Let each man show his manhood : masculinity and status in medieval Norse and Irish sagas
Over the last few decades there has been a growing trend in scholarship which has focused upon conceptualisations of gender in the representations of characters in medieval narrative literature. Thus far, depictions of women have received a disproportionate amount of attention to the side-lining of the man, although recently the man has slowly been reinstated. However, questions as to the nature of masculinity and what behaviours constituted an appropriate expression of a man's manliness in the sagas have remained. In this dissertation, I first set out to identify a foundation masculinity from which other representations of masculinity can be said to derive. Two behavioural principles are defined (the ability to provide and the ability to protect) before being explored primarily in the representations of kings and martial champions in a selection of medieval Norse and Irish sagas. Discussion of kings focuses upon the literary depictions of Conchobor mac Nessa and ĂlĂĄfr Haraldsson, while for the martial champions, representations of CĂș Chulainn, CaĂ­lte mac RĂłnĂĄin and characters within four Norse sagas (NjĂĄls saga, FĂłstbroeĂ°ra saga, BĂłsa saga ok HerrauĂ°s and á"rvar-Odds saga) are examined. Given
Wotherspoon, Lisa
Sagas ; Masculinity in literature ; Dominance (Psychology) in literature
Let each man show his manhood : masculinity and status in medieval Norse and Irish sagas. Over the last few decades there has been a growing trend in scholarship which has focused upon conceptualisations of gender in the representations of characters in medieval narrative literature. Thus far, depictions of women have received a disproportionate amount of attention to the side-lining of the man, although recently the man has slowly been reinstated. However, questions as to the nature of masculinity and what behaviours constituted an appropriate expression of a man's manliness in the sagas have remained. In this dissertation, I first set out to identify a foundation masculinity from which other representations of masculinity can be said to derive. Two behavioural principles are defined (the ability to provide and the ability to protect) before being explored primarily in the representations of kings and martial champions in a selection of medieval Norse and Irish sagas. Discussion of kings focuses upon the literary depictions of Conchobor mac Nessa and ĂlĂĄfr Haraldsson, while for the martial champions, representations of CĂș Chulainn, CaĂ­lte mac RĂłnĂĄin and characters within four Norse sagas (NjĂĄls saga, FĂłstbroeĂ°ra saga, BĂłsa saga ok HerrauĂ°s and á"rvar-Odds saga) are examined. Given
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