archives@tulane.edu / This dissertation addresses how women’s hair in medieval French literature denotes female sexuality by untangling the narrative conveyed by long, glorious tresses, head-coverings, and hairstyles. By analyzing descriptions and imagery of hair, head- coverings, and the removal of hair, I examine how women’s hair mediates social hierarchy. My proposition is that beneath the external image of female hair resides a narrative of language and dominance. In the first chapter I argue that medieval authors use hair as a locus of power and desire. In undertaking this research, I seek to deconstruct power relations that existed between the sexes in medieval French culture.
The first chapter explores hair as a fetish object in two Courtly Love romances by Chrétien de Troyes,’ Cligès and Le Chevalier de la charrette. The ingenuity of two noble heroines is overshadowed by the sexual desire of the two male characters and their subsequent empowerment via eroticized tresses. In chapter two I consider situations in which attention to hair turns violent in the fabliau Les Treces and in the romances Floriant et Florette and Le Roman de la Rose. Again, I find that men gain privilege through the abuse and dominance of women via their hair. Finally, I treat women appropriating power via hair across in two romances, Flamenca, from Occitania, and Le bel inconnu, and in two lais of Marie de France, Eliduc and Lanval. I treat religious female head coverings to show how two women manipulate religious settings to their advantage, and I consider Otherworldly fairies who uncover their hair, deliberately wielding their sexuality to gain influence and dominate male figures. / 1 / Leslie C Anderson
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_87896 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Contributors | Anderson, Leslie (author), (author), Poe, Elizabeth (Thesis advisor), Falaky, Fayçal (Thesis advisor), Schippers, Mimi (Thesis advisor), (Thesis advisor), School of Liberal Arts French and Italian (Degree granting institution), NULL (Degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | electronic, pages: 193 |
| Rights | No embargo, Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law. |
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