The Performative Nature of Gender in Orlando Furioso

The Performative Nature of Gender in Orlando Furioso

Gender identities have been defined by a Western society that states that men are strong, tough and firm, while women should be fragile, passive and flexible. Many argue that this is not true; for example, literary critic Judith Butler claims, "Gender is in no way a stable identity or locus of agency from which various acts proceed; rather, it is an identity tenuously constructed in time" (900). She claims that gender is a performative act and is in no way an accurate method of labeling or identifying someone. There are countless examples of literary works that either adapt or reject society's normative views of gender and sexuality, including Ludovico Ariosto's Renaissance epic Orlando Furioso, which toys with the performative nature of gender but ultimately upholds a normative definition of heterosexuality.