Masarykova univerzita Pedagogická fakulta Katedra anglického jazyka a literatury Portrayal of women in Arthurian legends Bachelor thesis Brno, 2012 Supervisor: Author: Mgr. Jarolslav Izavčuk Petr Crhonek 1 Prohlášení Prohlašuji, že jsem závěrečnou bakalářskou vypracoval samostatně, s využitím pouze citovaných literárních pramenů, dalších informací a zdrojů v souladu s disciplinárním řádem pro studenty Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity a se zákonem č. 121/2000 Sb., o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem autorským a o změně některých zákonů (autorský zákon), ve znění pozdějších předpisů. Souhlasím, aby tato práce byla použitá jako zdroj studijních materiálů. Blansko, 23.září 2012 Petr Crhonek ……………………………………… 2 Annotation This bachelor thesis is aimed at women characters that can be met when reading Sir Thomas Malory’s L’Morte d’Arthur and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight from an unknown author. The thesis is to describe the characters, analyse them and compare to real women that were important throughout the history. In the end of this thesis there are interviews that were carried out by the author during his stay in England in the town of Barnstaple, Devon and pictures taken by the author that are to show some famous and interesting places connected to the legends of King Arthur. Key words King Arthur, women in Arthurian legends, Different roles of women, social status of women, women’s activities, crisis of masculinity, women as warriors, women as ladies-in-waiting, Morte d’Arthur, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. 3 Acknowledgement I would like to thank to Mgr. Jaroslav Izavčuk for supervising this thesis and his useful guidance. I appreciate his knowledge of literature. I am grateful to those that were interviewed during my stay in England since interviewing people in England is probably the best way how to get to know English culture, history and literature from their point of view. 4 Content Content ...................................................................................................................................... 5 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 7 1. What are Arthurian legends? .......................................................................................... 8 1.1. Reference to historical facts .................................................................................... 9 2. General ideas about the women characters ................................................................ 12 3. Women characters in detail .......................................................................................... 13 3.1. One of the strongest women character – Nineve ............................................... 13 3.2. The role of Arthur’s mother ................................................................................... 14 3.3. How is Guinevere depicted in Malory’s book? ................................................... 15 3.4. The analyses of Guinevere ..................................................................................... 18 3.5. Incest as a part of medieval sexual life ................................................................ 21 3.6. A woman offering a sword to Arthur .................................................................... 22 3.7. A lady saved by Lancelot ........................................................................................ 23 3.8. Another lady in danger ........................................................................................... 23 3.9. The power of love – Tristram and Isolde ............................................................ 24 3.10. How can we understand this story? .................................................................. 26 3.11. A sorceress visiting Wales .................................................................................. 29 3.12. Arthur’s enemy .................................................................................................... 30 3.13. How powerful Morgan was in comparison to real characters ...................... 31 3.14. Lancelot saving ladies ......................................................................................... 33 3.15. Bringing of Galahad to the court of Arthur ..................................................... 33 3.16. A lady from quest for the Holy Grail ................................................................ 34 3.17. Lancelot as an idol .................................................................................................... 35 3.18. The burial of Elaine ............................................................................................. 36 4. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight ................................................................................ 37 4.1. General information about the poem ................................................................... 37 4.2. Lady Bertilak’s main role – to seduce Lancelot .................................................. 38 4.3. Lady Bertilak’s ability to control other people .................................................... 41 4.4. Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 42 5. Author’s own experience ............................................................................................... 43 5.1. The places the author visited ................................................................................. 43 5.2. The interviews ......................................................................................................... 44 5.3. Author’s experience from a summer school in Slovenia ................................... 46 5 6. The life of women in the middle Ages with references to Arthurian legends ........ 48 7. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 52 8. Summary ......................................................................................................................... 54 9. Resumé ............................................................................................................................ 55 10. List of References ....................................................................................................... 56 11. Appendix ...................................................................................................................... 59 6 Introduction This thesis is aimed at Arthurian legends. These legends told us a story of King Arthur and his knights that were protecting their homeland against their enemies. And that is why King Arthur is considered to be something like a symbol or even hero for the British. In this thesis the author will focus on women characters because women play important roles in the legends and they should not be forgotten. In the first part the legends in general and some historical facts will be described because it is necessary to mention that some parts of the legends can be based on real historical figures or places. The second part will tell us something about the women characters in general as an introduction for the third part and fourth part that are aimed at analysing and describing the characters. For the purposes of this thesis the author used the following books: Le Morte d’Arthur written by Thomas Malory and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight a poem the author of which remains unknown. The third part of the thesis will focus on Malory’s book, meanwhile the fourth part of the poem. The author’s own experience is the topic for the fifth part since the author visited several places in the Great Britain connected to the legends and managed to talk to the local people about the legends and their opinions. There is a description in the last part about the real life of women in the middle Ages based on real historical evidences to give a description of the reality. Since this thesis is aimed at women characters there are several questions. The questions are: what roles did women play? Were these roles important? And how did relationships between men and women look like? The author will try to answer these questions in the conclusion. The questions are important because the book tells us a story of knights and women. By studying the relationships between them we can understand their mentality and behaviour. 7 1. What are Arthurian legends? Legends of King Arthur are considered to be the national literature of Britain. They are well-known amongst the British, although we cannot be sure whether they are based on historical facts or not. There are certain historical facts and even buildings (for example the castle of Tintagel) connected with the legends, but scholars and historians still doubt. Why do they doubt? There are no reliable chronicles speaking about King Arthur. All we know is based mainly on one book – History of the Kings of Britain written by Geoffrey of Monmouth between 1135 and 1150. It is said to be a chronicle. There are other sources as well: Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – a poem written by an unknown author. These sources are of English origin, but there are non-English sources, for example Welsh: Goddodin (an elegy from the 6th or 9th century), French (Chrétien de Troyes’ Le Chevalier de la charrette, ou, Le roman de Lancelot; Le conte du grail, ou, Le roman de Perceval or Erec et Enide) or Latin