Subversive images of women in medieval English literature: a selective reading
It is commonly assumed that medieval society is hostile to women’s power. Women are continuously contained and constrained by the patriarchal norms of medieval Europe to strengthen the heroic ideals of masculinity, while maintaining the ideals of the domestic private sphere. This study shows that ev...
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| Jezik: | English |
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BRAC University
2010
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| Online pristup: | http://hdl.handle.net/10361/440 |
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10361-440 |
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10361-4402019-09-29T05:47:26Z Subversive images of women in medieval English literature: a selective reading F. Shams, Sheikh Medieval society Feminism Masculinity Patriarchal society Genre Dominant ideology It is commonly assumed that medieval society is hostile to women’s power. Women are continuously contained and constrained by the patriarchal norms of medieval Europe to strengthen the heroic ideals of masculinity, while maintaining the ideals of the domestic private sphere. This study shows that even within the domestic private sphere, women exert considerable amount of power to influence men’s actions. In fact, what we see are models of powerful women capable of damaging the heroic ideals of men. Hence there is a tendency to control women’s power. This essay explores how far this tendency to control is actually successful. If not then we are witnessing a tension between dominant patriarchal ideology and the subversive images of women. The resistance that women characters in medieval literature's pose to the hegemonic ideology is a matter of particular interest of this paper. At the same time, the nature of their containment and appropriation is also something that this paper wishes to examine. 2010-10-11T04:17:37Z 2010-10-11T04:17:37Z 2008 Article http://hdl.handle.net/10361/440 en BRAC University Journal, BRAC University;Vol.5, No.2,pp. 105-111 application/pdf BRAC University |
| institution |
Brac University |
| collection |
Institutional Repository |
| language |
English |
| topic |
Medieval society Feminism Masculinity Patriarchal society Genre Dominant ideology |
| spellingShingle |
Medieval society Feminism Masculinity Patriarchal society Genre Dominant ideology F. Shams, Sheikh Subversive images of women in medieval English literature: a selective reading |
| description |
It is commonly assumed that medieval society is hostile to women’s power. Women are continuously contained and constrained by the patriarchal norms of medieval Europe to strengthen the heroic ideals of masculinity, while maintaining the ideals of the domestic private sphere. This study shows that even within the domestic private sphere, women exert considerable amount of power to influence men’s actions. In fact, what we see are models of powerful women capable of damaging the heroic ideals of men. Hence there is a tendency to control women’s power. This essay explores how far this tendency to control is actually successful. If not then we are witnessing a tension between dominant patriarchal ideology and the subversive images of women. The resistance that women characters in medieval literature's pose to the hegemonic ideology is a matter of particular interest of this paper. At the same time, the nature of their containment and appropriation is also something that this paper wishes to examine. |
| format |
Article |
| author |
F. Shams, Sheikh |
| author_facet |
F. Shams, Sheikh |
| author_sort |
F. Shams, Sheikh |
| title |
Subversive images of women in medieval English literature: a selective reading |
| title_short |
Subversive images of women in medieval English literature: a selective reading |
| title_full |
Subversive images of women in medieval English literature: a selective reading |
| title_fullStr |
Subversive images of women in medieval English literature: a selective reading |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Subversive images of women in medieval English literature: a selective reading |
| title_sort |
subversive images of women in medieval english literature: a selective reading |
| publisher |
BRAC University |
| publishDate |
2010 |
| url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10361/440 |
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AT fshamssheikh subversiveimagesofwomeninmedievalenglishliteratureaselectivereading |
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