Imagining King Arthur Through Lit and Film Final Reflection
A look back on the semester through a feminist lens
The Arthurian tradition, as we have discussed many times in class, is a flawed one. Though it has been depicted in media as a story about a golden age, the myth itself is anything but golden with its content of rape, incest, war, and massacres. Before entering this class, I felt I knew more about King Arthur than the average person. I had learned about Excalibur, Guinevere, and I could name one or two more knights if pressed. I now realized that I was barely scratching the surface of the many layers and versions of the tale of King Arthur. Because of that, I was able to look at a lot of the texts and films in this class with fresh eyes since I was not familiar with the intricacies of their content.
As a feminist scholar, I planned to approach this class from that lens from the beginning, which is precisely what I did. Throughout the course, I paid particular attention to the appearance and role of women in each piece of media. In our first reading, Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain, it struck me that the one moment that focused on a woman was when Ignoge was given to Brutus without her consent, leaving her to cry and look longingly at her home as she was forced to sail away. In my first film/text analysis essay, I remarked upon that moment by comparing it to how Guinevere was treated in the 2004 film King Arthur, directed by Antoine Fuqua, with both women being relegated to the role of a prize once the man had proved his masculinity and fighting prowess. When I was watching that movie, it was clear to me that they likely thought they were being progressive by sharply breaking from Guinevere’s traditional role and having her fight alongside Arthur. Still, that message was lost when they put Keira Knightley in an entirely impractical top that barely covered her chest.
In contrast with Geoffrey, our subsequent text, The Knight of the Cart by Chrétien de Troyes, significantly focused on a female character. The story of Lancelot’s dedication to Guinevere was very compelling to me personally because it was clear that his feelings were coming from a genuine place. We also got sections that were narrated from Guinevere’s perspective, fleshing her out as a character and making it clear that this was not a romance being dictated by societal conventions, as was the case in many other instances where a knight would go to rescue a damsel in distress. In my second film/text analysis essay, I discussed how this stood out and flipped 12th-century relationship dynamics by giving Guinevere the power in the relationship. The accompanying film, The First Knight, directed by Jerry Zucker, also had this flipped power structure where Guinevere was the one who dictated her relationship with Lancelot and how far she was willing to go with him. However, in the end, both Chrétien and The First Knight are still trapped by the larger social expectations of the time, and Guinevere is not able to take much action beyond simply expressing her feelings. She still ended up trapped in a marriage with Arthur that she could not break, leading to her emotional affair with Lancelot.
Credit: "The Rescue of Guinevere" by William Hatherell, 1910. This image is within U.S. public domain
Chrétien de Troyes’ Perceval is a very intriguing piece of Arthurian legend to me because of the role of Perceval’s mother in the narrative. In one way, she is, like most female Arthurian characters, relegated to being forgotten in the background. On the other hand, she is a motivation for Perceval that is brought up repeatedly, making her a central character to the narrative in a way. I think that while Chrétien does fail the women of this story overall, especially the maiden in the woods Perceval assaults, Perceval’s mother opens up an interesting analysis of the unseen ways women influence the narrative in Arthurian mythology. Because Éric Rohmer's Perceval was almost a one-to-one translation of the book onto the screen, I think my analysis of Chrétien applies here as well, with almost no changes needed.
When I heard that our following text after Chrétien was by a woman, I was very excited to read it. While "Lanval," written by Marie de France, still has its issues, it was still one of my favorite pieces we read this semester because of the poem format and how different this story was from the others we had read up until that point. There were no knightly battles or grand adventures to go on. Instead, it focused solely on Lanval’s love life, allowing the women to shine for the first time. Though the fairy queen has much more autonomy than Guinevere, which I wrote about in my third text/film analysis essay, they both played significant roles and could make their own choices. Specifically, they both took control of their own romantic and sexual lives by seeking out Lanval. I think the addition of Guinevere’s fertility issues in Sir Lanval, directed by Elizabeth-Jones Baldry, both strengthens and weakens the narrative. In one way, the story is stronger for it because it gives depth to her character and makes her relationship with Lanval more compelling. On the other hand, we are now losing out on some of the autonomy she possessed in "Lanval." In that poem, it seemed to me that Guinevere wanted Lanval simply for her own sexual pleasure, a pretty unique stance for the time since it puts Guinevere’s pleasure on an equal or even higher ground than that of her husband’s. In the movie, however, her chase after Lanval is influenced by Arthur’s refusal to sleep with her, leading him to continue to influence and control her sex life.
