MacLeod, Robbie Andrew (2018) Female alterity in medieval Gaelic literature. MRes thesis. https://theses.gla.ac.uk/9148/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/
[email protected] Female Alterity in Medieval Gaelic Literature Robbie Andrew MacLeod MA (Hons) 2030927 Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Research School of Humanities College of Arts University of Glasgow October 2017: Resubmitted with Corrections May 2018 2 Abstract This study is a literary critical examination of two specific instances of the alterity of women in medieval Gaelic secular prose literature: that of the foreign woman, and that of the woman warrior. Within both is seen how women are treated as outsiders in much of our literature from the period, and some more so than others. Foreign women are discussed as alluring, as mothers, and as dangerous individuals (frequently abductees) who can destabilise the society into which they enter. The repeated failures of women warriors are examined, and their interactions with weaponry, space and gender, as well as how other markers of alterity, such as foreignness, impact upon the portrayals of woman warriors in the literature.