Annotation
DESCRIPTION
As the name of this course suggests, its main concern will be writing by and about women from around the 11th to the 17th century. The medieval part of the seminar will cover predominantly texts in Middle English, with one short introductory lesson on Old English material. Familiarity with these languages is not necessary, since full or partial translations will be provided. The main aim of this part will be the analysis and comparison of various ways women are depicted by male authors across different genres and how they describe their lives in their own words.
We will look at various ideals and ideas of femininity presented in these works, as well as ways in which they are subverted. An added bonus may be an increased ease with material in Middle English by the end of the course.
The early modern part of the seminar focuses on early modern women writers across different genres and the depiction of women in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. We will cover professional lives of women with Isabella
Whitney’s lamentations, religious ruminations by Rachel Speght, and private and public concerns of Elizabeth I. As such, the main discourse regarding women participating in public life will be discussed. Following that, we will focus on the representation of women in early modern drama. We will discuss three plays by William
Shakespeare and The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster. In Othello, our focus will be on the character of Emilia and her plea for gender equality; in Macbeth, we will discuss different feminist interpretations of Lady Macbeth and in Antony and Cleopatra, we will focus on the complexity of the eponymous heroine. In John Webster’s The
Duchess of Malfi we will direct our attention to Webster’s criticism of the attempts to limit female sexuality.
ASSESSMENT
In order to complete the course, students must regularly submit a short feedback on weekly readings (200-300 words) with maximum of two missed submissions. Active participation in class is expected as well.
PRELIMINARY PROGRAMME:
Week 1 – Introduction
Introduction: discussion of programme and assessment; introduction to historical/literary period covered in the course; definition of key terms and theoretical approaches.
Week 2 – Paragons among Peers: St. Mary of Egypt and Queen Emma
“Death of St. Mary of Egypt” from Ælfric's Lives of Saints
Translation available at https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/%C3%86lfric
%27s_Lives_of_Saints/Death_of_St._Mary_of_Egypt
OE version provided in Moodle
Skeat, Walter W. (ed. And trans.). Aelfric's Lives of Saints : being a set of sermons on saint's days formerly observed by the English Church. London: Early English Text Society, 1881-1900. Available in full at https://archive.org/details/aelfricslivesofs01aelfuoft
Encomium Emmae Reginae [excerpts provided on Moodle]
Campbell, Alistair (ed. and trans.). The Encomium Emmae Reginae. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1998. Available at https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.185337/page/n5/mode/2up
This session will compare two differing, if equally unique, accounts of women’s lives: the life of St. Mary of Egypt will hopefully form a good basis for our later discussion of anchoresses, and Encomium Emmae Reginae presents a powerful woman in a secular setting, which is an interesting point of comparison (even though we may perhaps discover more similarities than contrasts).
Week 3 – How to be an Anchoress: Ancrene Wisse
short excerpts from parts 2, 4, 7, and 8
Hasenfratz, R. Ancrene Wisse. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 2000. Available at https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/publication/hasenfratz-ancrene-wisse
This class will cover the basic outer rule of anchoresses, the importance of control over her desires/body, her relationship to Christ, and the romance influence. The excerpts will be 8 pages at the most, hopefully a manageable lenght.
Week 4 – In Her Own Words: Julian of Norwich's Revelations of Divine Love
short texts – chapters 2-7 [on the visions]; long text chapter 60 and 61 [on the motherhood of Christ])
[excerpts provided on Moodle]
Baker, Denise N. (ed.). The Showings of Julian of Norwich. New York/London: W. W. Norton, 2005.
Crampton, G. R. The Shewings of Julian of Norwich. New York: University of Rochester, 1994. Available at https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/the-shewings-of-julian-of-norwich-introduction
Spearing, E. (trans.). Julian of Norwich. Revelations of Divine Love. London: Penguin Books, 1998.
Watson, N. and J. Jenkins. The Writings of Julian of Norwich: A vision showed to a devout woman and A revelation of love. University Park, Penn: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006.
In this session, we will compare Ancrene Wisse and Julian – the ideal anchoritic experience vs. the mystical source of the anchoress as described and explained by her very own words. We will cover the first (and more immediate) account of her visions and compare it with Julian’s later interpretations of them. We will also briefly look at how she problematizes straightforward ideas of gender through Christ.
Week 5 – The Lady in Her Bower: Secular Poetry
I Have a Lady (The Descryvyng of a Fair Lady), available at https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/forni-chaucerian-apocrypha-descryvyng-of-a-fair-lady
Forni, K. (ed.). The Chaucerian Apocrypha: A Selection. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Medieval Institute
Publications, 2005. Available at https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/publication/forni-chaucerian-apocrypha
Assembly of Ladies [shortened version available on Moodle], full version at https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/pearsall-asssembly-of-ladies-introduction
Pearsall, D. (ed.) he Floure and the Leafe, The Assemblie of Ladies, and The Isle of Ladies. Kalamazoo:
Medieval Institute Publications, 1990. Available at https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/pearsall-asssembly-of- ladies-introduction
Turning to secular poetry, we will partially refer back to the romance element of Ancrene Wisse; we will discuss courtly manners and courtly love in these two poems with reference to Andreas Capellanus. This class will introduce the genre of the dream vision. Mainly, however, we will attempt to answer the question “How does the ideal lady differ from the religious ideal of the saint or the anchoress?”
Week 6 – The Wife at Home and Abroad: Margery Kempe and How the Good Wife Taught Her Daughter
The Book of Margery Kempe – short excerpts on marital and daily life, visions, and travels
Staley, L. (ed.) The Book of Margery Kempe. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 1996. Available at https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/staley-book-of-margery-kempe-introduction
How the Good Wife Taught Her Daughter – available at https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/salisbury- trials-and-joys-how-the-goode-wife-taught-hyr-doughter
In this class, we will discuss to what degree Margery Kempe presents “real, daily life” of married women in the late
Middle Ages. We will analyse Kempe’s interactions with her peers and their perception of her and compare her to the ideal presented by the didactic How the Good Wife Taught Her Daughter.
Week 7 - Professional Women in London: Isabella Whitney’s Will and Testament
Considered by some the first professional woman writer in England, Isabella Whitney’s Will and Testament is a farewell letter to the loved and despised London. Giving a detailed description of different parts of the city, Whitney skilfully navigates the working realities of an independent woman in the 16th century London.
Primary Reading:
Isabella Whitney, Will and Testament available at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45991/will-and- testament.
Please reference also:
The Map of Early Modern London: https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/agas.htm.
Week 8 - Private and Public: The Poetry of Elizabeth I
The Virgin Queen found a way to thrive in a patriarchal society by exploring different ways of gender representation.
When she states in her speech at Tilbury in 1588 that she has both the body of a woman and the heart and stomach of a king, Elizabeth demonstrates her ability to inhabit those gender stereotypes which were regarded as mutually exclusive. In her poetry, Elizabeth discusses her political ambitions as well as her more private ruminations.
Primary Reading
Elizabeth I, Tilbury Speech available at https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/queen-elizabeth-speech-troops-tilbury.
Elizabeth I, “The Doubt of Future Foes” available at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44219/the-doubt-of- future-foes.
Elizabeth I, “On Monsieur’s Departure” available at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44221/on- monsieurs-departure.
Elizabeth I, “When I Was Fair and Young” available at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45657/when-i-was- fair-and-young.
Week 9 - The Querelle des Femmes: Rachel Speght’s A Mouzell for Melastomus
The Woman Question addressed the nature of women and their position in society and constituted a popular genre during the early modern times. Religious and secular argumentations found its place in pamphlets in which people would express their opinions on the “inherent
