Title:
Masculinity and male tears: men crying in medieval literature
Author:
Colleen Mitchell
Committee Member:
Robert Miola
Committee Member:
Carol Abromaitis
Committee Member:
Leslie Morgan
Degree Granting Institution:
Loyola University Maryland--College of Arts and Sciences
Place:
Baltimore (Md.)
Publisher:
Loyola University Maryland
Date Created:
2014
Type of Resource:
text
Genre:
thesis
Language:
eng
Format:
application/pdf
Physical Form:
electronic
Digital Source:
born digital
Abstract:
This thesis examines men crying in medieval literature and contends that male tears should not be read as unmanly or effeminate but as heroic. In modern Western culture, men are taught to suppress their tears because society considers crying to be feminine and unbefitting the ideal man. However, during the Middle Ages, men were encouraged to display their tears and express their emotions. Male tears demonstrated men's vast capacity to feel, and the ideal man was a man who cried. This paper attempts to consider crying male characters within their historical and cultural contexts in order to appreciate more fully the men who cry in medieval texts and avoid misinterpreting them. This analysis focuses on three male heroes: Charles of The Song of Roland, Lancelot of Chr??tien de Troyes's Lancelot, or the Knight of the Cart, and Troilus of Geoffrey Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde. By discussing these three heroes of different genres of medieval literature, this paper aims to demonstrate how the willing submission to God, to fealty, and to love makes men heroic.
Subject:
Electronic dissertations
Degree:
Master of Arts
Level:
Master
Discipline:
English
Restrictions on Access:
Author has given permission to make this work available online.
Use and Reproduction:
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Identifier:
MitchellC-14
