Sir Gawain and the Gre[at Objectification]en Knight

I still have a lot of things I want to talk about regarding my spring break trip. I want to talk about the Sandia mountains and sleeping in a tipi and the ever prevelant argument about it Chick fil A or Raising Cane's is better. But, alas, that is taking the back seat to school right now. I am starting to think about my midterm paper for an English seminar in British literature with one of my favorite professors, Patrick, which made me think about the last class I took with him. I spent a long time outlining an entire paper, and the night before I decided to write it on a completely different topic. I ended up being pretty pleased with it, so here it is:

Throughout most early literature, women are treated as objects; men are always portrayed as superior to women, that is, if there are even women present. Often times, women in early literature lack a name, personality, and are only there to serve a man. It would be difficult to pick up a copy of any piece of literature that was written before the dawning of feminism that does not objectify the female characters in one way or another. The idea that women should have equal rights was not discussed in literature until the late eighteenth century, during The Enlightenment, when “Declaration of the Rights of Women and the Female Citizen” and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman were written. Whether there are no women in the work of literature or the women are simply there to serve men, early literature is generally lacking in strong, independent women who stand up for themselves. However, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is different. Of the three female characters in the poem, two are very powerful women. Nonetheless, objectification is present throughout the entire poem. The author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight objectifies Queen Guinevere, Bertilak’s wife, and Morgan le Faye.

Queen Guinevere is arguably the most objectified woman in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. While great detail is used in describing everything throughout the poem, Guinevere hardly gets a second glance; the only time she is mentioned is in relation to a man. The Green Knight, Gawain’s armor, the weather, and many other mundane things are described with much greater detail. When the Green Knight is first described, the author uses a lot of strong language. Some of the phrases used to describe the Green Knight include “a mountain of a man,” “the mightiest of mortals,” and “handsome, too, like any horseman worth his horse” (ll. 137-142). The author uses grand hyperboles to describe the knight, while Guinevere is not described even slightly. Sir Gawain’s armor is also described in great detail when he is preparing for his quest to the Green Chapel. Each specific part of his armor, his horse’s armor, and his shield are described for almost 100 lines of the poem. Sir Gawain is said to be “a knight trickled out to ride: [with] a metal suit that shone; gold spurs which gleam with pride; a keen sword swinging from the silk belt to his side” (ll. 584-589). Even the change of season from summer to autumn is expounded on more than women. The audience does not know a single thing about the queen, other than her name and relation to the important male characters. When the author uses great detail to describe material things such as the weather and armor, and substantial detail to describe men, while using no detail to describe women, misogyny and objectification are unavoidable.

Another way in which Queen Guinevere is objectified is that she is simply in the story to serve men. The first time she is mentioned, the author says, “with Guinevere in their gathering, gloriously framed” (l. 74). Guinevere is simply there to look pretty for the men. Geraldine Heng, who is a professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Texas, describes this saying “Guinevere shares the status of fetishized objects: Guinevere, evoking the puissance and grandeur of the Arthurian court, by being set in state on her dais, a royal jewel amid other gorgeous treasures” (Heng 502). Guinevere is an object that makes the Arthurian court look nice, just as a dais, jewel, or treasure does. Not only does Guinevere serve men by sitting there and looking pretty, she also serves male characters literally. When the Green Knight is challenging Gawain, the text says he was, “no more bothered than a guest at the table being given a goblet of wine by Guinevere” (ll. 336-339). Queen Guinevere is objectified because she is in the story to serve men both physically and aesthetically.

Female characters that are weakly written into literature without personality are easily objectified. However, strong women are also objectified in early literature; Morgan le Faye is a strong foil to Guinevere’s weakly described personality, yet she does not escape objectification. Morgan le Faye is the mastermind of the entire story. She started the game by enchanting the Green Knight, and she controls the majority of what happens throughout the poem. However, she still is in very little of the book. Bertilak describes her as the old woman in the castle when he says, “she guided me in the guise to your great hall to put pride on trial, and to test with this trick what distinction and trust the Round Table deserves” (ll. 2456-2458). Morgan le Faye is the one who made the beheading game possible and is the most powerful character in the poem, but like Guinevere, le Faye is still portrayed to be less important than the male characters. Because Morgan le Faye is a woman, even though she is at the center of the story, men objectify her.

