Synthesis Essay
Throughout the Arthurian Legends there are many characters with unique values that all contribute to the story in a meaningful way. However, these characters seem to change and develop with time as different authors rewrite the Arthurian legends. Morgan is one of the most famous female characters within the legends because she is King Arthur’s half sister who is often being mischievous and trying to seek revenge on him and his wife Queen Guinevere. In the poems, Avalon from the Vita Merlini by Geoffrey of Monmouth and Morgan le Fay by Madison J. Cawein, Morgan le Fay’s character evolves as the different authors change her personality from virtuous to villainous because of the influence based on the different time periods of each author.
The medieval poem, Avalon from the
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Vita Merlini by Geoffrey of Monmouth, is the first written introduction of Morgan le Fay in the Arthurian legends. The author begins the poem describing the Isle of Apples where Morgan le Fay learns to use herbs to cure the bodies of all illnesses. He describes her as “doctor in the art of healing” who saved King Arthur’s life after he was wounded in the battle of Camblan (Geoffrey of Monmouth 919). He also states how Morgan teaches her sisters mathematics and excels in any area. Geoffrey of Monmouth only includes positive characteristics of Morgan le Fay in his poem because he most likely never intended for her to be a villain. In the poem the author is trying to set the tone for Morgan le Fay as a good character. In contrast to Avalon from the Vita Merlini, the romantic poem, Morgan le Fay, Madison J.
Cawein emphasizes Morgan le Fay’s villainous qualities. In the poem the author uses vivid imagery to describe Morgan le Fay. The author narrates on how Morgan le Fay’s devious plan enchants a knight’s fate. Morgan le Fay’s attractive features trap the young knight and get him killed by other men. During the romantic period when the poem was written, emotion and the beauty of nature are the reoccurring themes. Nevertheless, this had a great impact on the writer’s work because within the poem he uses examples of these things. For example, Cawein emphasizes her ability to seduce men with her natural beauty for her own evil purposes. He also uses elements of nature to describe her in various ways. In other words, he portrays her having “raven hair” and calls her a “woman of snow” emphasizing how cold hearted she is (Cawein 180) . Cawein made changes to Morgan le Fay’s character to catch the attention of his readers within the Arthurian legends. Perhaps as the legends passed on, authors believed that her character should develop into a polar opposite because of their view of women in
society. Since the authors wrote their works in different time periods with contrasting views, there are unmissable differences between the two versions of the character Morgan le Fay. The original version being virtuous and the adapted version being villainous. Nevertheless, Morgan le Fay’s changes to her characterization created an important change to the legends. Works Cited Cawein, Madison J. “Morgan Le Fay.” Robbins Library Digital Projects, d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/cawein-morgan. Geoffrey on Monmouth. “Avalon from the Vita Merlili.” 2007, d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/cawein-morgan.
In the Arthurian romance genre, Guinevere plays various roles; the purpose of her role depends on the story that she is in. In three separate stories, written by different poets, specifically Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Morte Darthur, and The Wife of Bath’s Tale, Guinevere is used to achieve different goals. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Guinevere is the catalyst of all of the stories events. The burning desire of Morgan le Fay to destroy Guinevere through dismantling the Round Table is what spurs the arrival of the Green Knight in Arthur’s court and the subsequent quest that Gawain goes on that tests his character and allows him to learn more about himself. The Guinevere in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the reason that Arthur’s
The Arthurian cycle shows a sporadic awareness of the impossibility of mere humans fulfilling all the ideals that Arthur and his court represent. The story of Lancelot and Guenevere, Merlin's imprisonment by Nimu‘, and numerous other instances testify to the recognition of this tension between the real and the unrealistic.
Marie De France’s Lanval is a remarkable short narrative that engages the reader into a world filled with unrealistic elements, but enhances on the true meaning of romance, chivalry and nature during the years that King Arthur reigned. “Sir Gawain and The Green Knight” unfortunately does not have an author that can be recognized but this epic poem demonstrates the ghastly adventure of a knight who decides to defend the honor of young King Arthur against a supernatural being in this malicious game of cat and mouse. Both of these pieces of literature have enchanting characteristics that define them as a masterpiece of their era and that’s why they both are easily compared and contrasted. In addition, both Lanval and “Sir Gawain and The Green Knight” can be classified as similar through their themes, style and plots, although they are different through their language and diction. Even though both of these literatures can be viewed as similar as well as contrasting, in the end, each of these tales have illuminated the realm of fantasy throughout the court of King Arthur.
One of the main topics discussed in lesson one is the fact that heroes over time and overseas all heroes have something in common; which is true in the case of King Arthur and Beowulf. It is obvious that they are similar in the fact that they are both heroes, but what makes them an idol of their time and in their culture are poles apart. There are many things that are different about Beowulf and King Arthur, but the ones that stand out the most are what kind of hero they are and what actions they did to make them heroic. Both heroes possess qualities that others do not have, but it is what they do with those abilities that prompts someone to write a story about them and idolize them in time.
In a world where men largely dominate Arthurian legend, The Mists of Avalon gives us a profound feminine insight. The Arthurian world of Avalon and Camelot with all its passions and adventures is revealed as its heroines might have experienced it: Queen Gwynhefar, Igraine, Viviane, and Arthur’s sister, Morgaine. This is a story of profound conflict between Christianity and the old religion of Avalon. It was a story of Arthur’s betrayal of Avalon. It was the first time that an Arthurian legend was told by the viewpoint of the females involved in the story. The insights that these women provided to the story are truly profound.
