In the poem Mary is repaid for her love by a suffering Christ. Saint Ignatius of Loyala whom Mary spoke about in her lecture on the Reformation has a whole serious of spiritual exercises whose purpose is to facilitate identification with Christ by visualizing him in various settings. You may wonder what place masochism has in religious piety. Baumeister believes that Western civilization has heightened the our consciousness of the self so much that it becomes a burden to us and that it is necessary to escape from time to time. Hard physical exercise, mediation, prayer, alcohol, etc. are some examples of ways in which people escape from self consciousness.
Masochism seems to be most common among successful, individualistic people.
Some of the effects of masochism include passivity, the blockage of normal emotional states, lack of inhibition, the loss of control, and the merger of the self with another person. As the poet through Mary Magdalen identifies with the suffering Christ he finds release from guilt, self consciousness and the worries and anxieties of every day life. The experience transcends ordinary earthly reality. But we find quite a different relationship aspect of love when we move to Moli re's play, Tartuffe . We will take the time to see on video the excerpt found in your text.