Bertilak’s wife in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is much more progressive than most women in early literature; she does what she wants without caring what other people think. In an article in Contemporary Literary Criticism the author says, “One of the effects of feminism has been to encourage women of all classes and color to try to articulate their sexuality” (“Outsider Notes” 172-173). This quote proves Bertilak’s wife to be one of the first feminist characters in early literature. Bertilak’s wife definitely articulated her sexuality. She seduced men, including Sir Gawain, and the author mentioned that she often left her breast and back exposed. In addition, the author alluded to her wearing makeup, saying, “the body of the beauty seemed to bloom with blood” (l. 952). These were not things most women in early literature did. Not only was Bertilak’s wife progressive with the modern behaviors of her sexuality, she also was very well educated for a woman of the time. However, despite these things she was still objectified.

Just because a woman in early literature is more modern than most does not mean she can escape objectification. This is clear through Bertilak’s wife lacking of a name. Leaving the host’s wife unnamed juxtaposes her progressive behaviors by reminding the audience that she is simply the wife of the host rather than her own person. During the time Bertilak’s wife spends with Sir Gawain, she is calling the shots by seducing him. However, the poem still focuses on Gawain’s feelings rather than hers. He says, “I don’t dare to receive the respect you describe and in no way warrant such worthy words” (ll. 1234-124). Although this scene is between two people, the author focuses on the feelings of the male character. This objectifies the female character because it is making her feelings seem less important simply because of her gender. Another way the relationship between Bertilak’s wife and Sir Gawain exemplifies objectivity is because Gawain is the one who gets to decide when and if anything happens between them. Heng describes this saying, “Gawain is able to lay claim to rightful ownership of the seduction game after the fact, and thereby assert himself over the lady” (Heng 507-508). Although the host’s wife is the one who attempts to seduce Gawain, because of his gender, he is the one who makes the final decisions of what happens between them; Gawain’s gender allows him to assert his dominance. While there is objectivity happening in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain is not necessarily the one doing the objectification in this particular case. In an article written about medieval misogyny, Gerald Morgan says Gawain “wishes for her [Lady Bertilak] the love that will satisfy her womanly nature, even though he knows that it has not fallen to his lot to supply it” (Morgan 272-273). Gawain wants Bertilak’s wife to be happy in her relationship, even though he is not a part of that. Even though Gawain himself may not objectify Lady Bertilak, at this time, that should not take away from the objectification that happens to her and the other female characters. This is saying that women need a man to supply them with happiness, which is a very anti-feminist point of view. When looking at early literature and the text as a whole, objectification is seen through the way differences between men and women are written and portrayed.

For a poem with two strong females, who are controversially the most powerful characters, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight objectifies women throughout the story. Morgan le Faye displays her power by creating and manipulating the entire beheading game, while Lady Bertilak demonstrates her power through diminishing Gawain’s masculinity. Both her giving him the girdle and the scar on his neck display her feminine power because without her neither of those things would be apart of the story. Although Lady Bertilak and Morgan le Faye are both strong, powerful women, Gawain goes on a misogynistic rant blaming all women for the downfall of many famous men, himself included. Gawain says men are “all wrecked and ruined by their [women’s] wrongs; if only we could love our ladies without believing their lies” (ll. 2419-2420). Although Gawain’s rant is objectifying, it was a common belief for people of that time. The hatred of women was socially acceptable in medieval times. Many people believed that women were of lesser value than men. It is difficult to find strong, powerful female characters in early literature because it was difficult to find strong, powerful females in medieval times. Finding those characters in literature is even more difficult, because when they should be there, they are often still objectified.

Feminism and misogyny is a tricky topic still today. Throughout early literature, it was believed that men were superior to women. Although there are still hints of that thought today, our society as a whole has really moved forward with a more feminist way of thinking to promote gender equality. Women, even when they are strong and powerful, are objectified throughout Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Queen Guinevere is simply in the story to serve men, while Lady Bertilak and Morgan le Faye break the mold of a weak stereotypical female character in early literature; however, they are all objectified. It is nearly impossible to find early literature that avoids the objectification of women and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is no different. .

Bibliography

Heng, Geraldine. "Feminine Knots and the Other Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." Pmla 106.3 (1991): 500. JSTOR. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.

Morgan, Gerald. "Medieval Misogyny and Gawain's Outburst against Women in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight"" The Modern Language Review 97.2 (2002): 265. JSTOR. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.

Outsider Notes: Feminist Approaches to Nation State Ideology, Writers/Readers, and Publishing. Vancouver: Talon, 1996. 231-71. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. Vol. 168. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Contemporary Literary Criticism Online. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.

Stillinger, Jack, Deidre Lynch, Stephen Greenblatt, and M. H. Abrams. "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 9th ed. Vol. 1. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 2006. 135-88. Print. The Major Authors.

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