VIRTUE, MASCULINITY, AND HIERARCHIES OF DOMINATION IN PLUTARCH’S ANTONY AND DE ISIDE
Abstract
Plutarch’s Antony and De Iside et Osiride together tackle the manlywoman and the effeminate man. I suggest that De Iside is thetheoretical exposition of the metaphysics underlying this problem ofgender, resolved by gendering the parts of the tripartite soul. In theAntony, these expressions of gender in the body are examined inpractice. Female masculinity is defined as a manifestation of virtuewithout contradicting the natural fact of the female body, whilemanliness is an unvirtuous expression of a desire to dominate.Plutarch refines the hierarchy of domination that affirms women’sclaim to virtue and preserves traditional social order by examiningthe relation between embodied sex and ensouled gender andassigning an ethical value to its expressions.
Published
2020-04-14
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