Guinevere: A Journey Through History

Mighty warriors, unstoppable rulers, and powerful religious leaders are all important roles in society, thought only to be held by men. Gender roles consume the daily life of every culture and society around the world. Gender roles are personality traits, interests, mannerisms, attitudes or behaviors that regard as either male or female based upon cultural normality. As society continues to grow, gender roles advance to meet the needs of society. Throughout history women are shown as inferior and weak, to only assume the role as mother and wife.

Women are had no voice in society, “I am forbidden to speak, and I can not keep silence”. Men controls the outlook of gender roles until the twentieth century when the influence of several historical romances written by women changes the prospective.

Guinevere makes her first appearance during the medieval period and has been written and rewritten in almost every literary period following. Rather it is the changing of time, shifting in political climate, or the improving of women status in society, Guinevere remains to reappear in literature evolving with the period in which she is written.

Undoubtedly, Guinevere in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight seems to have little in common with writings of her in later Arthurian legends. Throughout medieval literature, specifically Arthurian legends like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the female characters are shown not as individuals but social constructs of what a women should be. Guinevere’s passivity in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight could be reflection of the authors views of gender roles during this period as he chooses to suppress her voice in the text.

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Throughout the text Guinevere is shown as pathetic and powerless which mirrors the thirteenth and fourteenth century that believed women are only useful to bare children. The roles of women in the middle ages are indissolubly connected with the church. Christian traditions created a male-dominated society in which women had very little perceived power. Strict expectations of women’s chastity prevailed during this time, and women who broke the rules were punished as criminals and social exiles. Next, Guinevere is shown in Marie de France’s Lanval. Guinevere is depicted as evil, devious, and obviously less submissive than her previous appearance. In Lanval, Marie de France presents Guinevere approaching the main character, Lanval, one of the king’s knights with a proposition. She offers herself to Lanval, willing to satisfy his sexual joys.

Guinevere approaches Lanval and says, “ Lanval, I’ve honored you sincerely / have cherished you and loved you dearly / All my love is at your disposal. / Your mistress I consent to be; / You should receive much joy from me” (France 257-262). Behavior of this nature is obviously not acceptable for a women of her statute; with such behavior she compromises herself, but also presents Arthur as a weak man therefore a weak ruler. Guinevere in Lanval is shown as a wicked character, deceitful in her marriage and hateful of her failed attempts. In addition Guinevere reappears in Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur, unlike her other appearances Guinevere becomes a lustful vulture but later shown as a born again saint. Guinevere defiles her marriage with King Arthur starting a feud between knights which ultimately leads to King Arthur’s death.

She is either forced into or conceives and engineers an extra-marital relationship with Lancelot and is either condemned, according to law, or forgiven outright for her sins, although Lord Tennyson finds the adultery to be the cause of all that is wrong with Arthur’s court. Following the death of Arthur, Guinevere entered a convent, where she spent the rest of her life praying and helping the poor. Filled with remorse for the trouble she and her lover had caused, she vowed never to see Lancelot again. When Guinevere died, she was buried beside King Arthur. Throughout history and literature Guinevere evolves, maturing further with each writing. She begins as a mere vehicle to a story only to move the plot along, later becoming the main focus in text. She stands to show the life of women through history. Mighty warriors, unstoppable rulers, and powerful religious leaders are all important roles in society, thought only to be held by men. Gender roles consume the daily life of every culture and society around the world. Women are just as well suited as men.

Works Cited

1. Bloch, R. Howard. Medieval Misogyny and the Invention of Western Romantic Love. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1991.
2. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, sixth edition, volume one. General Ed. M.H. Abrams. New York: Norton, 1993.
3. The Once and Future Queen: Guinevere in Arthurian Legend.” Publishers Weekly, vol. 265, no. 13, Mar. 2018, p. 110.
4. Ackerman, Felicia. “‘Always to Do Ladies, Damosels, and Gentlewomen Succour’: Women and the Chivalric Code in Malory’s Morte Darthur.”
5. Midwest Studies In Philosophy, vol. 26, no. 1, Jan. 2002, pp. 1–12.