THE HELL OF JULIAN OF NORWICH: A STUDY ON "REVELATIONS OF DIVINE LOVE"

Julian of Norwich (1342– after 1416) was the first woman to write a book in English Literature. Along with this fact, she was also an anchorite, mystic, and theologian. During a severe illness she was going through, she saw some dreams and wrote these dreams in her work, Revelations of Divine Love, composed of two of her works, The Short Text and The Long Text. In the work, Julian recognizes the dreams as revelations, shares her experiences with her readers, and gives them advice in a homiletical style, transferring the religious motivations. In this study, Julian’s approach towards hell has been investigated. Since the original work was written in the vernacular, a translated version in modern English has been used for the investigation. Julian’s thoughts and expressions have been exemplified. As a result, it has been seen that Julian, as she expresses, is in an attempt to follow the Christian doctrines and considers hell within this scope, and also shares her motivation about hell as given in detail in this study.