Revenge and Gender in Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Literature

Description

Explores the representation of revenge from Classical to early modern literature This collection explores a range of literary and historical texts from ancient Greece and Rome, medieval Iceland and medieval and early modern England to provide an understanding of wider historical continuities and discontinuities in representations of gender and revenge. It brings together approaches from literary criticism, gender theory, feminism, drama, philosophy and ethics to allow greater discussion between these subjects and across historical periods and to provide a more complex and nuanced understanding of the ways in which ideas about gender and revenge interrelate. Key features: The coverage, from classical through to renaissance literature, gives a sense of how the revenge motifs work over time with gender in mind It will appeal to a wide readership including those working in classics; medieval and renaissance literature; gender studies; revenge and revenge tragedy; the intertextual relations between ancient, medieval and early modern texts It considers what constitutes the literary revenge tragedy tradition, suggesting points of continuity and difference as well as rethinking the parameters of the genre Contributors include Edith Hall, Alison Findlay and Janet Clare Title Page Copyright Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements and Dedication Introduction: Female Fury and the Masculine Spirit of Vengeance PART I THE GENDERING OF REVENGE 1 Why are the Erinyes Female? or, What is so Feminine about Revenge? 2 Re-marking Revenge in Early Modern Drama PART II F RIENDS AND FAMILY - ‘REVENGING HOME’ 3 Vengeance and Male Devotion in Laxdæla saga and Njáls saga 4 ‘Now I am Medea’: Gender, Identity and the Birth of Revenge in Seneca’s Medea 5 The Avenging Daughter in King Lear 6 ‘Brother Unkind’: Annabella’s Heart in ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore PART III WOMEN’S WEAPONS 7 Cursing-Prayers and Female Vengeance in the Ancient Greek World 8 ‘The Power of Our Mouths’: Gossip as a Female Mode of Revenge 9 ‘Women’s Weapons’: Education and Female Revenge on the Early Modern Stage PART IV WOMEN TRANSMOGRIFIED 10 The Vengeful Lioness in Greek Tragedy: A Posthumanist Perspective 11 ‘She’s Turned Fury’: Women Transmogrified in Revenge Plays PART V LAMENTATION, GENDER ROLES AND VENGEANCE 12 A Phrygian Tale of Love and Revenge: Oenone Paridi (Ovid Heroides 5) 13 Lament and Vengeance in the Alliterative Morte Arthure 14 What’s Hecuba to Shakespeare? 15 ‘Nursed in Blood’: Masculinity and Grief in Marston’s Antonio’s Revenge 16 Outfacing Vengeance: Heroic Dying in Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi and Ford’s The Broken Heart List of Contributors Index