Date of Award
January 2014
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
English
First Advisor
Michelle M. Sauer
Abstract
This thesis examines the gendering of spaces, particularly the city of New Jerusalem in the fourteenth-century Middle English dream vision Pearl. Earlier scholars have gendered this space as feminine based on the appearance of the city landscape. Instead, I examine the city in terms of both form and function to argue that New Jerusalem is a masculine space. In doing so, I hope to recognize the patriarchal control in the poem to demonstrate the masculine construction of the space, not to reinscribe patriarchy as a construct. This analysis combines the spatial theories of Henri Lefebvre and Doreen Massey with performative gender construction concepts as defined by Judith Butler. Ultimately, this gendered analysis of Pearl's city illuminates the Church's defense against the Lollard heresy of the fourteenth century on the topic of the sex of priests in the clergy, thereby demonstrating the danger of a feminine construction of the city space.
Recommended Citation
Lund, Kirby, "Dreaming Of Masculinity: The Middle English "Pearl" And The Masculine Space Of New Jerusalem" (2014). Theses and Dissertations. 1682.
https://commons.und.edu/theses/1682