Disrupting the discourse of perfect knightliness: Gender expectations and constructions of masculinity in Hartmann von Aue's Iwein

Hartmann's Iwein does not portray constructions of masculinity according to a binary system of gender. In fact, Hartmann disrupts the discourse of perfect knightliness by revealing Iwein's flawed chivalry, Gawein's problematic advice to Iwein, Iwein's feminized passivity in madness, and the dependence of Iwein's success on the supply of women's magic. Thus Hartmann demonstrates a much more nuanced understanding of gender around the turn of the 13th century.