Interrogating the boundaries of masculine gender: A study of early medieval English texts

Colleen Ann Reilly, Purdue University

Abstract

This dissertation examines representations of masculine gender in the terminology and content of early medieval English texts. This study of masculinity also investigates sex and gender relations, as well as the ideologies that support them in androcentric texts which seemingly have little relevance for gender studies. This project involves two methods of analysis: (1) a semantic field study of OE and ME terminology suspected to have senses relating to gender and sexuality and (2) literary analysis of OE and ME texts from the perspective of contemporary theories of gender to facilitate a gender-based, reanalysis of such texts. In this dissertation I accomplish five main objectives that I outlined at the outset of this project: (1) I provide a methodology for the close examination of ambiguous terminology in context that yields redefinitions of such terminology; (2) I use the methodology to uncover gendered senses in terminology that appear to have little to do with gender; (3) I analyze texts using the insights gained from the analysis of such terminology and demonstrate how the greater understanding of these terms provides new insights into these texts; (4) I produce sufficient evidence to support the supposition that the one-gender model, while not the only model, continues to influence language and other aspects of culture well into the Middle Ages and beyond; and, finally, (5) I demonstrate that while some writers began to associate sexual relations between men with a particular category of person by the ME period, there is still not a clear connection between a male's gender and his sexual object choice. The value of this study is, in part, its unearthing of overlooked sites of sex and gender conflict and instability in early medieval texts, particularly in traditional, androcentric texts. Furthermore, my study provides a means for revitalizing these texts in the eyes of contemporary women and men who study medieval texts, but who also concern themselves with contemporary issues of gender and sexuality.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Hughes, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Linguistics|Literature|Middle Ages|British and Irish literature

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