Sir Gawain And Dame Ragnelle Research Paper

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In the research paper focusing on the story of The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle, gender and wealth are explored thoroughly. In the Middle Ages, almost all women were practically powerless, regarding inheritance, land, and ownership of certain things, but in the Sir Gawain story with Dame Ragnelle, subjectively, Dame Ragnelle held more power than Sir Gawain at the time before their marriage because of the laws regarding married women and also the beauty standards at the time not matching with how Dame Ragnelle looked. No further research has been done on the power imbalance, so this is an interpretation of the story. To better understand the satire of the story, research was done on the gender roles of women in the Middle Ages, law …show more content…

“Yett we desyre anoder maner thyng:/ To be holden nott old, butt fresshe and yong,/ With flatryng and glosyng and quaynt gyn -/ So ye men may us wemen evere wyn/ Of whate ye wolle crave” (line 414). Dame Ragnelle makes a point that no matter if you fit beauty standards or not, married or bound, women have no power, and men think they know what women want. In the story, Dame Ragnelle was described as hideous and animal-like for most of it, so men thought that all she wanted was to be beautiful, but even once she turned beautiful she still wanted sovereignty because she still couldn't make any decisions for herself. The beauty standards at the time were probably exactly what Dame Ragnelle looked like once she turned beautiful.“Descriptions of female beauty might focus on pale or rosy skin, richly coloured hair, sweet breath, sparkling eyes, or other primary facial features. Descriptions of women who have passed their prime and who are no longer beautiful seem to focus on the quality of their skin, their wrinkles, small eyes, and perhaps a certain tendency towards plumpness, lack of teeth, and warts or other disfigurements. As we shall see, for much of the Middle Ages”. (Pg. 158. Women, Food, and Diet in the Middle Ages. “With grey herys many on./ Her lyppes laye lumpryd on her chyn;” (line 553). Dame Ragnelle was described as old with grey hair and saggy skin, which was the opposite of the beauty standards at the time, which matched the description from the research above, showing old age and disfigurements were the opposite of beauty. In many other old english stories as well, the curse of old age is seen as the most powerful, because the woman loses what is wanted at the time of marriage. In the Volume Longevity and the Loathly Ladies in Three Medieval Romances, Sandy Feinstein states “In mining old age as rich ore for comedies of libidinous old women or men, these tales reveal social

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