Graduate Program

English

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Semester of Degree Completion

2008

Thesis Director

Francine McGregor

Thesis Committee Member

Julie Campbell

Thesis Committee Member

David Raybin

Abstract

This thesis is an examination of four primary female characters from the 8t-century Irish sagas and the powers that they exhibit through their physical actions. By placing primary emphasis on body language rather than, or in conjunction with, the words spoken by each character, a reader may gain a more comprehensive sense of the true nature of that character. These women are not simply standing in the background; they are performing actions imperative to their individual narratives that aid in story development and larger contextual plots found in the sagas as a whole. Each of these women-Grainne, Deirdre, Medb, and Macha-show that if their words are ignored, their actions are not. This thesis also explores various women's issues that affect the characters through connections with their physicality: birth and motherhood, sexuality, violence, and women's roles in medieval society. This thesis proves that while later Anglo-Saxon female characters were predominantly "peace-weavers" among men, their Irish counterparts were created to rebel against, and choose their own means of dealing with, their society's patriarchal rules.

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