Exemplary Women from the Bible to Joan of Arc                      דמויות מופת נשיות מהמקרא ועד ז'אן ד'ארק              

MA Seminar                                                                                                                           סמינר אמ.איי

Dr. Jonathan Stavsky                                                                                                      ד"ר יונתן סטבסקי

In addition to a long list of defamatory stories and stereotypes about women, the cultures of biblical and classical antiquity and the Western Middle Ages also engendered a tradition of exemplary heroines. They include matriarchs, steadfast wives, female warriors, prophetesses, mystics, chaste virgins, teachers, and saints (including quite a few transvestites). The purpose of this MA seminar is to undertake a comparative, diachronic, and feminist analysis of this diverse corpus, with special though by no means exclusive focus on literary, historical, and religious texts from medieval England. Whereas Old English, early Middle English, and non-English texts will be read in translation, Middle English from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries will be studied in the original language. Selected critical writings will serve to enrich our encounters with these primary sources. Class discussion will revolve around such questions as:

1. Do exemplary heroines serve as role models for ordinary women? Or are they, rather, exceptional cases who should not be imitated by them? What values does each position imply? Which, if any, is beneficial to women?

2. What other cultural, social, and political functions do stories of exemplary heroines fulfill? What happens when men read them?

3. How do these narratives change over time? What new forms do they assume when retold or transmitted by later generations? What new tasks are they given? What potential readings become occluded and why?

4. What happens when female authors mention, describe, or tell the story of an exemplary heroine? Do they challenge patriarchal norms or implicitly validate them?

5. To what extent are such heroines involved in the production of their own biographies? What influence do they have on their reputation?

6. Why are some ambivalent characters like Medea, Dido, and Cleopatra occasionally made into exemplary heroines?

7. How do twentieth and twenty-first-century readers react to exemplary heroines from antiquity and the Middle Ages? Can such heroines change one’s conception of women from different historical periods and cultures?

By the end of the course, you are expected to hone your historical perspective on questions of gender, sexuality, and women’s rights. Even students who do not work on these fields will be better equipped to bring past texts to bear on present issues.