Comparing Malory's And Le Morte D Arthur

Discrimination toward women existed in ancient times, and certainly still persists through today. Women have suffered from prejudice for centuries, but a few religions and societies allowed women status equal or higher than that of men. Ancient Celtic matriarchal society operated with females powerful in religion, marriage, and property ownership. Women could study to become priestesses of the highly revered Mother goddesses. On the other hand, conquering Christians brought with them the end of the Pagan polytheistic priestess tradition in England and replaced Paganism that idolized women with male priests and a male deity with accompanying misogyny. Le Morte d’Arthur’s portrayal of women holds historical accuracy, and when Malory wrote

According to Catholic doctrine, God created Adam and Eve, the first humans, and tested them in the Garden of Eden with a forbidden fruit that Eve took from Satan and tempted Adam into eating with her. For medieval Catholics, this story proved that because that woman brought sin into the world and tempt men into sin, women all have inherent evil in them based on sexuality. Medieval people also accepted the ideas about women from Aristotle. He believed that women were “defective males” and naturally inferior to men (“The Mists of Avalon” 179). Malory’s work demonstrates the old Christian misogynist idea through the many seductive, wicked women who cause conflict for the Arthur and his knights throughout the stories. The idea that women and sex are sinful permeated the Christian doctrine. The character Gwenhwyfar demonstrates the effects of these ideas on women through her zeal to be the perfect Christian and wife and her belief that she is naturally sinful and subordinate to men in both works (Snipes 1). On one occasion, Sir Percival meets a woman in the forest who seduces him. When explaining to a holy man, “Sir, said he, here was a gentlewoman and led me into deadly sin,” Sir Percival entirely blames the woman for their interaction and also considers sex to be a “deadly sin” demonstrating sexual repression in the medieval Christian society (Malory 982). The holy man in reply said, “O good knight… thou art a fool, for that gentlewoman was the master fiend of hell, the which hath power above all devils” (Malory 982). The holy man calls the woman a diabolical witch, which occurs frequently in Le Morte