Research Article
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Year 2023, Issue: 2, 25 - 35, 23.01.2023

Abstract

References

  • Armstrong, Dorsey. Gender and the Chivalric Community in Malory's Morte d'Arthur. Florida: University Press of Florida, 2003.
  • Batt, Catherine. “Malory and Rape.” Arthuriana, 7. 3 (Fall 1997): 78–99. <www.jstor.org/stable/27869277>. Accessed 26 Jan. 2021.
  • Briggs, Robin. Witches and Neighbours: The Social and Cultural Context of European Witchcraft, 2nd Edition. London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2002.
  • Fenster, Thelma S. “Introduction” in Arthurian Women: A Casebook. Ed. Thelma S. Fenster. New York: Routledge, (1996) 2015. xvii-lxiv.
  • Ferrante, Joan M. Woman as Image in Medieval Literature, From the Twelfth Century to Dante. New York: Columbia University Press, 1975.
  • Fries, Maureen. “Female Heroes, Heroines and Counter-Heroes: Images of Women in Arthurian Tradition” in Arthurian Women: A Casebook. Ed. Thelma S. Fenster. 1996. New York: Routledge, 2015. 59-73.
  • Heng, Geraldine. “A Map of Her Desire: Reading the Feminism in Arthurian Romance.” in Perceiving Other Worlds. Ed. Edwin Thumboo. Singapore: Times, 1991. 250–60.
  • ———. “Feminine Knots and the Other Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” PMLA. 106 (1991): 500-14.
  • ———. “Enchanted Ground: The Feminine Subtext in Malory.” in Arthurian Women: A Casebook. Ed. Thelma S. Fenster. New York: Routledge, (1996) 2015. 97-115.
  • Lacy, Norris J., Geoffrey Ashe, Sandra Ness Ihle, Marianne E. Kalinke, and Raymond H. Thompson, eds. The New Arthurian Encyclopedia. New York: Garland, 1991.
  • Larrington, Carolyne. King Arthur’s Enchantresses: Morgan and her Sisters in Arthurian Tradition. London: I. B. Tauris, 2006.
  • Malory, Thomas. Le Morte Darthur. Eds. Caxton, William, Sommer H. Oskar. 1483. London: Penguin Classics, (1483) 2004. ———. Le Morte D'Arthur. Volume II. Ed. Janet Cowen. London: David Nutt, (1483) 1889. Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse, http://name.umdl.umich.edu/MaloryWks2.
  • Scott, Cynthia A. Creating Her Own Power: “Morte Darthur’s” Morgan Le Fay. 2014. The University of Texas, Master’s Thesis. ProQuest, https://search.proquest.com/openview/2b9b1547a5953f25abd9d8712abb0a73/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y.
  • Scott, Mary Etta. “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: A Study of Malory’s Women.” Mid-Hudson Language Studies. 5 (1982): 21-29. Accessed 13 Sept. 2022.
  • Sklar, Elizabeth S. “Malory’s Other(ed) Elaine.” in On Arthurian Women: Essays in Memory of Maureen Fries. Eds. Wheeler, Bonnie and Fiona Tolhurst. Dallas: Scriptorium Press, 2001. 59–70.
  • Wyatt, Siobhán M. Women of Words in Le Morte Darthur: The Autonomy of Speech in Malory’s Female Characters. London: Palgrave, 2016.

“Always to do ladies, damosels, and gentlewomen succour”: The Instrumental Presence of Women in Le Morte Darthur as the Motifs of the Damsel in Distress, the Enchantress and The Seductress

Year 2023, Issue: 2, 25 - 35, 23.01.2023

Abstract

In popular understanding, Arthurian literature is often remembered for its remarkable pairs (Launcelot and Guenevere, Tristram and Iseud, Arthur and Guenevere etc.) which have been the main subject of various romances within this literary tradition. However, both sides of such romantic pairings do not possess equal agency within these romances where the role of the ladies become relegated to being tools for or against (male) heroes’ quest for self-realization in the chivalric social order that dominates the narratives. This article inquires into this instrumentalization of female characters for the advancement of the narrative progress of male characters in Sir Thomas Malory’s 15th century compilation prose narrative of Arthurian romances Le Morte Darthur (1483). This article claims that this process of utilizing female characters is achieved through the portrayal of female characters through varying combinations of tropes it lists as the damsel in distress, the enchantress and the seductress in a way that determines the degree of adversity they pose to the chivalric order and the individual agency they possess. In order to illustrate this, various characters who embody these roles and among whom well-known characters such as Morgan le Fay, Guenevere, Iseud, Elaine of Astolat and other minor characters can be found are analyzed in light of this claim.

