Browsing by Subject "Epic literature"
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Item "Is dethbir disi" [It is appropriate (that she behave in this way)]: applying the lens of gender parody to Medb in the Old Irish Ulster Cycle(Texas Tech University, 2004-08) Dominguez, Diana VeronicaMedb of Connacht, a central female character of medieval Ireland's Ulster Cycle (a set of tales compiled between the eighth and twelfth centuries from earlier oral sources), is read traditionally from two critical approaches: as an example of a misogynistic, patriarchal Christian campaign to suppress and silence women in early Ireland, or as symbolic of a primordial, mythic pre-Christian goddess, exempt from patriarchal censure because her behavior is ascribed to her duties as a divine sovereignty figure who confers the right of kingship on the man with whom she mates. Even recent attempts at analyzing her character from an explicitly feminist perspective privilege one of these two traditional views, with the result that, either way, she is still read as "deviant." A reading of her behavior itself through a new lens is needed in order to transform Medb into a figure of independent agency and power. This study presents a comparative and comprehensive character analysis of the Connacht warrior queen across numerous tales, using rhetorical/discourse analysis strategies informed by the feminist theory claiming that gender is "performative" and can be used as a form of resistance to/subversion of patriarchal norms, as proposed by Luce Irigaray, Judith Butler, Jennifer Coates, Deborah Cameron, and Joan Radner and Susan Lanser. Analysis through such a lens allows for a deconstruction of traditional patriarchal gender assumptions in order to redefine the concept of gender and gendered behavior. The study includes a careful re-evaluation of historical sources, in Ireland and beyond, both prior to and contemporary with the literary period of the Ulster Cycle compilation. In addition, research is presented about the general social and legal environment of Old Ireland between the ninth and twelfth centuries that sheds light on the status of women and the subtle and overt ways in which women affected family structure, legal proceedings, and other power relationships, all of which have bearing on a reading of Medb that places her in a historical and political context. This study reveals that Medb can be read as a realistically, if dramatically, drawn character, rather than an anomalous and misogynistic invention that belongs in the shady, pagan, mystical past.Item Shakespeare's historical epic(Texas Tech University, 1987-05) Hammer, Letha Ann GravesThis dissertation reviews the critical movements that shaped the practice of Renaissance arts concerning the epic, considers how Elizabethan writers viewed the subject of the epic, and then reexamines Shakespeare's Lancaster- York history plays, Richard II, 1 Henry IV, 2_ Henry IV, Henry V, 1 Henry VI, 2 Henry VI, 3 Henry VI, and Richard III according to Renaissance theories about the epic. To appreciate Shakespeare's epic achievement, one needs to begin with an understanding of Aristotle's Poetics and Horace's Ars Poetica which provide the classical foundation for epics as well as for tragedy and poetry in general. While it is apparent that English Renaissance practitioners of the epic knew the classical theorists, it is not apparent that they felt confined to following only the classicists. English writers were very much influenced by the Italian deviation from and enhancement of the classical model. Renaissance Italian writers, Cinthio, Trissio, Tasso, Castelvetro, Scaliger, and Minturno, began to fashion a new concept of the epic, one which they felt more nearly reflected their spirit, pride, and patriotism. Their ideas and practice retained much of the classical theory but also added romance and heroic elements to the epic. Sir Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser adapted the Italian theories to the English epic. An analysis of Shakespeare's Lancaster-York history plays according to classical and Renaissance epic theories reveals that as a unit, these plays exhibit the characteristics of the Elizabethan epic: they are an heroic narrative of ample scope which addresses its ethical lessons to princes, follows a classical form, uses the common vernacular, glorifies the nation, and traces the cyclical nature of the world through the rise and fall of an individual or a nation. These plays suggest that Shakespeare did more than attain great artistic triumphs, promote a political philosophy, or manifest an epic spirit. He wrote an historical epic of England.