Since the beginning of literature, women have been depicted as devious individuals. As a result, women put use to this stereotype to get what they want. This is proven, especially in medieval literature. Examples of this are shown in works like “Macbeth,” * Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” and “The Canterbury Tales”.
Some of these rules include holding the door for women and standing up when a woman enters the room. Eleanor ordered that the King Arthur stories, which had been a verbal history up to now, written. Before they were written though, she changed them. These changes were to the idea of chivalry and women. In the new King Arthur stories women were major characters and the chivalrous knights were fair to all and respected
Chivalric romances are often centered upon the efforts of gallant knights seeking to achieve a concept known as “true knighthood” which involves embarking on quests or adventures to obtain honor, love, and Christian virtue. The brave knights of these stories are met with many obstacles to overcome, commonly in regards to rescuing or protecting a lady. In other words, the typical role of women in this period is that of the damsel in distress or a helpless, dependent lady in need of a hero. However, the stories of Chrétien de Troyes’ Yvain, the Knight of the Lion and Friedrich Heinrich Karl La Motte-Fouqué’s The Magic Ring strays from the typical role of women as the damsel in distress.
Women play a prominent role in medieval literature as they break tradition by gaining power and using it to their advantage. At this time, societies only allowed men to have power; however, the female characters in The Merchant’s Tale and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight defy this tradition. May and Lady Bertilak, Proserpina and Morgan le Fay, both have common tactics in order to gain power. Using the art of deception give May and Lady Bertilak the power to gain control over men. One day, in the garden, May asks if she can get on January’s back so she can get a pear.
Through story actions, chaucer emphasized that dreams are nonfictional things, when he made Cock Chaunticleer dream became true, when Don Russel appeared and attempt preying him, this action is not artificial or coincidentally, Chaucer made this action to show up Hen lady Pretelote totally have no idea and have an ignorance about dreams specifically and life issues in general, and this what the reader wanted to read in that time. which mean in another way that even though women knew more about courage than men, they still have some ignorance in what is related to courage and sometimes, they won't know that courage is to be afraid in some situations, fear is a basic element that would give a person a push to do things that he was afraid from doing it, or things he needed some fear to do it.
With each tale, there are different events that occur in order to reach the main topic of these tales. Within the Knight’s Tale, the Wife of Bath’s Tale, and the Pardoner's Tale, Chaucer does a phenomenal job in having these tales represent the societal problems of his era. Geoffrey Chaucer uses the Knight’s Tale to explains how love can corrupt the trust between two cousins. The knight is telling the story of Palamon and Arcita, two prisoners of wars that are locked up in a prison in the city of Athens. One day, the two look outside the prison window and see a fair young lady called, Emily.
Stereotypical women in the Dark Ages was controversial because they were treated with idolatry and reverence, but were not respected as capable members of the human race. Much of the chivalric code that knights prided themselves on was based on the assumption that women could not achieve much for themselves, and therefore, men had to accomplish it for them. However, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight demonstrates that women possessed the ability to achieve their demands and utilize their influence however they desired. Morgan le Fay, Guinevere, and Lady Bercilak reveal that the accurate power of women is accomplishing their goals by any means necessary, including deceiving men, even in Camelot, a society ruled by men.
For instance, it is one of the only tales that revolves around men. There is mentioning of women, but as Kruger explains it, "... women are evoked only to be excluded" (129). The absence of women suggests infertility, and thus, projects literary barrenness. Moreover, Kruger believes that the relationship between the three men is a parody of the sworn brotherhood and heterosexual love triangles found in the Knight's Tale, which also disturbs the heterosexual model of writing. Chaucer, with this tale, intended to show the dangers of the attachment to the physical and the disregard for spiritual, allegorical interpretation.
“One time Grandma told me she was the very happiest when she was living over all her memories.” A Lantern in Her Hand is about the life of Abbie Deal as she moves with her husband Will, from Iowa to Nebraska for a new start. In the 1800s this was not easy but Abbie and Will accepted the challenge. Abbie is a dreamer and Will is quiet and rarely complains. Abbie has so many dreams that she knows she will not be able to live out but as her life goes on and she sees her children grow she realizes what her true dreams are.
Sir Gawain and The Green Knight and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales are two pieces of British literature that are incredibly interesting and thorough. Women play important roles in both of the texts. Throughout Sir Gawain and The Green Knight there are several important females present. The women being Guinevere for a short period of time, Lady Bertilak, and Morgan Le Fay. Guinevere is presented at the beginning of the text before The Green Knight barges into the castle, and is presented as the standard of beauty.
The mythos surrounding King Arthur and those associated with him is tremendous. It has grown over the centuries to included stories from foreign lands. His mythos started in the oral tradition of England. The first time he is mentioned in a text was Geoffery of Monmouth's "History of the Kings of Britain". From there, his tale grows and changes.
Throughout The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer illustrates to the reader the true characteristics of the Miller and the Reeve by using the aspect of morality to show their related views on love and women. Love, to both the Miller and the Reeve, is frequently associated with beauty, lust, and sexual intercourse. Their vision of love is consistent in both stories; indicating that they care mostly about the women’s physical appearances. This can be easily seen in the stories by the way that the women are described and portrayed. Neither of Chaucer’s story tellers offer much insight into the women’s intelligence or mental characteristics.
In the book of Wife of Bath’s Tale, Geoffrey Chaucer shows the role of a woman being weak creatures while men are economically powerful and educated. Women are seen as inheritor of eve and thus causes
(lines 93-98) It appears as if women are hard to understand and decipher when it is men who simply have a misunderstanding of the women’s needs. It seems as if the knight will never find his answer to such a simple question until he comes across an old lady who
And lastly, the fairy came in on her noble steed to save Lanval, when in traditional stories, the male saves the damsel in distress. So, as you can see, the fairy has qualities of both types of women in medieval literature. In summary, the role of women seen in medieval literature is seen in a pattern throughout Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Lanval. Being powerful, ugly, or disobedient made you unworthy of being a women, if you wanted to be respected and well-liked, you must become quiet and attractive.
