The Sadistic Hero

Abstract

In the romances so far examined, we see traces of a dynamic produced by views of female sexuality that prevailed in the medieval period; the effects of this cultural context are seen in the versions of femininity found in the cultural narratives of romance and the law. In this chapter the focus will shift slightly to encompass notions of masculinity and the expectations of male gender roles constructed in and by religious thinking and fictional texts. As before, the primary data will be taken from medieval romance. Some elements in the constitution of the masculine hero in romance narratives of the medieval period appear to have been formative in the afterlife of romance fiction. Other aspects of masculinity explored in medieval romance have not survived the cultural shifts that have informed the genre.