 Possible fashions from the 13th century |
 Joan of Arc in battle |
Possible fashions from the 13th century |
Joan of Arc in battle |
The topic of my paper has to do with the way clothing is used to mask or enhance the gender identity of Silence and Joan of Arc in their individual quests. I intend to discuss how Silence's use of male clothing masked her true identity as a woman and allowed her to perform feats no woman had ever been allowed to perform before and how approximately two centuries later, Joan's donning of the armor not only enhanced her identity but allowed her to perform the very feats Silence had to perform in disguise.
Vern L. Bullough in his article, "Transvestites in the Middle Ages" written for The American Journal of Sociology maintains that transvestism in the Middle Ages is better understood when viewed through the filter of class and status, rather than the psychopathology we have come to accept as the norm for examining transvestites. He states, "… by implication females could only gain by donning the clothes of the male. Males, on the other hand, lost status if they wore items of female apparel, and the only way society could justify such a loss was through attaching erotic connotations to such conduct which made it both dangerous and sinful." It is with this thought in mind that I examine the effect dressing in men's clothing had on both Silence and Joan, the Maiden of Orleans.The Inquisitors in Timothy Wilson-Smith's Joan of Arc: Maid, Myth and History place great importance on Joan's dressing as a man. It is this theme that appears over and over again during her trials, more than her perceived heretical hearing of voices that may or may not have been from Satan rather than God. She is not allowed to attend mass unless she relents to dress as a woman, but having relented she quickly changes her mind and returns to men's dress; arguably returning to the identity as warrior that is most comfortable for her.
Stephen Grancsay's article from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin titled, "The Interrelationships of Costume and Armor" discusses how every day wardrobe for the upper classes began to be incorporated into the new types of armor that were being made for knights. This is the sort of clothing Silence would have worn when at court and in battle. Designed by men specifically for "manly" tasks, this is what she would have had to wear while denying her biological gender identity.
In further addressing the need for Silence's wearing of male clothing, Sharon Kinoshita describes lineage politics in her article "Heldris de Cornuälle's Roman de Silence and the Feudal Politics of Lineage" in PMLA. These politics played a large part in both Silence's parent's decision to disguise her as a boy and in her decision to retain her disguise until the end of her tale when Merlin reveals her to be a woman, at which point she loses her prowess as a warrior and returns to her birth gender identity of woman; dressing as a woman and marrying the King.
The largest conflict for both Silence and Joan comes when there's a conflict between the clothes they are wearing and the reason they are wearing those clothes. Silence's comes when she is accused of rape by Queen Eufeme; to reveal herself as a woman is to lose everything she, and her parents, have hoped to gain through her disguise as a man. Joan's comes when she is denied access to mass because of her refusal to dress as a woman.
This discussion is meant to synthesize many of the arguments we have seen this semester including that of class and what it means to be a woman in medieval England and France. Joan feels called to dress as a man in order to lead the armies in her quest. Silence dresses as a man in order to circumvent the inheritance laws against women. With approximately 200 years between them, what do the differences in attitudes by these woman towards clothing say about general attitudes about women and their places in society?
This is the general path I am working on but I haven't completely fleshed out the subarguments and my approach to them. This usually becomes clear when I begin the actual writing of the paper.
My sources for this topic may include:
NOTE: For all JStor links, you must log into JStor in order to view the articles. You can do this by using the Brookens Library online database, clicking on the JStor link and using your UIS login.
My original thought was to include Margery Kempe and her attitudes toward clothing but found upon further reflection there was no easy way to fit her into my paper. The idea of transvestism seemed to arrive and point at a comparison between Silence and Joan rather than a more general discussion of clothing in regards to Silence, Margery and Joan.
In my research I did find some interesting scholarly articles regarding Margery and present them here to anyone who might find them useful: