to validate himself as a credible source of information; Merlin then reveals Silence's sex to the king and court. Silence explains her way of living, showing the Queen's accusations of rape to be false. The king orders the execution of Eufeme and her cross-dressed lover, who was pretending to be a nun: both are pulled apart by horses. Evan strips Silence of her male clothing, alters her name to the female form Silentia, and makes her his new Queen. Themes/motifs Nature vs Nurture The debate over Silence between nature and nurture is comparable to present-day debates concerning genes vs. environment. Nature tries to convince Silence into becoming a woman throughout the entire romance because she was born a woman. Nature plays the underlying role of opposition to Silence's lifestyle because she is trying to become entirely male but we see in the story that gender is tied very closely to biological sex. Nurture, however, is what the entire story is based on: a medieval woman attempting to recreate her image in order to pose as a knight and save her family from harsh inheritance laws. Because she does not dress like a woman or abide by the same gender roles, no one questions her assumed manhood throughout the story. This is because of the importance of appearance and the assumed ubiquity of honesty in this era, which is shattered not only in Silence's revelation, but in the revelation of the Queen's cross-dressing male lover. In the end, despite the story's interesting exploration of gender, Nature emerges victorious, as Silence assumes the female version of her name- Silencia- and becomes the new Queen. Nurture could possibly be a real person who comes to Silence's aid in fending off the verbal attack of Nature. However, Nurture could also be a figment of Silence's imagination, along with Nature. With this idea they would represent Silence's inner debate about his/her identity and gender. In either case, Nurture states that she "completely dis-natured" Silence through his upbringing (line 2596). Silence was no longer a woman in the eyes of Nurture. He was always taught to be a boy, acted like a boy, and dressed like a boy therefore making him a boy. In this way, gender is determined by outer appearance and upbringing rather than physical attributes. If this was a conversation that Silence imagines in his head, then he believes that his upbringing and