Shakespeare· 2026Q2
‘No Womanhood? Ah, Beastly Creature’ ( Titus , 2.2.182): Queering Old(er) Reproductive Bodies in Shakespeare
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- Q2SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Shakespearean characters like Tamora and Cleopatra challenge early modern medical and social models of the female life cycle by demonstrating that older women with continued reproductive potential disrupt stable gender binaries.
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Key points
- Early modern medical discourse viewed sexual difference as essential but not fixed, with reproductive capacity changing across the female life cycle.
- Women who ceased menstruating were considered more masculine, and active young women who bled less could become viragos.
- Older women who remained reproductive disrupt the early modern life-cycle model of maid, wife, and matron.
- Shakespearean characters Tamora and Cleopatra are analyzed to show how gender expression intersects with age and reproductive potential.
- A queer interpretation of the reproductive female body destabilizes the life-cycle model and the gender binary.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Early modern medical discourse grounded in humoural and Galenic theory regarded sexual difference as essential, yet not necessarily fixed. Physicians defined womanhood through menstruation, parturition, and lactation, but these markers failed to secure a stable gender binary. Medical texts repeatedly demonstrated that female bodies resisted totalising narratives, particularly because reproductive capacity changed across the female life cycle. Women who ceased menstruating were thought to become more masculine, while physically active young women who bled less might develop into viragos occupying a space between femininity and masculinity. Biological difference, therefore, did not guarantee stable gendered embodiment. This paper argues that older yet still reproductive women disrupt early modern models of the female life cycle organised around maid, wife, and matron. Focusing on Tamora in Titus Andronicus and Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra, I examine how gender expression intersects with age and reproductive potential. Reading these figures through early modern medical ideas about ageing and reproduction, I propose a queer interpretation of the reproductive female body that destabilises both the life-cycle model and the gender binary it sustains.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Shakespeare, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Classics
ClassicsArts and Humanities