The Legends of the Lady: Finding Truth Through Transformation

Abstract

This thesis examines the concepts and roles of disability, disfigurement, sovereignty, and ageism in medieval Irish and English Loathly Lady texts, as well as select texts that contain disabled and disfigured characters. This study uses the social mode of disability studies as well as the theory of spectral disability to explore the didactic implications of the aged and disabled body in relation to political and personal sovereignty. By expanding the meanings of the social construction of disability, this study concludes that the Loathly Lady tales highlight the need for good moral conduct as a response to a socially and politically turbulent time.