摘要
本論文旨在探討歐洲古典史詩的發展及其同時的社會、文化、歷史所發的變化。討論所涵蓋的範圍上自古典希臘，下至文藝復興。其主要著眼在史詩中的女性角色，而女性角色的界定主要依各女性與詩中的男性英雄搭配或對立的情形。這兩種角色的主要文學或社會功能可以分為神話傳統中的代罪羔羊以及社會關係中的匹配，但後者到文藝復興時代已發生變化，變成權力鬥爭所爭奪的目標。這兩種角色的主要特性系透過若干作品的分析；最主要的包括維吉爾的《埃涅阿斯紀》, 塔索的《耶路撒冷得救記》以及莎士比亞的《安東尼與克麗奧佩托拉》。《埃涅阿斯紀》這部作品是古典史詩的鼻祖，以及創出女英雄的第一部作品。《耶路撒冷得救記》可以說是古典史詩演變中的高潮，也是把女英雄刻畫得最深切的作品。此作特別值得留意是「女性的俇妄」(feminine furor) 以及「女壯士」(virago) 兩個特性的發展。莎士比亞的《安東尼與克麗奧佩托拉》並非史詩，然而在莎翁的劇作中，是受到史詩影響比較多的作品，而且所反映的社會情形足以說明女英雄到後世有衰微的趨勢。
並列摘要
This thesis examines the development of the classical Epic during the evolution of European society, culture, and literature from the Medieval to the Renaissance eras. It focuses on the role of women in the Epic, which it characterizes in terms of their relations to the central figure of the Epic, the hero. As a result, it identifies two roles that serve as either auxiliary or counterpart to the hero: the heroine and the female hero. These roles serve a mythopoeic function as scapegoat and a social function as helpmates and later as the object of political struggle and power. The features of these roles are identified by examining a wide range of literary works, but three works are central to the analysis: the Aeneid of Virgil and the roles played by Dido and Camilla, Jerusalem Delivered by Tasso and the role played by the Muslim female warrior Clorinda, and Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra and the role played by Cleopatra. The Aeneid is identified as the foundational work of the classical Epic genre, in part through its introduction of the female hero. Jerusalem Delivered is a high point of this phase of the epic and shows the role of female hero at its highest development, where it is associated in particular with the psychological qualities of feminine furor and the social identity of virago (athletic virgin). Shakespeare’s non-Epic drama Antony and Cleopatra shows many points of correspondence with the heroine and female hero roles of the Epic, but also reflects the social changes which eventually diminished these female roles in later Epics.