Geschlechtliche Mehrdeutigkeit. Zur ›Achill auf Scyros‹-Episode in Konrads von Würzburg Trojanerkrieg

Konrad’s von Würzburg Trojan War uses the example of the ›Achilles on Scyros‹-episode to address a complex play with gender identity and performance. At the centre of the literary analysis are the moments of physical liminality inspired by the medical knowledge of the time and the performative acts of gender transformation of the protagonist. Taking into account the societal and medical discourses on gender at the time, but also considering modern theories on the performativity of gender, the aim is to show how the text narrates the moment of ›becoming‹ a woman or a man, what role physical aspects in particular play in this process and how identity crises are triggered that both confirm and subvert the norms of gender roles. The article aims to show how gender identities can be narrated as fluid categories that are shaped by education, the characters’ decisions and the biological discourses of the time.