Publication Ethics Peer Review & Plagiarism	Join as a Reviewer Editors & Reviewers Reviewer Referral Program Get Reviewer Membership Certi.	Website/Journal Policies Usage Policy Content Policies Privacy Policy

Contact Us		+91-9687-828-838	editor@ijfmr.com

International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research