Extensive work has been done on this alliterative four-part poem written by an anonymous contemporary of Chaucer. Feminists have attacked his diatribe against women at the end, or analyzed the interaction between Gawain and the women of Bercilak’s court; those of the D. W. Robertson school seek the inevitable biblical allusions and allegory concealed within the medieval text; Formalists and philologists find endless enjoyment in discovering the exact meaning of certain ambiguous and archaic words within the story. Another approach that yields interesting, if somewhat dated, results, is a psychological or archetypal analysis of the poem. By casting the Green Knight in the role of the Jungian Shadow, Sir Gawain’s adventure to the Green Chapel becomes a journey of self-discovery and a quest – a not entirely successful one – for personal individuation. The Jungian process of individuation involves “.... ...
Morgan le Fay is the single most important character in SGGK. Even though she is an absolutely vital character, she is named exactly once. It is at the end of the poem that the Green Knight (Lord Bertilak) reveals to Sir Gawain that everything in the poem, from the main challenge to the smaller tests, was Morgan’s idea and should be credited to her ingenuity and magic (SGGK, l. 2445-2470). Part of
Sir Gawain and The Green Knight is an example of medieval misogyny. Throughout Medieval literature, specifically Arthurian legends like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the female characters, Guinevere, the Lady, and Morgan leFay are not portrayed as individuals but social constructs of what a woman should be. Guinevere plays a passive woman, a mere token of Arthur. The Lady is also a tool, but has an added role of temptress and adulteress. Morgan leFay is the ultimate conniving, manipulating, woman. While the three women in this legend have a much more active role than in earlier texts, this role is not a positive one; they are not individuals but are symbols of how men of this time perceive women as passive tokens, adulteresses, and manipulators.
Morgan Le Fay is a magical figure from the Arthurian legend. During her childhood, she was drawn to magic arts, she wore a Druid stone as a talisman, and pursued the knowledge first from her nurse, then from the gods and fairies in the court of Avalon. Where she spent most of her youth learning the dark arts. Later she decided that she would
The most impactful people in history not only influence others in their lives, but grow up knowing that they have a purpose in this world. In this book, The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart, the reader follows the upcoming of Myrddin Emrys, later known as Merlin. As a child, he was not favored by others and often called a bastard because he did not know his father and Niniane, his mother, would not reveal who that individual was. Merlin was rejected by peers, his grandfather, and his uncle, who tries to poison him because he believes Merlin is a threat to his reign as King. However, this event is good because it causes Merlin to learn about himself and essentially create a future king. As a character, Merlin made an impact on the King Arthur legend due to his ability, known as the Sight, Arthur's conception, and his guidance.
In the Middle Ages, the roles of women became less restricted and confined and women became more opinionated and vocal. Sir Gawain and The Green Knight presents Lady Bertilak, the wife of Sir Bertilak, as a woman who seems to possess some supernatural powers who seduces Sir Gawain, and Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath Prologue and Tale, present women who are determined to have power and gain sovereignty over the men in their lives. The female characters are very openly sensual and honest about their wants and desires. It is true that it is Morgan the Fay who is pulling the strings in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; nevertheless the Gawain poet still gives her a role that empowers her. Alison in The Wife if Bath Prologue represents the voice of feminism and paves the way for a discourse in the relationships between husbands and wives and the role of the woman in society.
While To His Coy Mistress and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight share very little in the way of genre and structure, the theme of seduction plays a prominent role in each poem. But in neither Marvell 's work nor the work of the anonymous Gawain poet is traditional, successful romance to be found; both seducers find themselves spurned, one in the name of knightly "chastity," the other under the guise of ladylike "coyness." Lady Bertilak and Marvell 's unnamed narrator do not pander and defer to their desired partners-- rather, the tactics employed in the two poems are negotiation and intimidation, the use of leverage and pressure. The exceedingly encroaching nature of the sexual solicitations of both aggressors offers the readers an uncomfortable glimpse at the dark, untraditional side of love and seduction.
The first of act of real betrayal is seen towards the beginning of the novel committed by Sir Accalon of Gaul and Morgan Le Fey. King Arthur under the impression that he and Accalon were friends, had no idea that Accalon was planning on killing him. But the even worse was the fact his sister spearheaded the whole thing. At this point Arthur is being betrayed by his Knight and his sister. Morgan was the one who seduced Accalon into the idea of becoming the strongest knight and giving him this false confidence. His false perception of strength came from the fact that Morgan gave him sword of Excalibur. Arthur finds out and says, “But I fele by thy wordis that thou haste agreed to the deth of my persone: and therefore thou art a traytoure – but I wyte the lesse, for my sistir Morgan le Fay by hir false crauftis made the to agré to hir fals lustis. (Malory 90) In theses lines Arthur is forgiving
Despite being a continual presence she bears no lines whilst Lady Bertilak commands a majority of the text. The characters seem to be purposefully contrasted, with the “beautiful body of the hostess…compared with the grotesque ugliness of Morgan” (Liu 4). Friedman explains this as a method “to enhance the beauty of Gawain’s temptress” (qtd. Neimneh 239), referring to Morgan as merely “a foil”. This marginalization of a traditionally powerful figure works to undermine her strength, and reference to her ugly visage constructs an unappealing image of powerful
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight comments on the social constructs for males and females through its characters. In the Middle Ages, it was believed that men are superior to women. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the men are judgmental and use women, but do not wield power over them. Rather, the women have immense influence over their male counterparts, which they use to decrease the value of the men through manipulation. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight speaks to the immoral character of both men and women through the treatment of Guenevere, Lady Bercilak, and Morgana Le Fay by Sir Gawain and the lord, and through the way that the men are tricked and criticized by the women.