Essay Proposal

For my essay I will be exploring the identity changes that heroes often undertake in order to succeed in their quests. I will focus on the questions of why they feel the need to use different personas and if the change is necessary to complete their tasks or goals. I believe that it is often necessary for heroes to change their identity and will be arguing this point in my essay. The examples that I will discuss are: Bradamant disguised as a knight, Pyrocles changed to Zelmane, and Don Quixote transformed to a knight. In my analysis I will be referring to sources such as E. C. Riley who discusses the problem of identity in Don Quixote under four main headings: multiple names, the stock literacy procedures of disguises and mistaken identities, what may be called the realisation of personality, and the problem of personal identity (114).

Bibliography of Potential Sources

Boynton, Mary Fuertes. “An Oxford Don Quixote” Hispania. 47.4 (1964): 738-750. JSTOR. Simon Fraser Lib. 7 July 2008.

Craft, William. “Remaking the Heroic Self in the New Arcadia”. Studies in English Literature. 25.1 (1985): 45-67. JSTOR. Simon Fraser Lib. 8 July 2008.

Dana, Margaret E. “Heroic and Pastoral: Sidney’s Arcadia as Masquerade”. Comparative Literature. 25.4 (1973): 308-320. JSTOR. Simon Fraser Lib. 7 July 2008.

Moore, John A. “Is Truth Relative for Cervantes?” Hispania. 44.4 (1961): 660-662. JSTOR. Simon Fraser Lib. 6 July 2008.

Riley, E. C. “Who’s Who in Don Quixote? Or an Approach to the Problem of Identity” MLN. 81.2 (1966): 113-130. JSTOR. Simon Fraser Lib. 7 July 2008.

Rose, Mark. “Sidney’s Womanish Man”. The Review of English Studies. 15.60 (1964): 353-363. JSTOR. Simon Fraser Lib. 7 July 2008.

Turner, Myron. “The Heroic Ideal in Sidney’s Revised Arcadia”. Sixteenth Century Journal. 19.4(1988): 605-619. JSTOR. Simon Fraser Lib. 6 July 2008.