Monteverdi Gender Roles

The issue of gender is very much present in nowadays musicological debates. Researchers present their different views on the topic, which may be opposing in some cases. Just like popular music influences our perception of gender, classical music is also one of the most important genres to consider when talking about gender representation. We can recognize several patterns of gender representation also in Monteverdi’s operas and connect them with the society on the turn from Renaissance to early modern era, when patriarchal conventions slowly started to lose their impact.
According to McClary, in L’Orfeo we can distinguish two different rhetorics, that of seduction and that of lament, which indicate the binaries between male and female representation …show more content…
Ulisse is represented as a main male protagonist, a heroic figure, who has the strength and courage to get back his kingdom and queen by killing the suitors. Just like Orfeo, he is also represented with his tender side, which is brought to the foreground in the last duo with his wife Penelope. However, Penelope is presented in a different way than Euridice. She is a grown woman, not a virgin, as opposed to Euridice. She is given her own voice through her laments, which indicate her power of independent thought. Her power, however, does not lie in persuasiveness, like Ulisse’s, but rather in her ability to retain her chastity and resist the suitors. Her loyalty is regarded at the end, when she is reunited with her husband. Although Monteverdi presents us with a more independent female figure than Euridice, Penelope is still caught into conventions of the male-oriented society. She may be able to express her own thoughts with her laments, but her happiness still depends on a male figure – Ulisse. She can only be happy with him by his side and her laments can only turn into an aria, when she sings together with