Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
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This thesis aims to shed new light on the intersection between the Gawain cycle and its socio-political environment by focusing primarily on the monsters. By analysing the monsters in the...Show moreThis thesis aims to shed new light on the intersection between the Gawain cycle and its socio-political environment by focusing primarily on the monsters. By analysing the monsters in the narratives as cultural projections of a certain period, this thesis aims to gain insight into the feelings and anxieties that accompanied the tensions between the noble houses during the Wars of the Roses. The monsters in the narratives of the Sir Gawain Cycle challenge the Arthurian Court to reflect on different sides of nobility. As outsiders, or as ‘Others’, they try to warn the knights of the Round Table to change their values and beliefs, and they urge them to live by a type of nobility that is more focused on virtue instead of wealth and status. Each monstrous body presents a different flaw within the ideology of the Round Table, and in turn, comments upon real concerns and anxieties that existed in the late-fifteenth century border region.Show less
This MA thesis contains analyses of the status of same-sex desire in late medieval Europe and researches how same-sex desire is depicted in three Arthurian stories written during this period: the...Show moreThis MA thesis contains analyses of the status of same-sex desire in late medieval Europe and researches how same-sex desire is depicted in three Arthurian stories written during this period: the Lai de Lanval, the Prose Lancelot and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The thesis examines whether these depictions engage with or react to the socio-historical circumstances around same-sex desire in the late medieval period.Show less
This thesis is about the portrayal of women’s sexuality in two thirteenth-century texts: a letter in support of virginity known as Hali Meiðhad (1215-1220), and a guide for medieval religious women...Show moreThis thesis is about the portrayal of women’s sexuality in two thirteenth-century texts: a letter in support of virginity known as Hali Meiðhad (1215-1220), and a guide for medieval religious women known as Ancrene Wisse(1224-1230). It is interesting to see how these texts handle the subject of women’s sexuality, as their audiences were bound by vocation to remain virgins. The women for who these texts were written already knew the rules and regulations of their chosen vocation and, in theory, they should not have needed to be warned about acting upon their sexuality. This thesis explores whether both texts reflect the broader views of their time in their encouragements of virginity, and in their criticisms of marriage and lesbianism, and this is the goal of this thesis.Show less
