| Unit name | Women in Medieval Romance |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ENGL30047 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Cathy Hume |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of English |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
On this unit we explore the presentation of women in medieval romance. We begin with a female writer, Marie de France, and her contemporary Chrétien de Troyes, considering the presentation of women in relation to love, marriage, family and the court in their pioneering romances. The rest of the course concentrates on texts in Middle English, beginning with popular romances such as Sir Orfeo, Sir Gowther and The King of Tars, where we examine women's functions in relation to plot, the supernatural, salvation, love and madness. We go on to read texts by Chaucer and Malory involving all of the themes previously encountered, as well as a new level of psychological and social complexity. Criticism on romance, historical scholarship about women in medieval Europe, and gender theory is used to deepen our analysis of the primary texts.
On successful completion of this unit students will:
(1) have developed a detailed and critical understanding of the genre of medieval romance;
(2) have deepened their knowledge of Middle English;
(3) be able to analyse varied presentations of women in medieval romance, their literary function, and relation to recurrent themes and plots;
(4) have developed a detailed knowledge of the history of women in medieval England and of criticism on gender in medieval literature;
(5) be able to apply this knowledge in their own analyses of medieval romance literature;
(6) have strengthened their skills in use of evidence, critical thinking, argumentation and academic writing as appropriate to level H.
1 x 2-hour seminar per week.
Both summative elements will assess ILOs 1 - 6.
Chrétien de Troyes, Arthurian Romances, tr. Kibler (Penguin, 1991)
Marie de France, Lais, tr. Busby and Burgess (Penguin, 1999)
Riverside Chaucer, ed. Benson (Houghton Mifflin, 1987)
Malory, Le Morte Darthur (any edition)
Cambridge Companion to Medieval Women’s Writing, ed. Dinshaw and Wallace (Cambridge UP, 2003)
