On the two sides of the English channel: a comparison of Malory’s Morte d’Arthur to its French sources from a feminist perspective

Abstract

Written in the 15th century by Sir Thomas Malory, Morte d’Arthur is traditionally construed by Arthurian scholars such as Eugène Vinaver as a compilation and translation of the French Vulgate and Post-Vulgate cycles it drew from, ultimately seen as emulating their misogynous conception of the female role in society. Following the recent urge for historical revision of gender notions in the Middle Ages illustrated by the Gender and Medieval Studies Group in the UK and Dorsey Armstrong’s discussion of Malory’s original view on gender prescriptions in Gender and the Chivalric Community in Malory’s Morte d’Arthur (2003), this dissertation produces a reappraisal of this literary piece in order to verify a possible subversive strain in Malory’s appropriation of episodes from the French romances. For that purpose, this study has investigated two of Malory’s predecessors who are largely considered central figures in the construction of an English literature, namely the Beowulf Poet and Geoffrey Chaucer, in search of a common thread relating to the discussion of gender issues in the Middle Ages, and undertaken a close reading and analysis of the sections of Morte d’Arthur unique to Malory, such as the Pentecostal Oath and The Tale of Sir Gareth, to then compare the derivative sections to one of its major French sources, the Vulgate Cycle, focusing on its treatment of three female characters: Queen Guenevere, Dame Lyonesse and Morgan le Fay. In its analysis of the original sections and character studies, this research leans heavily on Judith Butler’s conception of gender as performance and its role in the formation of social identities, as discussed in Gender Trouble (1990) and The Force of Nonviolence (2020), and on essays by Maureen Fries — “Feminae Populi: Popular Images of Women in Medieval Literature” (1986) — and Luce Irigaray — “Women on the Market” (1980). The criteria for the character study were the two opposing prescriptions of female behavior described by these last two authors, respectively: the religious commandment of female chastity and marital fidelity and the secular use of women as commodities exchanged to enable homosocial relations. The characters were measured on their level of compliance to both statutes, which varied from total compliance, to partial compliance/partial transgression, to complete transgression. Considering the results of the investigation, close reading and analysis, and character studies, this work has successfully refuted the canonical historical and literary assumption regarding the homogeneity of the perspective on gender in the Middle Ages. Thus, this dissertation demonstrates how Malory’s composition captures the double-edged position of normative gender roles, indicating an awareness of the impact of gender in medieval society which goes against the established interpretation.