Credit: "Queen Morgan le Fay took the scabbard" by W. H. Margetson from Legends of King Arthur and His Knights by Janet MacDonald Clark, 1914. This image is within U.S. public domain
Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur is a complicated text to reflect on because of the enormous scale of the story. One thing that did stick out to me was the number of influential women this story had. Arthur, his knights, and Mordred were obviously all the main characters, but powerful female characters were scattered throughout as well. The Lady of the Lake, Igraine, and Morgan le Fay are all narratively essential characters. Even though they are painted negatively at times because of their opposition to our male protagonists, I think this is still a vital start to the rise of female portrayals in Arthurian legend beyond that of a damsel in distress. On the other hand, Excalibur, which was directed by John Boorman, takes a few steps back with its depiction of women in this story. The fact that the film starts with a young Morgana watching her mother get raped is not only traumatizing, but it feels like the director tried to put the viewer in Morgana’s place as well, making us all voyeurs on this assault. This movie also does a poor job of fleshing out Morgana’s reasons for hating Arthur specifically and why she takes her chosen actions, making her seem like a petty woman who only goes after Arthur because she is jealous of how great he is. The few women in Excalibur were all either sexual objects or antagonists.
Continuing with Malory as the central source, Robert Bresson's Lancelot of the Lake was a unique viewing experience for many, many reasons, such as Bresson's apparent love for horses and the noise they make. Like with some of the questionable artistic choices that were made, Bresson missed the mark with his portrayal of Guinevere. While Guinevere’s steadfast refusal to give up Lancelot is accurate to some of her earlier portrayals, it leaves her looking like an immoral woman who refuses to be pious to her husband. At the same time, Lancelot is made out to be a shining ideal of chivalry by trying to end the affair. They were both equal participants in this affair, so it is unfair to have the woman in the relationship be the only one being condemned by the other characters in the narrative.
Jumping ahead a significant number of years, our next text was one I had heard about before this class, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain. While this novel had great promise at times with Sandy’s character, it ultimately fell flat. One scene that stuck out to me was when Sandy finally earned Hank’s respect. Up until that point, Hank only thought of her as an annoying woman he had to deal with. Then Sandy decides to stand up for herself with a great speech that features my favorite quote from the book, “I am but a simple damsel and taught of none, being from the cradle unbaptized in those deep waters of learning.” At the end of the speech, Hank apologized to Sandy, and it felt like the two characters were beginning to be put on equal footing with each other. However, this development was wholly wasted when Sandy was pushed into being Hank’s wife at the novel’s end and got no further lines after the time skip. Instead of being her own person, she was suddenly relegated to being a part of Hank’s character so that he could have a tragic ending regarding a loved one.
When I noticed Monty Python and the Holy Grail, directed by Terry Jones and Terry Gillman, was on our syllabus, I was glad to have a reason to watch it since it has always been highly praised when I talked to people about it. I can agree that this is indeed a great film, and I can understand the reasons behind the flaws of this one better than almost any other movie we watched. I know some classmates were upset about the castle full of women Galahad must resist, but that element did not bother me when I was watching. I felt that Monty Python was parodying the trope of beautiful women in castles that frequently appeared in Arthurian romances, not just having sexy women in the movie to look sexy like some other films we watched did. I also thought they did a noteworthy job of avoiding some of the traps that often come with putting a beautiful woman in your movie by giving the ladies autonomy over their desires and not having nudity on the screen. The women were overly sexy, but not overly sexualized.
