Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Feminist Analysis

The treatment that a stereotypical woman in the Dark Ages received was controversial because they were treated with deification and adulation, but were not respected as capable members of the human race. Much of the chivalric code that knights prided themselves on was based on the assumption that women could not achieve much for themselves, and therefore, men had to accomplish it for them. However, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight demonstrates that women possessed the ability to achieve their demands and utilizing their influences however they desired. Morgan le Faye and Lady Bercilak were women who did not play by the rules of their society, while Queen Guenevere was considered the stereotypical women in medieval times. If not for the ulterior …show more content…
Morgan le Faye is Arthur’s half sister and a sorcerer. The reason that Lord Bercilak, or the Green Knight, came to Arthur’s court in Camelot while wearing a disguise was at Morgan le Feye's command. Lord Bercilak told Gawain, “Morgana the goddess she’s called, and no one in the world could resist …show more content…
Sir Gawain blamed Lady Bercilak for his failure after he gave in to temptation and told, “And convey my wishes to your gracious wife, and that other honored lady, who's cleverly tricked their knight. No wonder: there’s nothing remarkable in their making a man foolish, in women winning men… The best, the very best, who walked the world in those days—,” (biblical time), “and women tied them in knots, whirled them in circles. I’ve been beguiled, as they were: this excuse should be heard.” (2411-2428). At the beginning of the poem, Queen Guenevere was described as, “watching with shining grey eyes, seemed as beautiful a lady as a man could ever have seen” (81-85). Later on in the poem, Sir Gawain notices Lady Bercilak and an old lady and described them, “her face the fairest white, and in all things the softest women on earth— lovelier than Queen Guenevere, in Sir Gawain’s eyes… Another lady led her by the left hand, older than her, ancient and old and honored by a host of good knights. And how unlike they were, that pair, the round one faded yellow; rich red cheeks on the one, rough and wrinkled jowls on the other, loose and dangling; coverings hung with pearls on the young one’s throat and breast, showing skin whiter than snow on the hillsides, while the old one wrapped a kerchief on her neck and hid her black chin in white