Rules of medieval society clearly depict that it is a man's world, but medieval literature seems to reverse this notion. In medieval text, fiction or non-fiction, the reader can expect the foundations of the characteristics of the main character to be the same. You can expect him to be noble along with a few of his own personality traits, but the character of the woman cannot be predicted. Sexuality in medieval literature restricts the male character, but allows the female character the freedom that is not recognized in real medieval society. In other words, people don't seem to give the female enough credit because it is the different aspects of sexuality of the female that makes the world go around, while men are the silent characters. In medieval society, the man is the dominant figure, but medieval literature portrays women as having different and versatile roles, which allows them to be the center of the conflict or plot, while the men have limited roles set in stone making them merely puppets in a woman's world.
Sexuality is not only about the sexual nature of both men and women, but it is also about the roles of men and women according to society. A plain and simple way to put men and women in their specific role is to say that a man is masculine and a woman is feminine. They both are supposed to follow their sexuality traits according to those guidelines. The men are very masculine and chivalrous. The man will stay in the boundaries of masculinity because a man will for the fear that he will be viewed by society as weak, but these silly guidelines never control the woman. The woman uses her sexuality for her benefit to get what she wants the way that she wants it. When these men and women deviate from these roles that are considered specifically feminine or masculine, then an interesting and new character is then created. .
By reading medieval literature one can conclude that the male character hardly ever deviates from his masculine role.
Many critics view her character as one of the first feminist figures of Medieval Literature. ... She speaks freely of her sexuality and of her dysfunctional marriages. ... She also uses her beauty and sexuality as a tool to get her husbands to obey her. ...
In elaborating upon what is meant by the classical mode as exhibited by the Knights Tale its classicality' consists primarily upon its being set in a classical milieu, and being based upon Boccacios' Romance Teseia, thus not only an example of a pervasive theme characterises the Knights Tale, but also a set of implied conventions of judgement found in the continuity between the Classical model and its revival in Medieval Literature. ... Such elements are not particular to the Canterbury Tales, but useful in terms of recognising how The Knights Tale especially is, in its structure an...
Many critics attribute this to the traditional role of a franklin in medieval times. ... Although the Franklin's Tale presents idealistic love, it is the idea of true love that transcends the pages of literature. ... These medieval working women were few and far between, but this minority is represented in the Wife of Bath as she is apparently a "clooth maker."" ... She is also headstrong and opinionated and seems to wage an independent war on women's position in society by flexing her sexuality as power. Perhaps the first femme fatale, the Wife of Bath truly uses her sexuality ...
Through his literature Geoffrey Chaucer examines and points out the downfalls and/or shortcomings of monks. ... To help establish this comparison it is helpful to learn the history of this vocation, and the basis of becoming and being a monk because there are many differences between monks of today's age, and the monks of the medieval ages. ... "To begin with, the modern notion of religious vocation as a "divine calling" does not apply to medieval monasticism, which is usually determined by societal and familial choice, rather than individual, choice (Hermann 69)." Monks in modern times ...
Literature often holds a mirror to the social, political and economic milieu in which it was created; this could not be truer in Elizabethan times. ... Elizabeth initially struggled to prove her legitimacy as Queen due to her sex, religion and parents, however through a series of calculated speeches, Elizabeth populized the medieval theory of the king's two bodies, constructing an image of herself, exploiting femininity, and simultaneously exerting power reserved for a male monarch. Elizabeth's use of language to describe herself resonates with the way gender, power and sexuality wer...
With the steady stream of vampire novels, movies and television shows being produced, it is pretty clear that the vampire has become a big target of literature (Mayfield 1).Yet this was not always the case because vampires were once considered the creature of. ... Modern notions of gender and sexuality also contributed to the drastic revision that occurred within vampire media in the last twenty-five years. ... This was a popular medieval way of keeping suspected vampires from returning to feed on the blood of the living (Lallanilla 1). ...
But, when looked at in more detail, the tales are found to hold many details that contradict the bland stereotype expected, and when the structure of the work is looked at in its context of 14th century literature, the Canterbury Tales is found to be a work pioneering the form of the epic poem. ... Chaucer's description of the knight is a good example of his subversion of the classic Arthurian image that existed in popular literature of the time[2]. ... In medieval times, certain elements of a person's appearance intrinsically suggested something, if not everything of their character...
In addition, the Gothic tradition in literature, Dark Romanticism and the challenging effects this genre of writing has on human mind, whether for the writer or the reader of horror stories will be debated. ... While many critics suggest that Poe is a post-Gothic writer, he nevertheless used many Gothic conventions in his own work, including medieval settings, supernatural occurrences, terror, and architectural ruins. ... Moreover, Poe is particularly important to the ongoing influence of the Gothic on contemporary literature, moving the genre from an external to an internal psychological focu...
Smith, in medieval theology, Satan entered the victim directly, or by intermediary, such as a witch or wizard causing the victim to act abominably and renounce God (12). In demonological literature, sometimes, the voice of the possessed person changes, sometimes even his or her appearance changes as well (Smith, 15). ... According to the article in Newsweek, the Roman Catholic beliefs and practices about exorcism is that in the past, the church's beliefs about the nature of women and of human sexuality led to the belief that every newborn at the time of baptism with the following ritual...
