Chapter 6: Section C topic study: women in the later Middle Ages

Essential reading

Especially useful will be the following:

Leyser, Henrietta Medieval Women: A Social History of Women in England 450–1500. (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 1998) [ISBN 0312212798].

Shahar, Shulamith The Fourth Estate: A History of Women in the Middle Ages. Translated by Chaya Galai (London: Routledge, 2003) [ISBN 0415308518].

Warner, Marina Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and Cult of the Virgin Mary. (London: Vintage, 2000) [ISBN 0099284499].

Suggested further reading

Evans, Ruth and Lesley Johnson Feminist Readings in Middle English Literature: the Wife of Bath and All Her Sect. (London: Routledge, 1994) [ISBN 041505818X].

Martin, Priscilla Chaucer’s Women: Nuns, Wives and Amazons. (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1996) [ISBN 0333641426].

Introduction

In this chapter, we will consider the position of women in the Middle Ages, both in a literary and extra-literary context. We will look at various manifestations of misogyny, considering several images of women that were constructed and propagated as ideals or travesties. Finally, we will look at some representations of women in later medieval literature, with special attention given to Chaucer’s women and to the figure of Criseyde/Cresseid. The material covered in this chapter will include several of the set texts, but you should select whichever texts you deem appropriate for your own consideration of this topic.

Ideals and travesties: the anti-feminist tradition

An important tradition to understand in relation to medieval literature is the strain of misogyny in European history. The word comes from the Greek, meaning ‘hatred of women’, and it manifested itself throughout the medieval period and beyond in many ways. The anti-feminist tradition is a central premise and component of the Wife of Bath’s Tale, to cite just one example. During your reading of medieval texts, try to be alert to this important strand of thought.

Activity

What, for instance, is Chaucer’s apparent attitude to the anti-feminist tradition in the Wife of Bath’s Tale?

You might like to look into the history of misogyny, from its inception in early warrior cultures, where the non-fighting woman came to be denigrated and regarded as inferior in status to the male. (See the bibliographies in the works cited as essential reading above for suggested reading on this topic.)

This warrior culture bequeathed to the Christian era a set of prejudices and gender inequalities. In theory at least, Christianity modified some misogynistic attitudes and preserved others, particularly in the area of female sexuality – with sexual intercourse, menstruation and childbirth being widely regarded as contaminating and polluting. There was an enormous liberating potential in the increasingly dominant religion that had women at its centre. In the Gospels, Christ evinces positive attitudes towards women; for example, after the Resurrection, he chose to appear first to a woman, Mary Magdalene. Early Christianity propagated the notion of the equality of all believers. As St Paul asserted:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

(Acts 9:36–42)

However, over time, this was severely modified to exclude women from many aspects of worship, such as preaching and administering the sacraments.

Some time spent familiarising yourself in general terms with the early history of Christianity, the writings of the Church Fathers, the doctrine of original sin and so on, will provide a very useful context for your reading of medieval texts. Much of medieval misogyny comes from this background. A particularly important aspect of medieval culture is its tendency to construct dichotomies, such as male and female, body and soul, Eve and Mary, whore and goddess.

Activity

Be alert for instances of such thought in your reading, for example in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Piers Plowman.

Writers such as Chaucer and Langland are sophisticated, and you will find that their representations of such polarities are rich and challenging. They seek to explore tensions and ambiguities rather than reinforce simplified dichotomies.

Ideals and travesties: Marian worship

From the twelfth century onwards, a new movement seemed to generate a more positive image of the female, with the idealisation and veneration of the Virgin Mary. Bernard of Clairvaux was one of the first to exhort Christians to meditate upon Mary and to worship the Virgin, particularly in her role as intercessor, appealing to Christ on behalf of human beings. There is debate about the effect of Marian worship on the lives of actual women. Some consider that this intercessory role still presents Mary as a subservient model. By praising the mother of God, churchmen were not offering an ideal earthly women could easily emulate. Much as courtly love was a double-edged conception, so too the Marian cult could be seen to endorse rather than to challenge contemporary misogyny.

One medieval woman, Christine de Pisan, certainly saw Mary as a positive female role model, benefiting women in general:

My Lady, what man is so brazen to dare think or say that the female sex is vile in beholding your dignity?

