How do you think women and femininity are represented in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight? Do you think women have more positive or negative attributes? Are they portrayed as cunning, manipulative, and deceiving? And a creation of the Pearl Poet’s view of women? Or can this poem be read as a critique of misogyny and gender norms?
King Arthur & His World
ENGL 361 | Spring 2019 | Dr. Myra Seaman
Through a feminist criticism of this literary text, readers can see how deep patriarchal ideology was rooted in civilization. The antiquated misogynistic trope that males use is the biblical portrayal of eve as the downfall of humanity. I think that the queen is portrayed as manipulative and Gawain uses that opportunity to do things. First to generalize the quality to all women “Yet all are charmed and changed by wily womankind” (183). He gives more examples of evil biblical women. Secondly, he generalizes all women in order to favor his situation. It seems that the only aim of this woman was in relation to the improvement of a man. In modern times this may seem like a bad thing. Of course she should have her won aspirations. However, the queen’s representation is complicated when viewed through a modern lens. In the 13th century, she would have been viewed virtuous for obeying her husband, even if it meant compromising her status. Remember Geoffrey of Monmouth that said that the purpose of women was to make men have more valor in battle. Arguably, it may have been read that the queen was acting in accordance to the norm expectations for her gender.
Our nameless female character, would, at first glance, appear to be a walking plot point. After all, she is not even named in the tale, and her only role is to tempt the hero. Yet I find our Lady to be interesting, and distinct from earlier female characters of romance.
For one thing, her open sexuality is far more blatant. “I shall bind you in your bed,” and “ You are welcome to my person, to do whatever you wish…” these are flirty double entendres, and the Lady makes her desire for Gawain clear through them. Unlike in earlier text, there is no hint of courtly love here; our Lady is not in love with Gawain, but lust. The comparisons to Eve are obvious, and made more so by Gawain’s appeal to the Virgin Mary at the start of his journey.
Yet, as we eventually learn, the Lady is not doing this for laughs; she and her husband were ordered by Morgana Le Fey, to shame Arthur. Here, I think, we see the first example in our stories, of love as a weapon; sexuality unconnected to love is an evil thing, used to shame great men.
The portrayal of women in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is informed by the text’s highly Christianized lens. We’ve seen this influence, of course, in other medieval texts we’ve read, but Sir Gawain in particular struck me as drawing from Christian mythology that justifies sexism through the creation story (Sophia discussed this in her response). The more modern feel of the text (compared to previous romances we’ve read, that is—as we discussed in class, it was written about a century later) suggests to me a message that chivalry may be less valued than it once was in this version of Camelot that the poem takes place in, and that Gawain must go on his quest to uphold it. His adventure thus serves as a confirmation of the gender norms that chivalric code demands. The tendency to blame women for man’s folly and associate them with Eve (that is, as the original temptress/conniving female) comes up throughout this poem. The Lady is used as an outlet through which Gawain can resist seduction, prove himself worthy, and come out of the situation as a hero who has been, you could argue, victimized by this scheming woman. We see this theme emphasized when Gawain describes to the green knight “those honorable ladies / who kidded me so cleverly with their cunning tricks” (2412-2413). Women are further blamed when Gawain speaks of the heroism required by men who were “wrecked and ruined by [women’s] wrongs” because they fell for the “lies” they told (2420-2421). This message of all women being prone towards “bad” and inclined to do the wrong thing resonates with the end of Roman de Silence, but aligns itself more with biblical teaching through the continuous references to Christendom throughout the poem.