Lorraine Stock 'The Importance Of Being Gender' Stable

Lorraine Stock’s “The Importance of Being Gender ‘Stable’: Masculinity and Feminine Empowerment” chooses to focus on how both genders are portrayed in the romance and how “power is allocated to and appropriated” by each gender (7). Stock begins with the character of King Ebain whose “masculinity, which should stabilize the kingdom, is consistently being undermined” (9). An example of this is that unlike the other male characters in the romance Ebain has no children and not even an adopted son like figure, because of this Stock explains his “patriarchal power is consistently attenuated” (16). Ebain should possesses the most power based on his status but that power is consistently taken away from him because of his gender. On the other hand, Stock notes “female characters demonstrate surprising resilience and empowerment both privately and publicly but also at a certain price” (19). The character Eufeme is one of these who embraces her sexuality by committing an extra marital affair. But she cannot continue doing so as she is executed for her betrayal to the King. Stock states the two characters’ “sexual disorderliness mutually affect and enrich their respective gender constructions” (22). The uniqueness of the two characters shows how their status is controlled by how they perform up to their gender’s standards. Neither gender holds agency over each other as each is oppressed for
Expounding on this statement Callahan states to “justify the reservations concerning the marriage expressed by Silence scholars and to understand the marriage as the most logical consequence of Silence’s position with regard to inheritance law” (13). Callahan points out that there is little we know about the marriage between Silence and Ebain