Conclusions on method

This study has adopted a reader-oriented method, but has attempted to move beyond the textual construct known as the implied reader to examine the potential impact of the Gospel on real flesh-and-blood readers. The examination of the interface between the ancient text and the ancient reader utilised the combination of a reader-oriented literary analysis and a type of social description closely linked to Mark's vocabulary. The analysis of the text from two directions (text to implied reader; flesh-and-blood reader to text) has proved to be a useful way of approaching the ancient reading experience in order to examine the potential impact of Mark upon its early readers.

In particular, the study has focused upon the role of the thirteen suppliants in the creation of Mark's narrative impact. The analysis of the axis ‘text to implied reader’, paying close attention to focalisation and the dynamics of distance, showed that the narrative creates strong identification, aligning these characters with the implied readers. In addition, it was noted that the suppliants are not presented merely as types, subordinated to a plot deemed more important. Instead, through the often quite detailed presentation of their situations of need, i.e., their physical and social circumstances, the narrative presents them as person-like characters whom real readers could recognise as examples of people known to them from their real world.