“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

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.

Keywords

• Le Morte d'Arthur
• Arthurian legend
• Sir Thomas Malory
• courtly romance
• chivalry
• gender roles

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