Women In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

585 Words3 Pages
The Plot Changing Characters Since the Earth started spinning, women have been looked down upon. They were never thought of as having power, or as much influence in this world as the men do. Fortunately in today’s time, successful and influential women are everywhere we look. But this is not a new situation. Yes, woman were given the right to vote in the 1920’s which did give the gender some more power but we have been slowly creeping up since the fourteenth century and even before that. During the fourteenth century women were beginning to be used as major players within literary works. At first they were just secondary characters, such as in Beowulf but gradually they became the characters that everything revolved around. Within the epic poem of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, woman have a lot to juggle. Each one is powerful in their own way and most all of their actions are done to create the plot of the story. In this case, woman are not just a backdrop that serve to fancy the reader, they play a very important role in the poem. These women control almost everything and anything that seem to occur or happen to Sir Gawain. You could say they are like the woman behind the curtain. Because religion was very important during the fourteenth century, the woman in this poem are either compared to the Virgin Mary or Lady Bertilak. The Virgin Mary represents love, naivety, honor and life. While Lady Bertilak represents the complete opposite. When people think of Lady Bertilak the words, lust, disobedience and dalliance, may come to mind. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” has three major women characters: Guenevere, Arthur's wife and queen, who is said to be one of the most beautiful women in the world. But although she is beautiful and powerful, Guenevere is identified with sins and adultery. Bertilak’s wife, who is known as “The Lady” is in charge of
Open Document