Daughter, mother, widow: The making of the identities of Isabella d'Aragona

Abstract

This article examines performances of identity (as daughter, mother and widow) by Isabella d'Aragona (1470–1524) in three of her letters. Isabella's construction of self, drew on her status as a dynast of the House of Aragon and aimed at securing her future and promote the interests of her children. The analysis of the language of letters, their context and their outcomes will contribute to the understanding of the use of letter-writing as an effective rhetorical device, thus demonstrating that the epistolary genre was used by women to engage their male recipients in a persuasive negotiation.