(Book of the City of Ladies, c.1405)

If you are interested in reading this work, there is a recent English translation by E.J. Richards (New York: Persea Books, 1998)
[ISBN 0892552301].

Activity

When reading the lyrics and other literary works in which Mary appears, consider how she is being represented. Is she an ideal to which all women can aspire, or a supreme being, which no human woman could ever emulate? Where does the balance lie between these two extremes?

Look at some of the lyrics, ‘Nou skrnketh rose and lylie flour’ (number 27 in Silverstein), ‘In a tabernacle of a toure’ (number 50) and ‘Sodeynly afraide’ (number 82). How far is there a conflation of the earthly and the divine? What effects are achieved by this? You should consider such aspects as diction, form, themes, imagery, situations and stylisation.

Ideals and travesties: courtly love

Further idealisation of women can be seen in the phenomenon known as ‘courtly love’. This term was coined in 1883 by Gaston Paris and is not a term used in the medieval period.

This ‘invention’ of so-called courtly love coincided with a period of widespread restrictions on female activities. From the thirteenth century onwards perceptible social changes increasingly barred women from exercising power, restricting their movement and independence, while education came to be almost exclusively a male privilege, with the development of universities, such as Oxford and Cambridge, open only to clerical scholars. It is noteworthy that the first known troubadour and exponent of the ‘courtly love’ philosophy, William IX of Aquitaine, was a debauched cynic. The discrepancy between what his poetry preaches (the reverence of woman as a divine being to be served selflessly by an adoring lover) and what he himself practised, throws into question the whole basis of courtly love as a mere literary posture, with little or no reference to reality. Andreas Capellanus’s De Arte Honeste Amandi written c.1185 (also known as De Amore), sometimes taken to be the primary text advocating courtly love, is now regarded by many critics as, at best, ambiguous, and at worst, an ironic spoof. In our period, covering the later Middle Ages, this fundamental problem of interpretation intensifies.

The notion of courtly love covers a whole complex of ideas and literary topoi. Military metaphors are common, with the lover besieging his lady, or, conversely, being assailed by her beauty, destroyed by the force of passion. The veneration of the lady develops into a stereotypical representation of the ideal woman, as a stylised object of male appraisal and desire, usually pale, slender, blonde and fragile. The knight serves this icon, by wooing her, performing heroic deeds, championing her. Noteworthy here is Malory’s famous Oath of Knighthood, where King Arthur’s knights swear annually:

…allwayes to do ladyes, damesels, and jantilwomen and wydowes [socour]: strengthe hem in hir ryghtes, and never to enforce them, uppon payne of dethe.

(Vinaver, Works, p.75)

Activity

Consider whether this high ideal is borne out in the romances you read.

The concept of chivalry

This development of the concept of chivalry, with a codified set of conventions for the warrior elite, is a difficult one to interpret. It may have been an elaborate artifice, a purely literary phenomenon. It may have served as a way of diverting restless energies among landless younger sons of the nobility, which was a pressing social problem at the time, according to historians. As for the moral status of this kind of adoration, there is again major disagreement among critics. The romantic approach of C.S. Lewis (The Allegory of Love, 1936), which naïvely equates literary expressions of respect for the female with an improvement in the status of women in real life, has recently been strongly challenged. The question of adultery is a notorious point at issue. Very few English texts treat adultery as a normal part of courtly love. This is worth considering when you read Malory. There is also a negative aspect to the portrayal of passionate love. If love is often shown as ennobling, it can also be an enervating force.

Activity

Note how Malory presents his lovers, Tristan and Isolde, Lancelot and Gwenevere, Lancelot and Elaine, and so on. How negative are the portrayals of love and female sexuality in texts like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Troilus and Criseyde and the Testament of Cresseid?

At the opposite end of the spectrum from the idealisation of the courtly lady of romance there is the lusty bourgeoise of the fabliau.

Activity

Consider Chaucer’s fabliaux (particularly the Miller’s Tale and the Reeve’s Tale) from the point of view of how they may be commenting upon, or offering a critique of romance.

In their down-to-earth, physical robustness, the women in these tales contrast greatly with the typical heroine of romance, but adhere to another set of conventions.

