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The Mists Of Avalon Sparknotes

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The Mists of Avalon

Marion Zimmer Bradley's book "The Mists of Avalon" takes a feminist approach to the Arthurian tales. The story which takes place in ancient Britain, centers on the challenges and lives of three strong women in particular: Morgaine (Morgan le Fay), Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere), and Viviane, the Lady of the Lake. The story delves into theology, authority, romance, and the battle between Christianity and the ancient pagan traditions.
Born in 1930, Marion Zimmer Bradley was the first of three children. She graduated from Teacher’s college in Albany, New York and it was here she first learned of the Western Esoteric Traditions and Science Fiction. By 1954, she published her first novelette called Centaurus Changeling. The novelette …show more content…

During the second wave, feminists focused on a range of issues, including gender discrimination, reproductive rights, sexuality, workplace inequality, domestic violence, and women's roles in society. The movement aimed to challenge and dismantle existing patriarchal structures and norms that limited women's rights and opportunities. The impact of second wave feminism was significant. It led to advancements in women's rights, such as the legalization of abortion, increased access to birth control, changes in laws related to sexual harassment and workplace discrimination, and the introduction of gender studies as an academic …show more content…

As Fuog says, the women in Arthur’s story before Bradley were good women who obeyed and supported their men. They maintained their chastity and trusted their men’s decisions for them. Bad women were assertive and independent and suffered the consequences of their deviation from the norm. The only power women held, if any, was through their influences over their men through subterfuge or sexual favors (Fuog, 1991). Fairytales, as Andrea Dworkin states, present only "two definitions of women": "There is the good woman. She is a victim. There is the bad woman. She must be destroyed. The good woman must be possessed. The bad woman must be killed or punished” (Dworkin,

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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”.

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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.

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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.

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Women have been degraded over the millennials of human existence. They have been thought of as only beauty and childbearing, not for knowledge or leadership. In the time that the Arthurian Romances were written this mentality of women, by men, was at its peak. In the book of Erec and Enide, this degrading of women is especially noticeable because the beginning of the story is based on Erec finding his wife.

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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.

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Throughout Old English Literature, women were seen as evil. Like in Beowulf where the woman with the most power was a monstrous sea creature who destroyed things. Or in Lanval and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight where women were dishonest and corrupted men, or like in The Wife of Bath where women manipulated men to get what they wanted; owned them in a way. In old English texts women are seen as an evil force; a force of destruction, corruption and cunning.

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Women in fairy tales will most often be classified as a young maiden, these young maidens are often fair young girls that are not married. In the fairy tale, “The Sleeping Beauty,” there exists a lovely young maiden, born of a mother’s wish on a frog, she was so beautiful that the king ordered a banquet in her honor. As the tale goes on, the young maiden is put in a state of distress by the curse of a witch, and she, along with her kingdom sleep for one-hundred years. As all maidens that become distressed do, the girl is saved at the hands of another young suitor, and she is married off. This tale’s stratagem is also reflected in “The Robber Bridegroom,” a young maiden born to a farmer is now growing up, and she begins to have thoughts of

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The Way Women Are Seen In The Arthurian Legend Today women are treated equal to men, but was that the case centuries ago? In King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger L. Green, women are viewed as cheaters, liars, and destructive. Arthur the best king ever to have rule Britain, but that all changes when his beautiful wife Queen Guinevere does something unremarkable, she is cheating on him with his best friend and best Knight Sir Lancelot.

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Medieval literature portrayed women as either proper or monstrous. Lanval, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Beowulf all carry the pattern of women’s roles throughout the period of time. In Beowulf, women are portrayed in two ways, confined and unconfined. The women that adhere to the roles of wives, mothers, and

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