Women in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: roles and functions

Sir Gawain and the Green Night

The Arthurian poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight features a number of female characters, and when taken together, they manage to portray the entire (albeit limited) spectrum of sexist tropes and roles allowed women in the vast majority of literature. Though some of them serve crucial functions in the plot, for example by testing Sir Gawain or hiding the Green Knight's identity, the roles they occupy nevertheless reproduce the very limited opportunity, in fiction and reality, offered to women. When examining each of the female characters in the poem, it becomes clear that they are merely detailed versions of more general sexist tropes, and while they function as key elements of the plot, they do not hold any genuine agency or subjectivity.

The first woman introduced is Queen Guinevere, and although she is a queen, she does not have any genuine authority in the story, because as Brent Stypczynski notes, her "strength and political clout […] is only viable within Arthur's realm and court," because her agency only exists within the context of her status as Arthur's wife (and object) (Stypcynski 472-473). Thus, in the poem, she acts as a kind of virginal maiden, utterly powerless and at the mercy of the men around her. This becomes especially clear after the Green Knight departs from Arthur's feast, when the Green Knight holds his head up to Guinevere and she has to be comforted by Gawain and Arthur (Battles 16). Guinevere is essentially framed as the ideal woman, meek and beautiful and willing to give over all her agency to men.

The next two women introduced are Lady Bertilak, the Green Knight's wife, and Morgan Le Fay, although at the time of her introduction she appears as an old woman. In terms of plot, Lady Bertilak functions as a kind of trial for Sir Gawain, because she tests his honesty and chastity. However, while this testing is a common feature of stories like this, the role Lady Bertilak fills is one of the few allowed of women, namely, the seductress (Hardman 256). Although it seems as if Lady Bertilak is merely testing Gawain and does not intend to follow through on her advances, the fact remains that she is essentially nothing more than a sex object placed in Gawain's path in order to waylay him. This is why the gift of her green girdle is adopted by the other knights; they do not wear it to celebrate Gawain, but rather to remind themselves of the trickery and danger of women (Carruthers 68).

Morgan Le Fay rounds out the poem's sexist roles for women by occupying two at once. When she first appears, she is disguised in the form of an old woman, but later she is revealed to be a powerful sorceress (Battles 88). She is arguably the female character most crucial to the entire plot, because it is her sorcery that allows the Green Knight to set the plot in motion, but even then her power is framed in a negative light, reducing feminine power to something dishonest or evil. In her initial appearance she takes on what is essentially the opposite role of Lady Bertilak by being a decidedly sexless object, which is the only acceptable role for a woman (in a patriarchal society) if she is deemed not attractive. Later, when she is revealed to be the sorceress Morgan Le Fay, she takes on the role of the mysterious, destructive woman, who's purpose is to trick and mystify (Lee 195).