Ideals and travesties: literary stereotypes of women

Anti-feminist ideas permeate the literature of the Middle Ages, giving rise to a range of conventional roles assigned to women, such as talkative scold, lustful sexual temptress, and weak, feeble victim. Much of the literature surviving from the period was either written by or under the influence of clerical modes of thought that were hostile to women. It is important to remember as you read that this written tradition of anti-feminism is largely the view of a minority elite, the clerics, who constituted only 0.5 per cent of the population. The views of this literate minority can be seen, for example, in Jankyn’s famous Book of Wicked Wives, an anthology of anti-feminist sentiment with which he delights in tormenting the Wife of Bath. Even as courtly a hero as Gawain in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is not immune to this negative view of women, as when he gives vent to his anger in an outburst citing many of the usual examples of female treachery (Fitt 4, ll.2414–2426).

Activity

Try to identify stereotypes as you read, and be alert to lurking binary oppositions such as that of saint and sinner. Think especially about Chaucer’s exemplary virtuous heroines, Cecilia (Second Nun’s Tale), Griselda (Clerk’s Tale), and Constance (Man of Law’s Tale). What stereotypes are they embodying? What complicates any reading of them as simple ‘types’ to be emulated? Think, for instance, of the variety of interpretations presented at the end of the Clerk’s Tale.

The Clerk’s Tale is a particularly difficult one to interpret and exemplifies Chaucer’s technique of questioning easy solutions and problematising meaning. Many, including the Clerk, find Griselda’s example far from exemplary and have difficulty in accepting the proffered solution: to accept the tale as a straightforward moral allegory. You will find, if you study the notes in the Riverside edition carefully, that Chaucer has deliberately heightened exactly those aspects of the tale that confuse an easy allegorical reading.

Activity

For example, notice how many details he adds that enhance the effect of pathos, evoking human sympathy for Griselda and disapproval of Walter.

Chaucer’s romance heroines are also interesting to investigate. In many ways they conform to the stereotypes: Emily in the Knight’s Tale, for example, hardly speaks and plays very little part in the events of the tale. She is a most colourless, dull heroine, a mere cypher, except for one moment in the Temple of Diana, when her feelings are conveyed in direct speech. Yet, Chaucer’s representation of Emily is far from merely in the traditional vein. In Chaucer’s source, Boccaccio’s Teseida, Emily is far more wilful, aware and vocal. By intensifying her status as passive object, Chaucer emphasises just those characteristics of the romance heroine that trouble some modern readers: the ideal of female passivity is objectionable and unsatisfying when taken to such extremes. Her very silence causes her to be remarkable. Chaucer’s presentation of Emily is a good case of Chaucer drawing attention to a deficiency in order to open up questions and deeper consideration of issues such as gender roles and conventions.

Another stereotype to consider is the shrew, obviously present as an aspect of the Wife of Bath. In the Noah plays, the figure of Noah’s wife is another good example of this stereotype. Noah’s wife is hardly mentioned in the biblical account of the Flood, and there is no hint of her being anything other than compliant. Yet in the drama she has a prominent role as an argumentative, aggressive female hampering the efforts of Noah to obey God’s commands. Notice how the Towneley play in particular develops the figure of Noah’s wife as a loud, railing woman refusing to heed her husband’s wishes, resorting to physical violence and being thoroughly unruly. This kind of knockabout farce would seem to have little place in a didactic drama, but this mingling of different registers is in fact utterly characteristic of the age. According to the standard interpretation of the significance of Noah’s wife in the Flood plays, she represents a ‘type’ of the reluctant soul, struggling against God’s will. In other versions, closer to the biblical account, she does not resist at all (for example, see the Ludus Coventriæ play).

Activity

Compare the Towneley and Chester Noah plays in their treatment of Noah’s wife, and decide which you think is the more successful:

a. in terms of entertainment value

b. in terms of effectiveness as moral drama.

The female voice

The power of discourse, both written and spoken, was well understood by Chaucer. Indeed, the use and abuse of language, particularly strategies of rhetoric, can be seen as a fundamentally informing theme of Chaucer’s work.

Activity

Think about the role of language, skilfully manipulated, in the Nun’s Priest’s Tale, the Pardoner’s Tale and the Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Consider how language is shown to be subject to contingent needs, a tool for those desiring to manipulate or twist the facts and open to abuse, with rhetorical skill being employed to excess, etc.