Credit: "Guenevere & Sir Bors" by H. J. Ford from The Book of Romances by H. S. C. Everard, Mrs. Lang, and Andrew Lang, 1902. This image is within U.S. public domain
Disappointingly, in the film version of A Connecticut Yankee, which was directed by David Butler, Sandy is not present at all, and King Arthur’s daughter supplements her role. Setting aside the fact that a critical point of Arthurian mythology is Arthur’s inability to have a child, this new character has even less of a presence than Sandy did. She was the damsel in distress the whole time, waiting for her love to rescue her. The other leading woman of the movie, Morgan le Fay, is also shown to be in love, but hers is an active and sexual kind. This autonomy and desire are made out to be negative traits because of Morgan le Fay’s evil nature and her forcefulness when going after Hank. The apparent message of the film for women, that they should be demure and reliant on men lest they become evil, is different from the book’s message regarding women, but they are both harmful in their own ways.
Because T.H. White's The Once and Future King is set during the period before Arthur becomes king, many of the most well-known female characters in Arthurian mythology have yet to appear at this point. The Once and Future King does add women to the narrative, though it is a mixed bag on how well they were treated. One positive addition was that of Marian, who was put on almost equal footing with Robin Wood and the rest of the Merry Men because of her ability to move stealthily and fight well. She was allowed to have the same traits as the men in her group and is even praised for it while also being allowed to hold onto her femininity. For every good, there must be a bad, though; in this case, the bad comes from the book’s very first page. The Once and Future King opens with a paragraph about Wart and Kay’s governess, who is implied to be involved in sexual encounters with knights before eventually leaving after falling into hysteria. There is no apparent reason for this addition, nor does she show up again in the story, leading readers to question her purpose. From my perspective, she provides a contrast with Merlyn when he appears later in the book. White seems to say, “Look at this woman trying to teach the great King Arthur! She can not handle the pressure of it. Only someone strong and powerful like Merlyn can do it.” Merlyn’s power was showcased throughout the novel, so creating this contrast to validate his role as Wart’s tutor was completely unnecessary. Opening with this scene also prepares the reader to have negative expectations and opinions of the women in this book, of which there are very few, to begin with.
Credit: "Lancelot Brings Guenevere to Arthur" from The Book of Romances by H. S. C. Everard, Mrs. Lang, Andrew Lang, and H. J. Ford, 1902. This image is within U.S. public domain
Disney’s adaptation of this story through the animated film The Sword in the Stone, directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, Clyde Geronimi, and David Hand, was pretty close in content, though the message diverged quite significantly, something I talked about in my fourth text/film analysis essay. In this movie, the only two female characters of note are Madame Mim and the female squirrel. Since the female squirrel is unique to this film, that scene really stood out to me. Here is a movie made for children, with a female character who is not even human, and they somehow still made her into a sexualized figure. Merlin laughs at her desire for the Wart, turning her feelings into a joke. Even though we, as the audience, know that Wart is human, she has no way of knowing that, and her ignorance is portrayed as a flaw on her part rather than a systematic miscommunication. It is an unfair portrayal of her and sends a rather poor message to kids about women in relation to sex.
The Mists of Avalon, written by Marion Zimmer Bradley, is full of almost nothing but women’s voices, an element that has been exceedingly rare in Arthurian legend since its conception. While I agree with some of our discussions in class that this book is very representative of second-wave feminism and its flaws, I still feel I must appreciate it for having female characters who seem like real people and not just narrative objects. In my opinion, the last text we saw with that was all the way back with "Lanval." My favorite change that Zimmer made to the narrative was allowing Igraine to know it was Uther she was sleeping with and not her husband. Even with all the questions of destiny and fate that surround this story, I think that move gave incredible power back to Igraine and let her be in control of herself, a chance she did not often get in the rest of this book or in almost any other Arthurian adaptation.
In a move that baffled everyone who went to the group movie showing, The Mists of Avalon screen adaptation, produced by Gideon Amir and Bernd Eichinger, somehow managed to have a central narrative character in the background most of the time and had a minimal effect on the story. While that kind of spectator narrator can work well in some cases, it was an odd choice here, given Morgaine’s tangible influence in the book and in most other Arthurian adaptations. Also, by putting Morgause behind Mordred as another antagonist to go up against Morgaine and Vivianne, the film created a feeling of woman-on-woman violence that was distinctly anti-feminist in nature. Even when based on a novel where women controlled the narrative, a male writer and male director somehow managed to get all the narrative power back to where it has rested throughout Arthurian mythology: In Arthur and Mordred’s hands.
