he wanted to be a woman again, but changed his mind. The genderless name helped him lean towards his identity as a female, but also helped him maintain his external identity as a male. The significance of the name and usage of speech by men and women reflected how integral language was to identity and gender. Another aspect of Silence's name that changes with gender are the pronouns used when talking about her. The use of gender-specific pronouns, helps the reader follow along with which gender Silence is currently portraying. She is born a girl and is referred to with feminine pronouns (she/her/hers). Once her parents decide that she will be raised as a boy, she then starts to be referred to by masculine pronouns (he/him/his). At the end of the story, when Silence's true sex is revealed, the narrator goes back to using feminine pronouns. Some of the pronoun choices may be subject to the opinion of the translator, but for the most part, pronoun choice tends to align with the current gender with which Silence is associating. Names are significant in this medieval romance as well as the social forces that subordinate women. At the same time, the author altered the structure of medieval society with a character who was woman by nature but through nurture was able to achieve anything that an exceptional man could do. See also List of Roman de Silence characters In modern culture The Roman de Silence has seen renewed interest in popular fiction. Fabien Clavel’s Les Aventures du chevalier Silence (Paris: Flammarion, Collection “Les Étonnantissimes,” 2019) rewrites the medieval tale for a young adult (middle-school) audience. Alex Myers’s Story of Silence (Glasgow: HarperVoyager, 2020) is a novel that reimagines the romance and gives voice to the eponymous protagonist. Further reading Inci Bozkaya/Britta Bußmann/Katharina Philipowski (Ed.): Der Ritter, der ein Mädchen war$dStudien zum "Roman de Silence" von Heldris de Cornouailles, Göttingen : V&R unipress, [2020], Sarah Roche-Mahdi (Ed.): Silence : a thirteenth-century French romance$ newly edited and translated with introduction and notes by Sarah Roche-Mahdi, East Lansing : Michigan State University, 2007, Lynne Dahmen: The Roman de Silence and the narrative traditions of the thirteenth century, Ph. D, Indiana University, 2000 Regina Psaki (Transl.): Le roman de Silence$ Heldris de Cornuälle. Translated by Regina Psaki, New York, NY [u.a.] : Garland Publ., 1991, Lewis Thorpe (Ed.): Le roman de silence$ 13th-century Arthurian verse-romance,