Traditionally, access to the written word was limited to males. Very few women could read or write beyond a bare minimum. There is a large body of work written in the medieval period that cannot be attributed to a particular writer, and a proportion of this could conceivably be by women. But the number of definite female authors from this period is minute.

Activity

Find out more about female writers of the period.

For our present purposes, it is important to note that the female voice is rarely expressed in medieval literature other than by a male writer.

Female mystics

One area in which real-life women could express their thoughts and feelings in their own words was in the field of mystical writings. The appearance of numbers of female mystics is a remarkable development in this period, with women like Juliana of Norwich (1342–c.1416/1426) committing their experiences to writing. The female mystics, with their claim to authority, springing from their experiences of direct, personal access to God, frequently communicated and circulated their ideas in written form, but always under the guidance and approval of male clerics. In order to avoid coming into conflict with the established church, they had to phrase their words carefully to avoid charges of heterodoxy, or heresy. Typically, they adopt a humble, self-deprecating tone, as exemplified by Juliana of Norwich:

Botte God forbede that ye schulde saye or take it so that I am a techere, for I meene nought so, no, I mente nevere so. For that I am a woman; leued [uneducated], febille and freyll.

Even so, female mystics were vulnerable to criticism as they presumed to voice their thoughts on religious matters. Margery Kempe (c.1373–after 1439) was repeatedly examined by various secular and ecclesiastical officials alarmed by her behaviour. Notice the terms Margery uses to justify her purpose in her Prologue and her characteristic habit of referring to herself in the third person, as ‘this creature’.

Margery Kempe has left us an invaluable document, purporting to be a spiritual autobiography. Margery was, in fact, illiterate and had to dictate her memoirs to priests, whom she had to persuade to help her. In many ways, the Book of Margery Kempe models itself on mystical texts and consciously seeks to adhere to a tradition of spiritual writings. Yet the forcefulness of her individual personality shines through, and inadvertently Margery provides us with what is the first autobiography of a woman in English. Her Book is filled with details of her everyday life and experiences, related in a very direct way. Throughout, the tone and expression convey a vivid impression of one particular medieval woman’s voice.

Margery continually has to speak to others, justifying her actions, arguing her position against a host of opponents and detractors. Many people are impressed by her words, as when she meets the Bishop of Lincoln in Chapter 15, and he listens to her account of her visions:

He was rygth glad to heryn hem, and suffryd hire benyngly to sey what hire listed.

Another memorable moment occurs in Chapter 48, when Margery refuses to explain her motivations for wearing white clothing until the Mayor of Leicester leaves. This is an image of a woman confidently withholding her speech, truly being in command of her own words. In chapter 51, she boldly argues with the clergy, debating their methods of biblical exegesis. Such outspoken behaviour presents challenges to those around her, as well as to modern readers.

Activity

Consider a range of conversations related in the Book.

How does Margery appear in these exchanges? Does she conform to any of the stereotypes discussed above? What kind of voice is Margery’s?

Also pay attention to her inner voice, of self-questioning and resolution. How does it compare to her more ‘public’ voice?

Chaucer’s women

The vitality of the Wife of Bath is one of the reasons many critics regard Chaucer as being interested in the female voice. Clearly the potential for self-revelation through direct speech was one that Chaucer played with in many ways. However, the particular quality and prominence accorded to female speakers, like the Wife of Bath, marks Chaucer as unusual among medieval writers. Further, he explicitly raises the notion of male bias and the partiality of the male literary tradition that stereotypes women, in the Wife of Bath’s Prologue, ll.687–696.

Activity

Consider how far Chaucer’s Wife challenges established misogynistic notions of women and how far she reinforces them.

Chaucer’s heroine in Troilus and Criseyde is a particularly interesting case to consider. Probably an earlier creation than the women in the Canterbury Tales, Criseyde is given a fullness of characterisation that is quite unprecedented. In crude terms, such as the number of lines she is given to speak, Criseyde’s voice is magnified by Chaucer. In the main source for the poem, Boccaccio’s Il Filostrato, she speaks 747 lines; in Chaucer’s version, she has 1154 lines. The speaking roles of Pandarus and Diomede are also expanded by Chaucer, but Troilus’s speech is reduced considerably. This raises Criseyde’s prominence and enhances the effect of intimacy with her.

