Catalina de Erauso

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the ways in which Erauso violated the gender norms of her time, exploring the reasons that she was permitted to violate such deeply entrenched social norms. This paper begins by examining what she was able to accomplish in her life. But equally important to noting the facts of her life, is understanding how it came about that she was able to live her life as a man as well as how she was able to win official approval for the ways in which she acted.

From the Paper:

"De Erauso was a distinct cultural revolutionary, and yet it is also possible to see her eventual acceptance by society as fitting in to accepted social norms. While it was certainly unconventional for a woman to don man's clothes and to live the life of a soldier, such a life was also considered by nearly everyone in society an admirable path to choose. In other words, while Erauso's life was certainly not the ideal for a woman, it was the social ideal, and this made her path easier than if she had chosen a life that was not so exalted. Because she chose to talk on a role that was considered highly honorable and desirable within Spanish society in her era other people could at least at some level understand her choices: Who, after all, does not understand the person who wishes to gain a measure of personal power and autonomy?"

More papers on Catalina de Erauso:

• Analytical Essay # 140322 : "De Beers Value Chain"
• Essay # 32074 : "Miguel Primo de Rivera: The Effects of his Dictatorship"
• Essay # 32174 : "Alcide de Gasperi."

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: