‘Why sholde I leve such thoughtes? Am I nat an erthely woman? And all the whyle the brethe ys in my body I may complayne me’ (615/18:19). 1
With these words, apparently Malory’s invention, Elayne of Ascolat claims the right to think, to lament and to speak. While her posthumous letter attests to Lancelot’s noble nature and pacifies Guinevere, this preceding speech asserts Elayne’s right to express her anguish in unrequited love and resists male authority in the shape of the priest who had ordered her to ‘leve such thoughtes.’ It is this combination of playing a positive role in a knightly career (in her testament to Lancelot) whilst retaining the independence and personal characteristics of an ‘erthely woman’ that makes Elayne an intriguing character. My study asserts that this combination is present in most of the women of Le Morte Darthur.
Discussion of characterisation in Malory’s work can be a divisive topic: Ann Dobyns remarks that ‘the romancer’s interest is in the idea—not in the action for itself—the reader never has the sense of a word, personality, or situation drawing attention from the controlling form,’ 2 while Peter Schroeder agrees that ‘dialogue and character are subservient to action,’ but concedes: ‘In the seventh tale [of Le Morte Darthur] the emphasis is reversed: the events become a function of the relationship between Lancelot and Guinevere.’ 3 Noting the unusual rubrication of names in the Winchester manuscript, K. S. Whetter has more reasonably declared that this ‘layout alone is sufficient justification for character study’ of Le Morte Darthur. 4 Paul Rovang has noted a sensible connection between Malory’s characters and the general drama of the kingdom of Camelot: ‘Malory is presenting the stories of individuals, with an intense focus on their individuality, and demonstrating how their choices and actions affect the whole organism.’ 5 However, Rovang often seems to imply that Malory’s characterisation is skin-deep, or rather on the surface of the text. Malory characterises Isode, for example, as Guinevere’s ‘more praiseworthy counterpart’ simply because Isode is described on two occasions as ‘peerless.’ 6 Bonnie Wheeler has greatly illuminated Malory’s artistry in conjunction with his attitude towards character: ‘Parataxis is his grammatical preference, organizational strategy, preferred mode of characterisation and philosophic position.’ 7 Wheeler argues that ‘Malory’s paratactic method and structure undermine the reliability of speech and thus of reputation in the Morte Darthur,’ that ‘parataxis is used to complicate and amplify aesthetic representations of personhood.’ 8 Whilst I believe that Malory’s style certainly encourages the reader to carefully acknowledge numerous kinds of ‘truths’ in the text, including gaps between what characters say and the moral implications of the truths they declare, I also perceive a gendered pattern in the reliability of speech in Le Morte Darthur. Malory usually depicts female speech as containing valuable truths, sometimes hidden (in the cases of scolding damsels Lyonet and Maledysaunte), sometimes explicit (in the case of Percival’s sister). While the function of female words is usually to create a positive impact on knightly development, Malory also adds touches of sympathetic portrayal. In the case of Elayne of Ascolat , for example, he allows her space to assert the validity of her love for Lancelot and elicit the reader’s sympathy. Malory’s (almost) consistent approach to depicting women as both valuable and humane beings indicates his preference for a certain ‘type’ of female character: self-governing, opinionated and strong. Simultaneously, the portrayal of this very readable ‘type’ creates characterisation.
Lengthy descriptions of bloodshed and battle strategies combined with a paratactic style can certainly be seen to restrict the capacity for character construction in Le Morte Darthur. Yet Wheeler notes that, particularly in the opening tales of Le Morte Darthur, the reader ‘shares with the knights the requirements and anxieties of making choices.’ 9 When opportunities arise for the characters to explain their motives or to claim that they are capable of deducing each other’s thoughts, Malory simultaneously invites his readers into a hidden layer of portrayal, which is dependent on active reading. ‘Wyte you well’ is a phrase that commonly occurs amongst Malory’s characters, often used by one individual to implore another to understand their motives. The queen, for example, explains to a disgruntled Lancelot her reasons for making a treaty with Mellyagaunt : ‘Wyte you well […] I accorded never with hym for no favoure nor love at I had unto hym, but of every shamefull noyse of wysedom to lay adoune’ (631/19:5). Lancelot , however, infers from this remark that Guinevere is accusing him of neglecting to deal with the possibility of slander, and retorts: ‘Ye undirstonde full well I was never wyllynge nor glad of shamefull sclaundir.’ Lancelot and Guinevere continuously demand for their motives to be known; they wish to be read correctly, and each illustrates their awareness of deliberate attempts of the other to avoid doing so. Malory’s readers, it seems, must also become involved in reading between lines to deduce true depictions of character.
