Constructing the Female Subject in Anglo-Norman, Middle English and Medieval Irish Romance Giselle Gos Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Medieval Studies University of Toronto 2012 Abstract Female subjectivity remains a theoretical question in medieval romance, a genre in which the feminine and the female have often been found to exist primarily as foils for the production of masculinity and male identity, the Other against which the masculine hero is defined. Woman’s agency and subjectivity are observed by critics most often in moments of transgression, subversion and resistance: as objects exchanged between men and signs of masculine prestige, female characters carve out their subjectivity, agency and identity in spite of, rather than with the support of, the ideological formations of romance. The following study makes a case for the existence of a female subject in medieval romance, analogous to the oft-examined male subject, a subject in both senses of the term: subjected to the dominant ideology, the subject is also enabled in its agency and authority by that ideology. I combine a feminist poststructuralist approach to discourse analysis with a comparative methodology, juxtaposing related romance texts in Anglo-Norman, Middle English and Medieval Irish under the premise that stress-points in ideological structures must be renegotiated when stories are revised and recast for new audiences. The principal texts considered are Roman de Horn, King Horn, Horn Childe and the Maiden Rimnild; Gamair’s Haveloc episode, Lai d’Haveloc, Havelok the Dane; Gui de Warewic, Guy of Warwick, The Irish Lives of Guy of Warwick and Bevis of Hampton; The Adventures of Art, Son of Conn, Mongán’s Love for Dubh Lacha. Through close attention to textual change over time, a profound shift can be seen in the emergence of female characters which cease to be symbols, signs and objects but through a variety of discourses and narrative strategies are established as subjects in their own right.

Constructing the Female Subject in Anglo-Norman, Middle English and Medieval Irish Romance Giselle Gos Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Medieval Studies University of Toronto 2012 Abstract Female subjectivity remains a theoretical question in medieval romance, a genre in which the feminine and the female have often been found to exist primarily as foils for the production of masculinity and male identity, the Other against which the masculine hero is defined. Woman’s agency and subjectivity are observed by critics most often in moments of transgression, subversion and resistance: as objects exchanged between men and signs of masculine prestige, female characters carve out their subjectivity, agency and identity in spite of, rather than with the support of, the ideological formations of romance. The following study makes a case for the existence of a female subject in medieval romance, analogous to the oft-examined male subject, a subject in both senses of the term: subjected to the dominant ideology, the subject is also enabled in its agency and authority by that ideology. I combine a feminist poststructuralist approach to discourse analysis with a comparative methodology, juxtaposing related romance texts in Anglo-Norman, Middle English and Medieval Irish under the premise that stress-points in ideological structures must be renegotiated when stories are revised and recast for new audiences. The principal texts considered are Roman de Horn, King Horn, Horn Childe and the Maiden Rimnild; Gamair’s Haveloc episode, Lai d’Haveloc, Havelok the Dane; Gui de Warewic, Guy of Warwick, The Irish Lives of Guy of Warwick and Bevis of Hampton; The Adventures of Art, Son of Conn, Mongán’s Love for Dubh Lacha. Through close attention to textual change over time, a profound shift can be seen in the emergence of female characters which cease to be symbols, signs and objects but through a variety of discourses and narrative strategies are established as subjects in their own right.

May Fourth society encouraged the female writers to progress and requested them to play the role of "an understanding wife and loving mother". This conflicting expectation made "the love and marriage" a major trial for the educated female at that time. The May Fourth women's liberation movement had this characteristic: women were utilized as a tool rather than liberated human beings. Sharing a common background, the May Fourth female writers tried to find a family of ¡¨her¡¨ own besides the father's family and the husband's family. This dissertation tries to study and compare ¡§the love and marriage issue¡¨ in the novels of the May Fourth female writers such as Chen Hengzhe¡]³¯¿Å­õ¡^¡BLu Yin¡]ÃfÁô¡^¡BSu Xue-Lin¡]Ĭ³·ªL¡^¡BBing Xing¡]¦B¤ß¡^¡BLin Shu-hua¡]­â¨ûµØ¡^¡BFeng Yuan-Jun¡]¶¾¨J§g¡^Shi Ping-Mei¡]¥Ûµû±ö¡^.It is this author¡¦s hope that through this study we can understand more what these female writers thought on the issue of gender subjectivity.

This thesis discusses women and their changing subjectivity in connection to their participation within terrorist movements. Work emphasizes on the case of the Islamic State, currently the most influential terrorist movement; and the role of women within it. For the purpose of introduction into the topic- as well acquaintance with the current state of knowledge- work discusses historical examples of women's participation within terrorist groups. Concerning theoretical framework, this thesis is based on constructivist feminism and gender theory, which examines how thoughts about gender influence global politics. Empirical part of this thesis is devoted to the method of CDA, namely three-dimensional model of CDA implemented by Fairclough as well as additional conceptual framework - grammar of visual design introduced by Kress and van Leeuwen. The main purpose is to examine what the role of women within the Islamic state is, why they are so crucial and the most importantly how the Islamic State affects women's emancipation. Various propaganda materials of IS are analyzed in order to address these issues.