ENGL3828 · English
Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences
Pre-1700. This course explores the construction of medieval masculinities in poems by Geoffrey Chaucer, the Gawain poet, and Thomas Hoccleve, among others. We will also attend to the cultural construction of masculinities in different areas of social discourse, from clerical instructions, to scribal formularies, to household guides. As religious writings, hunting texts, and conduct manuals demonstrate, becoming a man in medieval society is not an easy or safe process, and thinking through the cultural expectations that define masculinities is relevant to other gender and social positions. Accordingly, we will read several texts written by, for, or from the point of view of women to see how those writers and characters respond to various types of masculine authority. We will also discuss the influence women have over medieval masculinities in romance, and in writings from Christine de Pizan to Margery Kempe.
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