Date of Award

5-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Myhill, Nova

Area of Concentration

Literature

Abstract

This thesis examines the depiction of female knights in three romance epics, the Orlando Furioso (1532), the Gerusalemme Liberata (1581), and the Faerie Queene (1590, 1596). As a hybridized genre, the romance epic is forced to mediate the political imperatives of Vergilian epic with romance’s centralization of individual desires. The lady knight serves as a reflection of this generic hybridization due to her origins in both the Aeneid and the Italian romance cycle. The central role of the lady knight within romance epic becomes precarious, as Vergilian epic necessitates that she remains a marginal figure within the text, because she exists to reflect the obstacle of female authority which must be neutralized to found empire. As such, her central role in epic must be justified. The first chapter focuses on the use of conversion, a romance tradition, to assimilate the classically derived female knights, Clorinda (Gerusalemme Liberata) and Marfisa (Orlando Furioso). The second chapter focuses on the use of Vergilian prophecy to legitimize the romance-derived figures of Britomart (Faerie Queene) and Bradamante (Orlando Furioso). The closing chapter is concerned with the role of Amazons, as Marfisa and Britomart fight against Amazons to distinguish themselves from their classical predecessors.

Rights

The author has granted New College of Florida the nonexclusive right to archive, make accessible, and distribute for educational purposes this work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The copyright of this work remains with the author.

Download

Share

COinS