This project explores the ways in which early modern English women writers engaged with the rhetoric of ideal male friendship. Early modern writers on friendship, drawing from classical texts such as Cicero's De Amicitia, most often defined friendship as a relationship of equality between two virtuous men. Women writers revised this dominant discourse by arguing for their own ability to practice virtuous friendship, thus investing women's friendships with the political significance long carried by the male tradition. In this dissertation, I discuss Isabella Whitney, Aemilia Lanyer, Elizabeth Cary, and Katherine Philips as writers who depict friendships that overcome class or gender differences through the common virtue of the participants. Placing these works alongside those of male writers on friendship such as Francis Bacon, Michel de Montaigne, and William Shakespeare, I demonstrate the ways in which early modern women writers created a space for their own participation in an often exclusionary discourse.

Raphael is leading a hedonistic life when he has a traumatic realization that the world is indifferent about who lives and who dies, and Raphael is no exception. This is a story, written by Raphael, about seeking to reconcile the fleeting world he and everyone else has been subjected to.

The main purpose of this essay is to analyze the relationship between the two main characters George and Lennie in John Steinbecks novella Of Mice and Men (1937) and determine what kind of relationship they share, how their relationship is built and whether they are genuine friends or not. The definition of friendship which will mainly be employed and used is the one defined and created by Aristotle and published in his work Nicomachean Ethics. In order for the analysis to be as precise and proper as possible, the questions of how and why will constantly be asked and answered throughout the analysis in order to operate and act as guidelines for the final conclusion. Besides Aristotle’s definition of friendship, the novella will be examined from a perspective with primary focus on the concept of friendship and it will also to some extent touch the field of interpersonal relationships. The concept will then be applied to the examination of their relationship and will only take the content of the novella itself into account. To assist the theory and provide with an extended view upon friendship, the works of Allan (Kinship and Friendship in Modern Britain: 1996), Lynch (Philosophy and Friendship: 2005), Spencer (Rethinking Friendship: Hidden solidarities today: 2006) and Pahl (On Friendship: 2000) will be applied.         The conclusion derived from the analysis shows that it is possible to interpret their relationship differently depending on which aspect of their friendship one decides to highlight, but the aspect of George and Lennie’s unequal stature due to the Lennie’s mental disability is a fact impossible to not take into account. This aspect makes it impossible for them to be genuine friends, as their relationship becomes based on one person having more responsibility than the other, making their friendship non-genuine according to Aristole.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Calvin Theological Seminary, 2008. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 147-150).

Thesis (M.S.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2008. / Directed by Anne Fletcher; submitted to the Dept. of Human Development and Family Studies. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jan. 28, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 53-62).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2009. / Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 230-233).

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 1999. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-67). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pMQ39238.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 2000. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-83). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ59140.

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2001. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 194-205). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pMQ66374

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 86 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 52-58).