There are two sides to this verbal presence. Firstly, there are the dialogues, the conversations she takes part in and, secondly, there are the instances of internal monologue, whereby we are made aware of her inner thoughts and reflections. We hear nothing from her in Book 1, which focuses on her external appearance and public perception. Her first speech comes significantly in Book 2, in the private, domestic space of her home.

Look carefully at this long scene with Pandarus. In her conversation with her uncle, there is a clear sense of her being at bay, concealing her thoughts, with a distinct difference between what she thinks and what she says, for example at ll.140–44.

Activity

Try reading aloud her reaction to Pandarus’s efforts at persuading her to have an affair with Troilus, ll.409–27. Experiment with different tones; shocked, playful, haughty, jocular, sad. Which seems to you most appropriate? Do you detect something contrived and excessive in her expressions of outrage? Is there a certain over-reaction in her repetitive exclamation, ‘Allas!’ and the carefully balanced rhetorical questions?

There seems to be an element of characterisation here beyond the straightforward demands of the narrative. Chaucer is controlling his style deliberately for particular effect. It could be read as suggestive of Criseyde’s self-dramatisation, as an expression of her tendency to adopt roles, with a keen sense of how she is being seen by others. Pandarus’s reply here is clearly histrionic, a pose he is adopting for effect. Could Criseyde be seen as comparable to him in her adoption of different voices for different purposes?

In her internal monologues, Criseyde is equally complex. Consider, for example, her inner conflict, from l.694 onwards. It is interesting to analyse the process of her reasoning and to trace the fluctuations in her feelings, as shown here.

Activity

What does this lengthy expression of her inner turmoil contribute to our understanding of Criseyde? What is revealed about her self-image? What do we learn, directly and indirectly, of her attitudes towards others, such as Troilus, and society generally?

You might compare Chaucer’s presentation of Troilus’s thoughts and feelings in direct speech and interior monologues. They are very different in tone and effect. Troilus and Criseyde has been called the first English novel, partly because of this unusual amount of introspection and self-analysis accorded to the characters within the poem. Criseyde is a heroine endowed with an exceptional degree of self-consciousness. This presentation of her shows her not just as object, but as speaking subject; this was revolutionary in English literature.

Activity

Compare the presentation of other female figures in medieval literature, to assess exactly how Chaucer’s techniques differ.

Criseyde and Cresseid compared

One obvious point of comparison is between Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde and Henryson’s Testament of Cresseid. Henryson’s fifteenth-century continuation of Chaucer’s poem was generally attributed to Chaucer right up to the early nineteenth century. Strictly speaking, Henryson’s poem fits into the last Book of Troilus and Criseyde, before Troilus dies. Henryson, as a Scottish Chaucerian, was keen to emulate Chaucer’s achievements and is in many ways a conscious imitator. However, the poem exists in its own right and offers an alternative perspective on Chaucer’s poem. It is a fascinating exercise to compare the two poems, in their style, narrative techniques and subject-matter.

For the moment, our focus is on the presentation of the heroine. It is clear that Henryson’s poem focuses primarily upon Cresseid, with Troilus and the other characters, apart from the pagan gods, being merely incidental. This emphasis on the heroine is itself an important device to be considered. It places her in the prime position as the most important character and insists on her perspective as the dominant frame of reference. A major part of the presentation of Cresseid lies in the use of extensive passages conveying her thoughts and feelings.

Activity

What kind of voice is Henryson’s Cresseid given, in comparison with Chaucer’s?

Cresseid is given brief conversations with her father, the servant and her fellow lepers, but primarily Henryson chooses to present Cresseid’s voice in monologues. She is given two long, formal lyrics in which to express her feelings of bitterness and reproach. Her first lyric is a formal lament (ll.407–69), based upon the meditative tradition of the ubi sunt? (‘Where are they?’). This kind of reflective consideration of past riches or pleasures was popular throughout the medieval period. This conveys a moving impression of the transience of earthly pleasures and Cresseid’s sense of desolation. Her second lyric is a complaint (ll.547–74), which offers a poignant insight into her final anguish, with its repeated refrain acknowledging her own guilt, ‘O fals Cresseid and trew knicht Troilus!’

