Homoerotic desire and narrative dilation in Elizabethan England

Even canonical literature--such as Spenserian pastoral and epic, Shakespearean history and comedy--registers the social constructs that shape cultural ideologies, including ideologies of sexuality. My premise is that representations of unorthodox sexuality materially affect the structure of The Shepheardes Calender, The Faerie Queene, Richard II, and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Consequently, my purpose is to examine these works of various genres to demonstrate how the portrayal of homoerotic desire produces narrative dilation and resistance to closure. While narratology and homosexuality are frequently studied separately, a historically informed analysis correlating both fields of interest may yield valuable insights into early modern English literature and culture