Gender, Homeland, and Homecoming in Sarrocchi's Scanderbeide

Abstract

This article considers the gendering of Scanderbeg, the protagonist of Margherita Sarrocchi's 1623 historical epic, the Scanderbeide, arguing that his tendency to femininity is part of an overall project to rework traditional gender roles in the poem. Scanderbeg's femininity is most visible through his conversion to Christianity, which echoes that of Tasso's Clorinda and precipitates the war that will position him as defender of the city of Croia. While his conversion at the point of death associates him with a class of female characters in early modern epic, it also serves as a form of homecoming and links him to an ancient male predecessor, Odysseus. This figurative homecoming ultimately diminishes the importance of a geographical homeland in the poem, transforming the epic concept of patria into a symbolic motherland comprised of Scanderbeg's Christian community.