Le Morte D Arthur Gender Roles

In his award-winning adaptation of Le Morte d’Arthur, which is titled The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights, John Steinbeck colorfully depicts the adventures of the King Arthur and various knights who claim him as their leader. Together, they mend the rifts created in the kingdom by the death of Arthur’s father, King Uther, and shape the future of the realm. Equally as important and impactful as their male counterparts, however, are the many female characters who serve as their muses, guides, mothers, wives, lovers, daughters, friends, enemies, and bearers of doom. The portrayal of women in The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights demonstrates what various aspects of femininity represented to society at the time of the book’s writing.

The overarching role of women as givers of knowledge of life is most apparent in these capacities, since it is here that their advice and wisdom is most likely to be heeded. The best example of this is when young Ewain is taught how to be a great knight by Lady Lyne. He had studied much under the tutelage of men, but there was more still that he needed to know in order to become a fully developed man. Lady Lyne not only taught him how to fight and ride well, she also taught him how to work hard without complaining, how to make wise decisions, and what the future held for him and for the ways of warfare. The very necessity of having a mother-figure or guide is also apparent in Lancelot’s story; his attraction to Guinevere partially stems from the fact that she bears a certain likeness to his deceased mother and when he is captured by the four sorceress queens, one of the four temptations presented to him is that of having a mother figure in his life again. “I offer the peace he never found anywhere else, the safety and warmth he still seeks, praise for his virtues, and a gentle and compassionate conscience for his faults” (page