The Agency of Gender in Jerusalem Delivered

The Agency of Gender in Jerusalem Delivered
<Tab/>Throughout the text of Jerusalem Delivered, Torquato Tasso makes a noticeable departure from the pre-existing structure of the epic, namely, he allows the masculine and feminine traits of his characters to overlap between the genders. In this poem the reader is confronted with women who act nobly, fight in battle, and strategize like men in the service of their countries and gods, as well as men made effeminate through the influence of passion and romance. In keeping with the conceptions of male and female traits, Tasso align…