Women's Roles in Epic of Gilgamesh, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Canterbury Tales

For thousands of years there has been a strong distinction between the roles of men and women. Often times in stories there will be women that are only mentioned for their beauty and charisma. Hardly ever will you see pages upon pages being spent talking about the true character and accomplishments of women characters. Even though stories like The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Book of Genesis were written thousands of year ago, (when stories were told mostly told from a males perspective) the light shined on women in the texts show them as wise, strong, and greatly influential beings. In The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Book of  Genesis, the writer shows the women as bringers of knowledge,  guidance, and care to the men in the texts that are lacking thereof.

Women have been belittled by men since the beginning of time. This is demonstrated in the novels Oresteia by Aeschylus and Civilization and Its Discontents by Sigmund Freud. Men have always held the upper hand in society, politics, and technological advancements. Women have been purely sentimental sexual objects. Freud is keen to state that a man’s wish to fulfill his sexual desires is crucial. Women are cast as purely sexual objects, and, furthermore, as entirely unreasonable and illogical. In the novel Oresteia, we learn how women are sensitive, emotional, and exceptionally incoherent to men in the play. However, throughout the play the women, such as Clytemnestra, the king’s wife, prove that women are not pieces of meat. She is a great leader who is a remarkably strong mentally, and who can easily outsmart a man. However, women like Clytemnestra are a minority in these works of literature. Most women are perceived in literature as domesticated creatures who are irrational and emotional. Freud maintains a condescending attitude toward women, seeing them as mere objects, while Aeschylus helps reinforce Freud’s attitudes. By enforcing the gender roles in Greek society it is easy to reflect powerful female character who carry the mentality of a man, portrayals of "wrong womanhood" and solely displaying women’s sexual and family interests.

Men are said to be the head of the household and are usually the breadwinners with their main role consisting of providing for their families. On the other hand, as stated in the comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding, women act as the neck of the household, therefore they have the ability to turn the “head”, or their husbands, in any direction they choose. Women had no ways of expressing their feelings directly in society, but instead expressed them through manipulation of their husbands. The ladies in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight exercise control in many momentous situations that if had not gone their way could’ve completely changed the ending of the game. For example, Morgana Le fay, an evil but extremely clever sorceress, had power over

Women played an active role in the stories of King Arthur and those of Gawain. Many of these women often caused temptation and at times comfort to those knights who needed it. In the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the lady kept tempting Gawain throughout the whole story. In those stories of King Arthur, Guinevere, his wife, committed adultery and was saved by Launcelot from flames. Both the women in the stories of Gawain and those in Arthur created problems and at times solved them.

During the Medieval times of England, society was created as a pure patriarchy by the Christian church, and nearly everything was made male-dominated where the men held the power and their female counterparts held little to no power at all. Arthurian texts such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight showcase many of the characters mostly following these traditions with the men being portrayed as strong-hearted knights who follow a code of chivalry, and the women as passive and submissive beings to the men. However, Arthur’s half-sister Morgan Le Fay is featured in Sir Gawain, and she does not play any parts given to her as a woman, as she is portrayed as an enchantress and an evil, manipulative woman, which is an archetype that was given to women who did not follow their given gender roles. Morgan Le Fay subverts the traditional roles for women by having her own power in the play, and overall presents herself as the antithesis to the church and the patriarchy of the Medieval times.

Throughout the novel Beowulf, women can be looked at as unimportant, but from Campbell’s excerpt one can see how the role of women in Beowulf is as essential as the role of men. Throughout the course of Beowulf, many men take part in acts of protection, bravery, and sacrifice, but what many do not notice is the roles women have taking part in those same actions. Although women’s acts of protection, bravery, and sacrifice in this novel seem to be minor and not as celebrated as the men’s acts, they are still critical to the wellbeing and overall success of the character’s lives. According to Campbell, “A woman’s what it’s all about; the giving of birth and the giving of nourishment. She’s identical with the earth goddess in her powers, and

Anyone familiar with Queen Guinevere knows she sat beside King Arthur, while he ruled England from the late 5th century into the early 6th century. To start, the prologue of The Wife of Bath’s Tale introduces Alison’s life experiences. She has been married five separate times and follows her own experience rather than authority. She unquestionably did not adhere to the standards that women were supposed to adhere to during the time period. Following the prologue, a knight under rule of King Arthur rapes an unmarried young lady. The people of the land demand the knight face repercussions from committing this unlawful, disgusting act. Instead of the King declaring the punishment the knight should face, Queen Guinevere and the female court pleaded for justice and were given the responsibility of deciding his punishment, which was unusual. Queen Guinevere is portrayed in a completely opposite way in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In this tale, women are preserved, powerless, not very well respected, but represented absolute beauty. The two tales differ when looking at empowerment but they relate because the power of women is emphasized in both. The Wife of Bath’s Tale depicts women manipulating men to obtain power, therefore allowing them to make significant decisions; but Guinevere in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight plays a passive and compliant role, and is portrayed as if she is treated as property.

When examining Middle Age texts through their gender roles, one must first consider the descriptive words used to depict the story’s males and females. The Pearl Poet’s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight draws upon the era’s traditional concepts of male and female roles. This is exemplified when the fable opens with tales of brave mythological heroes such as world-controlling Romulus and Aeneas, who represent the Middle Age’s idealized male roles of strength and superiority. In contrast, the first female is described through her clothes and delicate external beauty, objectifying and fetishizing her: “Queen Guenevere gaily dressed and placed in the middle, seated on the upper

Arthurian legends may seem to only depict knights in shining armor saving damsels in distress or powerful kings with queens sitting idly by their sides, but upon closer inspection, those women were not as delicate as initially portrayed. In fact, there were many influential women who played critical roles in the men’s decisions. Significant ones included the Lady of the Lake, the moon goddess, Morgan Le Fay, the all powerful fairy, and Guinevere, the mere mortal that everybody envied because of her beauty. All three were beautiful enchantresses characterized by being shrouded in mystery, refusing to reveal the true intentions behind their deliberate actions. Yet behind each, there were complex backgrounds of where they came from and how they came to be.

From the time of Beowulf, to the age of King Arthur, to present day, the image and value of a woman has changed drastically. Now, in the twenty first century, women strive to be just like men. “To be tougher, to learn to fight, [and] to learn to play the game" just as men do. (Shiner). Women are now trying to be less dependent on a man and to dependent on them-selves.

The poem depicts a challenge between Sir Gawain, who is King Arthur’s nephew and the Green Knight. Despite his victory over the Green Knight, Sir Gawain faces a purity test by Lady Berilak. She is lovely, beautiful and polite. The image drawn for the lady shows her independence to practice power. She has a conversation with Sir Gawain in the absence of her husband, the Green Knight, which denotes her ability to stand on her own.

In The Epic of Gilgamesh, women step out of their gender-specific roles where they are not only portrayed as the maternal figure but also the transmitter of civilization, the agent of knowledge and the intercessor. At the same time, they are depicted as the agent of destruction too. As such, although the females get a smaller portion of the narrative as compared to the men, they are indeed significant as they through their roles, they are able to guide and help the male figures in their heroic quest.

To start off, during the Anglo-Saxon age where women were thought to be lesser than a man only to come in few novels, one being Beowulf. Even in Beowulf the role of the women, Grendal’s mother, was not clearly identified and took up the role as this evil antagonist. Beowulf only focuses on Grendel’s mother when she comes back to avenge Grendal. The poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written during the medieval age thus so portraying ladies as delicate beings that should be pure and modest. However in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight women shown somewhat differently, they’re are guiders to help the protagonist with their journey. The lady of the castle where Sir Gawain lands upon tries to coax him into receiving her gifts seeming rather giving towards him “She swiftly unfastened the sash that encircled her waist”, the lady here give Sir Gawain a item that later could save his life (Sir Gawain and

For instance, the women in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Lady Bertilak and Morgan le Faye, are simply bodies with names in the story. The only role that either woman plays directly correlates with the main male figures. Lady Bertilak is used as a temptress for Sir Gawain. She is described as a seductive woman; “She wore nothing on her face; her neck was naked, and her shoulders were bare both back to breast.” The story speaks nothing of Lady Bertilak with the exception of her appearance and her sensuality. The other characters, which are male, are not described with the same sexual context. The same applies to Morgan le Faye. She was a powerful woman, yet her entire life revolved around King Arthur, causing her potential as a witch, and

Throughout the poem Beowulf, women can be looked at as unimportant, but from Campbell’s excerpt one can see how the role of women in Beowulf is as essential as the role of men. Throughout the course of Beowulf, many men take part in acts of protection, bravery, and sacrifice, but what many do not notice is women take part in those same actions. Although women’s acts of protection, bravery, and sacrifice in this poem seem to be minor and not as celebrated as the men’s acts, they are still critical to the well-being and overall success in the character’s lives. According to Campbell, “A woman’s what it’s all about; the giving of birth and the giving of nourishment. She’s identical with the earth goddess in her powers, and she’s got to realize that about herself. The boy does not have a happening of that kind.” From this quote one can see that women have a certain purpose, a purpose that no man can attain, and this is something that is quite remarkable. Women may not get the same attention as men do when they achieve something, but this is because what women do is inherent to them; it is something that is a part of them. Men are celebrated for more things than women are in Beowulf, but the woman’s role in the poem is a behind the scenes kind of role that holds just as much importance. Campbell’s explanation of gender roles in early literature holds true in Beowulf due to the importance of the female characters in this epic.