Gender roles are not always specific in literary work. This is especially true in the case of the Italian romance epic poem Orlando Furioso. Several of the character’s experience identity crisis. This comical yet deep piece follows a warrior, Orlando, who has forsaken all of his responsibilities to pursue the love and affection of the beautiful Chinese princess, Angelica, who has already fallen in love with another warrior, Medor, by the time he catches up to her. When he finally makes this lifechanging discovery, he is angry and heartbroken beyond all belief. Strangely, however, Orlando is angry because she loves a man who is of a lower class than he is, and for the fact that he was not the man to take her virginity. Therefore, it could be…show more content… He very well could have been trying to push his anti-misogynistic ideas through his writings in a time where women were less than empowered. He didn’t let the sex of his character’s conflict with the role that they played in society (Kisack). Bradamante also marries a man, Ruggiero, who was out of her “caste,” so to speak (Robinson). She was a Christian woman and he was a Saracen knight (Robinson). This shows romance exogamy which was extremely empowering to women during a time when women were only allowed to marry inside of their class (Robinson). She exemplifies true autonomy…show more content… Furthermore, the revelation that Melissa receives entitles Bradamante as the creator and guardian of the dynasty, not Ruggiero (Kisack). She is now “a warrior who receives, deliberates, and negotiates, represents a new kind of political leadership” and who “appears to resolve a number of these tensions as a figure of loyalty and trust, and to challenge the foundation of societies on violence against women” (Kisack).
Literature embodies historical and fictional situations. The context of these situations can be used to make decisions about modern
