Women in Arthurian Legend

Medieval literature largely revolved around the exploits of knights and kings, and were therefore male centric. Women in these works were quite often the exploit itself or at least the cause or reward for the adventure. Arthurian legend is no exception and it maintains the highly religious ideology of the time period in which much of it was written. It does this by presenting women as Eve figures who tempt the heroes and instigate the downfall of both individuals and kingdoms. The few women in Arthurian legend who have any agency are portrayed negatively, and are meant as a representation of the faults of humanity, discouraging female readers from attempting to gain agency themselves. In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight, Guinever is presented negatively as she often is, and Morgan le Fay represents the exceptions of independent women who are often sorceresses and disliked. However, the character who best displays the diversity of negative roles women occupy in Arthurian legend is the Green Knight’s wife. In being a nameless object of desire, a temptation that results in breaking of chivalric code and an instrument of her husband’s while simultaneously calling on the motif of adultery, the Green Knight’s wife represents the negative roles of women in Arthurian tradition.

As is the case with all women in Arthurian legends, the Green Knight Bertilak’s wife is introduced with an emphasis on her physical description, positioning her as an object of desire. She is introduced to the story with the description; “The fair hues of her flesh, her grace and her hair/And her body and her bearing were beyond praise” (37). The objectification is further developed when it is written, “bosom fair to behold” (37). Her beauty is made more apparent through the contrast between her body and Morgan le Fay’s. They are compared, “one was fresh, the other was faded” (37). The glorification of the wife’s body given her role in the story and the demeaning of an intelligent woman such as Morgan is typical of Arthurian literature. Throughout Sir Gawain And The Green Knight the emphasis on the woman’s body continues in exaggerated detail, “So faultless her features, so fair and so bright” (56). The focus on physical appearance is important in the understanding the Green Knight’s wife’s role as well as the role of all women. The reason for its influence is it is the objectification of women.