Credit: "Arthur Meets the Lady of the Lake and Gets the Sword Excalibur" from The Book of Romances by H. S. C. Everard, Mrs. Lang, Andrew Lang, and H. J. Ford, 1902. This image is within U.S. public domain
For my final project, I am continuing the theme of this reflection by once again focusing on the role of when in Arthurian mythology. When I submitted my final project proposal, I did not have a clear picture in my mind of what I was going to write about. After consideration and further research, I have decided to focus on Guinevere specifically and the power she holds within the system of Camelot. In some ways, Guinevere has more of an influence on the plot than Arthur, even from the background, and I really want to explore that power dynamic in my past project for this class.
Works Cited
Baldry, Elizabeth-Jones, director. Sir Lanval. Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime, https://www.amazon.com/Sir- Lanval-Ian-Hencher/dp/B08DC2JML9.
Boorman, John, director. Excalibur. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1981.
Bresson, Robert, director. Lancelot Du Lac. YouTube, Gaumont, 30 Sept. 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=LtzxnxPARVI.
Butler, David, director. A Conneticut Yankee. Fox Film, 1931.
Chrétien. “The Knight of the Cart (Lancelot).” Arthurian Romances, translated by William W. Kibler, Penguin Classics, 2005, pp. 207–294.
Chrétien. “The Story of the Grail (Perceval).” Arthurian Romances, translated by William W. Kibler, Penguin Classics, 2005, pp. 381–494.
Edel, Uli, director. The Mists of Avalon. Turner Network Television, 2001.
First Knight. Directed by Jerry Zucker, performances by Richard Gere and Julia Ormond, Columbia Pictures, 1995.
Ford, H. J. "Arthur Meets the Lady of the Lake and Gets the Sword Excalibur." 17 Sept. 2008. Project Gutenburg, The Book of Romance, https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/26646/pg26646-images.html#Page_14.
Ford, H. J. "Guenevere & Sir Bors." 17 Sept. 2008. Project Gutenburg, The Book of Romance, https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/26646/pg26646-images.html#Page_106.
Ford, H. J. "Lancelot Brings Guenevere to Arthur." 17 Sept. 2008. Project Gutenburg, The Book of Romance, https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/26646/pg26646-images.html#Page_132.
Geoffrey, and Lewis Thorpe. The History of the Kings of Britain. Penguin Books, 1966.
Hatherell, William. "The Rescue of Guinevere." 22 Nov. 2011. Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Rescue_of_Guinevere.jpg.
Jones, Terry and Terry Gillman, directors. Monty Python and the Holy Grail. 20th Century Studios, 1975.
King Arthur. Directed by Antoine Fuqua, performances by Clive Owen and Keira Knightley, theatrical cut, Touchstone Home Entertainment, 2004.
Malory, Thomas. Le Morte Darthur. Edited by Helen Cooper, Oxford University Press, 1998.
Margetson, W. H. "Queen Morgan le Fay took the scabbard." 7 June 2018. Wikimedia Commons, Legends of King Arthur and His Knights, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Queen_Morgan_le_Fay_took_the_scabbard.png.
Marie. “Lanval.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 9th ed., W.W. Norton & Co., New York City, NY, 2012, pp. 154–167.
Reitherman, Wolfgang, director. The Sword in the Stone. Disney+, Walt Disney Company, 1963, https://www.disneyplus.com/movies/the-sword-in-the-stone/1roEKWSIkRLe.
Rohmer, Éric, director. Perceval Le Gallois. Tubi, Gaumont, https://tubitv.com/movies/508598/perceval? start=true&tracking=google-feed&utm_source=google-feed.
Twain, Mark. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Bantam Classics, 1981.
White, T. H. “The Sword in the Stone.” The Once and Future King, Penguin Books, New York, NY, 2016, pp. 7–209.
Zimmer Bradley, Marion. "Mistress of Magic." The Mists of Avalon. Ballantine Books, 1984, pp. 1-231