Term of Award
Spring 2016
Degree Name
Master of Arts in English (M.A.)
Document Type and Release Option
Thesis (restricted to Georgia Southern)
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Department
Department of Literature and Philosophy
Committee Chair
Mary Villeponteaux
Committee Member 1
Dustin Anderson
Committee Member 2
Julia Griffin
Abstract
Sir Philip Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella challenges Elizabethan notions of masculinity by featuring a subversive gender performance. Throughout the sonnet sequence, Astrophil attempts to demonstrate his masculinity by using the gendered structure of Petrarchan rhetoric to pursue Stella. He engages in this performance of masculinity in order to establish himself as an adequate Petrarchan (i.e., masculine) lover. Studying this text in relation to Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity emphasizes Astrophil’s active engagement in a subversive gender performance. Astrophil’s debasement at the end of the text further illustrates Sidney’s depiction of Elizabethan masculinity as unstable and continually bound by cultural norms.
Recommended Citation
Riley, Desiree' M. Miss, "The Performance of Gender in Sir Philip Sidney's Astrophil and Stella" (2016). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1411.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/1411