Activity

What is your response to these passages? Are they adequate in conveying Cresseid’s emotional progress? Bear in mind the much more modest scale of Henryson’s poem, as you try to assess the relative weight of the two portraits of Cresseid/Criseyde; in particular, considering the role played by direct speech in the creation of the heroine.

The narrative voice

Here you might consider the role of the narrator in these narratives, how this mediating persona shapes and engages our responses to his material.

Activity

First, consider the sophisticated use of the narrator in Troilus and Criseyde. Trace the narrator’s sensitive responses to Criseyde’s predicament throughout the work and note how it shifts and changes.

His attitude towards his heroine is peculiarly ambivalent. At one point he seeks to counter the potential cynicism of ‘som envious’ (Book 2, l.666). At the height of the lovers’ happiness, in Book 3, ll.1317–23, the narrator appears to be seduced himself by the lovers’ ecstasy. Throughout, he insinuates a degree of reluctance to tell of Criseyde’s unfaithfulness and takes pains to excuse her on various occasions, at one point explicitly distancing himself from the generality of detractors of Criseyde: ‘Men seyn, I not, that she yaf hym hire herte’ (Book V, c.1050). Yet, at the end of the poem, he has shown her to be unfaithful, unworthy of Troilus’s sublime love, an emblem of female treachery. In an extraordinary volte-face, he finally denounces her along with the other ‘corsed’ pagans.

Activity

Now consider Henryson’s narrator. What kind of persona is constructed by Henryson in the Proem (ll.1–42)? Does he seem harsh or sympathetic towards his heroine?

The first epithet applied to Cresseid is ‘fair’. This word continues to be attached to her name throughout the poem.

Activity

What are the implications of this? Is a moral quality implied?

Notice the very Chaucerian technique of obliquity in ll.76–77, where the narrator disassociates himself from rumours and traditions denigrating Cresseid, postulating her descent into prostitution as speculative.

Activity

Why mention it at all?

There are also telling moments that imply a fundamentally sympathetic narrator, such as ll.87–88. Yet the story of Cresseid being cast out by Diomede and being afflicted with leprosy is terrible and grim.

Activity

Is there a mixture of pity and horror here that provides a cleansing experience in the manner of Classical tragedy?

There are many varied interpretations of Henryson’s poem. Some see it as typically Scottish in its dour, harsh attitude towards Cresseid and her dreadful fate. Others read it as impersonal moral allegory, equally applicable to men as to women in general (as in the Clerk’s allegorical exposition of his tale of a suffering woman, Patient Griselda).

Activity

Do you see Henryson’s Cresseid as an emblematic figure, showing uplifting moral regeneration? Do you think she functions as an ‘everywoman’ figure, or is there a more personal, individual dimension to her?

Much will depend upon how you interpret the final lines of the poem, especially l.616, ‘Sen sho is deid, I speik of hir no moir.’

Activity

Try reading the final stanza several times, using different tones of voice.

It can be read as a sternly moralistic conclusion, callously dismissive of an arch sinner. Alternatively, the brevity may be interpreted as a pained, discreet withdrawal. The fact that there is no overt denunciation allows for a variety of responses.

Activity

How do you interpret these lines? Do you read them differently after reading the Moral Fables?

There the reader was cautioned to avoid simplistic judgments and learned to be alert to ambiguities and finer shades of meaning.

Activity

Is the apparently curt conclusion another example of Henryson’s technique of resisting closure, refusing to supply neat, simplistic moral judgment?

Learning outcomes

Having completed this chapter, and the relevant reading and activities, you should be able to:

Sample examination questions

1. Compare and contrast the representation of the heroine in any two works of the period.

2. In what ways, and with what success, are gender stereotypes challenged in medieval literature?

3. ‘The ideals of courtly love and of chivalry are frequently in collision.’ Discuss with reference to at least two texts.

4. ‘I am a womman, nedes moot I speke’ (Merchant’s Tale, 2305). Consider some of the ways in which women are permitted to speak in medieval literature.

5. How far does an understanding of medieval anti-feminism enhance your reading of medieval texts?

Suggestions for further study

Given the wide-ranging nature of this topic, you are advised to select your own preferred areas for study, based on the approaches here. You can apply similar methods of analysis to any of the set texts you read. The bibliographies in the books recommended in this chapter will be useful for extending your reading further.