Malory’s intent in his depiction of female characters becomes most apparent in comparison with his source texts. When I first read the Lancelot-Grail cycle, I was struck by the number of misogynist comments embedded within the text. Even more striking was Malory’s apparent systematic removal of such comments. On closer inspection, it appeared that he had not just omitted remarks that would be damaging to the reputation of the female sex, but had made many additions to female characters’ speaking parts. Elayne of Ascolat’s pre-death speech appears to be his own innovation, as is Percival’s sister’s narration of the Tree of Life story, and many other parts. Together with his famous reflection on Guinevere’s position, that ‘she was a trew lover, and therefor she had a good ende’ (625/18:25), Malory’s additions to the speech of his female characters require further attention. Malory is meticulously careful in his treatment of female language in order to position women as credible judges of knightly behaviour. Lyonet, for example, relentlessly chides Sir Gareth, but is permitted to explain that her motive is to ensure Gareth’s and her sister’s ‘worshyp.’ My book explores the extent of Malory’s innovation against the backdrop of fifteenth-century attitudes towards female speech.
My method involves comparing Malory’s presentation of his female characters with his sources. So far, Sue Ellen Holbrook’s and Amy Kaufman’s articles on Nynyve, Fiona Tolhurst’s study of Guinevere and the works of Carolyne Larrington, Catherine Batt and Kristina Pérez are the few studies that trace some of the alterations that Malory makes to his female source characters. 10 My work provides the first extensive, full-length survey of these alterations in order to uncover Malory’s overall intent with regard to their function and character traits. This method, of course, is not without its problems. Malory’s ‘Tale of Sir Gareth of Orkeney’ has no known direct source, and many of the French sources to the other tales, such as the prose Tristan, are extant in numerous manuscripts, none of which can confidently be stated as the exact text that Malory had to hand when writing his own versions. However, while there is always the possibility that Malory’s apparent additions are mere translations or copies of lost texts, the likelihood of this event wanes under the weight of cumulative evidence. If Malory’s treatment of his female characters across tales and sources remains consistent, then the emerging pattern gives a strong and cohesive indication of his general plan for female characters. The fact that Malory’s additions provide more substantial evidence than his omissions must also be kept in mind. I have relied on Eugène Vinaver’s and P. J. C. Field’s commentaries to direct me to the closest sources to Malory’s work. 11 I have tried, where possible, to use editions of the texts that are closest to these recommended manuscripts, but this has not always been feasible. In cases where there is no edition of the particular manuscript, such as the prose Tristan, I have used editions of other versions of the text, and refer to Vinaver’s commentary and the notes of current critics to detect major disparity between the manuscripts.
Critical interest in Malory’s female characters has risen steadily over the last couple of decades. Many studies of the 1990s are characterised by a concern with categorising the women under various headings. Maureen Fries identifies three types of women depicted in Arthurian literature, according to the narrative function that they perform: heroines are passive women, whose main characteristic is their beauty; heroes are women who can change their environment, usually aiding the knight’s prowess through their wit and magic; counter-heroes are sexual and destructive forces in the Arthurian world. Elizabeth Edwards notes a spatial divide between female characters in Le Morte Darthur, suggesting that there are those who are castle-bound, landed ladies, and there are the damsels of the forest who have more freedom and influence. She simultaneously labels the forest setting as a ‘feminine’ space. Andrew Lynch proposes that most of the women of action are usually associated with magic in a negative fashion. 12 While these studies have retrieved Malory’s women from critical obscurity, the desire to categorise has at times led to unfair generalisations, particularly in readings of women in positions of power. Fries’ study of Morgan leads her to remark that Malory’s Morgan is part of a trend of ‘the increasing inability of male Arthurian authors to cope with the image of a woman of power in positive terms,’ 13 not unlike Lynch’s assessment of the negative depiction of magical women. Some studies of the 1990s, however, go further than merely labelling Malory’s women: Batt’s work explores author relationship with specific treatment of rape and female characters in ‘Malory and Rape.’ 14 Corinne Saunders builds on this study in Rape and Ravishment in the Literature of Medieval England, arguing that Malory ‘presents the entire spectrum of rape and ravishment,’ but without including rounded female figures: ‘[Malory’s] repeated use of two images of women, the damsel in distress and the enchantress, presents us with two extremes, and although queens such as Guinevere and Isoud occupy a middle ground, even they readily metamorphose into damsels in distress who need rescuers.’ 15
More recent criticism has moved away from categorisation and towards engaging with Malory’s specific treatment of particular female characters, creating a divided view of the patterns of female behaviour in Malory’s ‘hoole’ book. Some observe only negative traits within Malory’s women: Guinevere is ‘bad-tempered and unreasonable’ and Elayne of Ascolat ‘an embarrassment and annoyance.’ Such views can consequently cause Le Morte Darthur to be regarded as one of ‘the most misogynist of the major texts of the Arthurian corpus.’ 16 Others detect more favourable characteristics in some of the women of Le Morte Darthur. Eliz...