A topic I'm fascinated with, a wealth of images and stuff to read about it, and working on it most of the day...
And I still don't have a blasted thing to say on the topic.
The closest I have gotten to is: warrior women or modern interpretations of cross-dressing. "Warrior women" match the images I have concentrated on, and "modern interpretations of cross-dressing" seem to lean only the queer or feminist theory camps. And while I'm as fascinated with asking questions on just how homosexually subversive is "As You Like It" and tying the Armada attack to a rape of Queen Elizabeth, I don't know what to do with the information. Or how to tie it all back to Spenser. I got scolded for my last paper that didn't use the texts, the grade only saved by me apparently finding an interesting interpretation of heterosexuality in the 1998 Elizabeth movie.
So I have to go back through and reread everything I have found.
Maybe there is something to the rape of England motif. The Faeire Queen was written at first in 1590 and then revised in 1596 featuring Britomart, a fictional woman ancestress of Queen Elizabeth who dons armor and becomes the knight of Chastity before finding her true love and thus beginning a long line of royalty culminating in Elizabeth. With me so far? One of her adventures--specifically in the part we read for class--features her rescue of a damsel in distress whose plight has some symbolism of a type of rape (trying to magic love out of someone by cutting their heart out doesn't sound consensual to me). Anyways all that was written after Tilbury, which has been mythologized into Elizabeth as warrior queen protecting her honor.
So now to go reread the stuff specifically on Britomart, and come up with a way to present for tomorrow night even if I don't get the whole paper done. I'd rather have the paper done before the trip though.
Read Free!
The BookWorm
There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/
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