���In this thesis, I use modern concepts of feminism, gender performativity, and psychoanalysis as a means to understand female characters and authors of Renaissance England in a new way. In my first article, I analyze various texts and performances of Queen Elizabeth I, as well as texts of Renaissance female authors who are now slowly entering our modern canon ��� notably, Aemilia Lanyer. The second article is a feminist investigation of Britomart from Spenser's The Faerie Queene. In both pieces, I argue that these women (historical and fictional) broaden the definition of queer, and ultimately of feminism, as a whole. The goal of this thesis is to utilize published and visual records of early modern women writers and fictional characters, and apply a theoretical lens to such texts, in order to analyze these texts in a multi-faceted, contemporary fashion and to establish new modes of thought within the discourse of gender performativity, feminisms and psychoanalytical theory. / Graduation date: 2013