Emotion and the Female Self: Finding Space for Expression

Abstract

The expression of emotions, including desire and anger, is culturally encoded, being accepted – or not – depending on factors including social class and gender. In the twelfth century, while the public expression of anger was generally seen as negative, it was deemed acceptable when kings or other aristocratic men used anger as a corrective to a perceived wrong. This public utterance of anger can be seen as an expression of selfhood, of rendering exterior the emotional experience of the interior self. Yet the insular Romance of Horn diverges from this socially gendered behaviour when the princess Rigmel expresses her anger publicly. An analysis of the gendered space of the narrative allows for an understanding of how Rigmel’s anger may be appropriate in the specific context of the scene and what this shows about the expression of female selfhood in relation to her more furtive and private expressions of desire.