References

  • Armstrong, Dorsey. Gender and the Chivalric Community in Malory's Morte d'Arthur. Florida: University Press of Florida, 2003.
  • Batt, Catherine. “Malory and Rape.” Arthuriana, 7. 3 (Fall 1997): 78–99. <www.jstor.org/stable/27869277>. Accessed 26 Jan. 2021.
  • Briggs, Robin. Witches and Neighbours: The Social and Cultural Context of European Witchcraft, 2nd Edition. London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2002.
  • Fenster, Thelma S. “Introduction” in Arthurian Women: A Casebook. Ed. Thelma S. Fenster. New York: Routledge, (1996) 2015. xvii-lxiv.
  • Ferrante, Joan M. Woman as Image in Medieval Literature, From the Twelfth Century to Dante. New York: Columbia University Press, 1975.
  • Fries, Maureen. “Female Heroes, Heroines and Counter-Heroes: Images of Women in Arthurian Tradition” in Arthurian Women: A Casebook. Ed. Thelma S. Fenster. 1996. New York: Routledge, 2015. 59-73.
  • Heng, Geraldine. “A Map of Her Desire: Reading the Feminism in Arthurian Romance.” in Perceiving Other Worlds. Ed. Edwin Thumboo. Singapore: Times, 1991. 250–60.
  • ———. “Feminine Knots and the Other Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” PMLA. 106 (1991): 500-14.
  • ———. “Enchanted Ground: The Feminine Subtext in Malory.” in Arthurian Women: A Casebook. Ed. Thelma S. Fenster. New York: Routledge, (1996) 2015. 97-115.
  • Lacy, Norris J., Geoffrey Ashe, Sandra Ness Ihle, Marianne E. Kalinke, and Raymond H. Thompson, eds. The New Arthurian Encyclopedia. New York: Garland, 1991.
  • Larrington, Carolyne. King Arthur’s Enchantresses: Morgan and her Sisters in Arthurian Tradition. London: I. B. Tauris, 2006.
  • Malory, Thomas. Le Morte Darthur. Eds. Caxton, William, Sommer H. Oskar. 1483. London: Penguin Classics, (1483) 2004. ———. Le Morte D'Arthur. Volume II. Ed. Janet Cowen. London: David Nutt, (1483) 1889. Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse, http://name.umdl.umich.edu/MaloryWks2.
  • Scott, Cynthia A. Creating Her Own Power: “Morte Darthur’s” Morgan Le Fay. 2014. The University of Texas, Master’s Thesis. ProQuest, https://search.proquest.com/openview/2b9b1547a5953f25abd9d8712abb0a73/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y.
  • Scott, Mary Etta. “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: A Study of Malory’s Women.” Mid-Hudson Language Studies. 5 (1982): 21-29. Accessed 13 Sept. 2022.
  • Sklar, Elizabeth S. “Malory’s Other(ed) Elaine.” in On Arthurian Women: Essays in Memory of Maureen Fries. Eds. Wheeler, Bonnie and Fiona Tolhurst. Dallas: Scriptorium Press, 2001. 59–70.
  • Wyatt, Siobhán M. Women of Words in Le Morte Darthur: The Autonomy of Speech in Malory’s Female Characters. London: Palgrave, 2016.
There are 16 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects British and Irish Language, Literature and Culture
Journal Section Research Articles
Authors

Yağmur Su Kolsal 0000-0002-2659-4447

Publication Date January 23, 2023
Submission Date September 21, 2022
Published in Issue Year 2023 Issue: 2

Cite

MLA Kolsal, Yağmur Su. “‘Always to Do Ladies, Damosels, and Gentlewomen succour’: The Instrumental Presence of Women in Le Morte Darthur As the Motifs of the Damsel in Distress, the Enchantress and The Seductress”. Overtones Ege Journal of English Studies, no. 2, 2023, pp. 25-35.