ABSTRACT

It has become critically commonplace to trivialize the role of Guenevere in Malory’s work or even to condemn her as the object which prevents Lancelot from achieving the Grail. Critics as diverse as John Walsh, Charles Moorman, and Mary Scott, although perceptive in other areas of Malory studies, are surprisingly eager to distort the characterization of Guenevere, presenting an imperious and clinging temptress in the place of Malory’s strong and just queen. Guenevere is not, of course, perfect—none of Malory’s characters is except Galahad—and she frequently displays a temper that is less than even, but this is not typical enough a characteristic to be the one upon which to base an analysis. Neither should Guenevere be condemned without pardon for her adultery, although she clearly is so by other characters in the work and by most of her critics; Malory’s narrator specifically praises, indeed, rewards her for her constancy to Lancelot. Malory’s Guenevere is a complex and pivotal character whose position in the social and political structure of the Arthurian court exposes, to a greater extent than the primary male characters, the brutality and self-destructiveness that lie beneath the veneer of Christian morality and the chivalric code of the knights. This paper will examine, first, the code itself and the power structure of the court; second, the roles available to women within and without the structure; and, third, the development of Guenevere’s character as the central female character and the most powerful woman in the court.