The Role of Women in Sir Gawain and The Green Knight Essay

The Role of Women in Sir Gawain and The Green Knight Sir Gawain and The Green Knight is an example of medieval misogyny. Throughout Medieval literature, specifically Arthurian legends like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the female characters, Guinevere, the Lady, and Morgan leFay are not portrayed as individuals but social constructs of what a woman should be. Guinevere plays a passive woman, a mere token of Arthur. The Lady is also a tool, but has an added role of temptress and adulteress. Morgan leFay is the ultimate conniving, manipulating, woman. While the three women in this legend have a much more active role than in earlier texts, this role is not a positive one; they are not individuals but are symbols of how men of this†¦show more content†¦The female character speaks, I am forbidden to speak, and I cannot keep silence (Bloch 55). Guineveres passivity in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight could be a reflection of these views as the author chose to suppress her voice in the text. Throughout the Sir Gawain text Guinevere is characterized as a pathetic, powerless lady: Well, [Morgan leFay] guided me in this disguise to your gay halls/ So that could see if you were all as superb and splendid/As the fame of the Round Table runs with renown/She produced this paradox in order to puzzle and perplex you/And to goad poor Guinevere halfway to her grave... (2456-2460). We as readers realize that many women of this era were objects of courtly love. However, in other Arthurian texts, Guinevere takes a more active role in the story and portrays an adulteress. In Du Mantel mautaille a knight arrives at King Arthurs court and brings with him a magic coat which is to fit the women who has been faithful to her husband or lover. Guinevere is singled out by the author as the incarnation of unfaithfulness (Bloch 95). In medieval literature, women are also portrayed as adulteresses such as the Lady in Sir Gawain and The Green Knight. The second female role in this text is the Lady of the manor, Sir Bertilak de Hautdeserts wife. The Lady first appears in this text in stanza 18: She was the fairest of allShow MoreRelatedSir Gawain and the Green Knight: the Role of Women2398 Words   |  10 Pagesresources due to a drop in population caused by plague epidemics and the emergence of a mercantile middle class, the Gawain author perceived a loss of religious values as the cause of its decline. Gawain and the Green Knight presents both a support of the old feudal hierarchies and an implicit criticism of changes by recalling chivalry in its idealized state in the court of King Arthur. The women in the story are the poets primary instruments in this critique and reinforcement of feudalism. 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