Gender and the Chivalric Community in Malory's Morte d'Arthur

282 Pages·2003·0.88 MB·English

by  DORSEY ARMSTRONG

Gender and the Chivalric Community
in Malory’s Morte d’Arthur
o
Dorsey Armstrong
Florida A&M University, Tallahassee
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers
Florida International University, Miami
Florida State University, Tallahassee
University of Central Florida, Orlando
University of Florida, Gainesville
University of North Florida, Jacksonville
University of South Florida, Tampa
University of West Florida, Pensacola

Gender and the Chivalric Community
in Malory’s Morte d’Arthur
o
Dorsey Armstrong
University Press of Florida
Gainesville ·Tallahassee ·Tampa ·Boca Raton
Pensacola ·Orlando ·Miami ·Jacksonville ·Ft. Myers
Copyright 2003 by Dorsey Armstrong
Printed in the United States of America on recycled,
acid-free paper
All rights reserved
08 07 06 05 04 03 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Armstrong, Dorsey, 1970–
Gender and the chivalric community in Malory’s Morte
d’Arthur/Dorsey Armstrong
p. cm.
Includes bibiographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8130-2686-5 (alk. paper)
1. Malory, Thomas, Sir, 15th cent. Morte d’Arthur.
2. Malory, Thomas, Sir, 15th cent.—Political and social views.
3. Literature and society—England—history—To 1500.
4. Arthurian romances—History and criticism. 5. Romances,
English—History and criticism. 6. Knights and knighthood in
literature. 7. Community in literature. 8. Sex roles in literature.
9. Chivalry in literature. I. Title.
PR2045.A76 2003
823'.2—dc22 2003061694
The University Press of Florida is the scholarly publishing
agency for the State University System of Florida, comprising
Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic University, Florida
Gulf Coast University, Florida International University, Florida
State University, University of Central Florida, University of
Florida, University of North Florida, University of South
Florida, and University of West Florida.
University Press of Florida
15 Northwest 15th Street
Gainesville, FL 32611–2079
http://www.upf.com
Contents
o
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
1. Gender and the Chivalric Community:
The Rise of Arthur’s Kingdom 27
2. Chivalric Performance: Malory’s Sir Lancelot 67
3. Forecast and Recall: Gareth and Tristram 110
4. Gender, Kinship, and Community: The Quest for the Holy Grail 144
5. Lancelot, Guenevere, and the Death of Arthur:
The Decline and Fall of the Chivalric Community 173
Notes 213
Bibliography 249
Index 267

Acknowledgments
o
I would like to thank the following people for their help in making this
book a reality:
First and foremost, thanks go to David Aers whose support and encour-
agement are the foundation upon which this project is built. He and Sarah
Beckwith enthusiastically offered constructive advice and criticism from
the very beginning, providing much appreciated guidance and intellectual
stimulation. Monica Green and Reynolds Price also were conscientious
and supportive readers of this project in the early stages, and I thank them
for their thoughtful critiques. Seth Lerer went far beyond the call of duty
as an undergraduate advisor, remaining a mentor and friend throughout
my graduate school days and beyond; I am grateful for his insight and
suggestions. Karen Cherewatuk and Laurie Finke were generous readers in
the later stages of my work, and their suggestions and advice strength-
ened, sharpened, and improved my argument. Amy Gorelick at the Uni-
versity Press of Florida helped guide this book to publication; I deeply ap-
preciate her hard work, support, and friendship.
Friends and colleagues have helped make the long process of writing
enjoyable, and I would like to thank the following for their unflagging
enthusiasm and good cheer: Dee Abrahamse, Jeremy Adams, Libby Aze-
vedo, Glenn Bach, Jean Blacker, Elyse Blankley, Susan Carlile, Tim Caron,
Kate Crassons, Tyler Dilts, Maureen Ettinger, Frank Fata, Bill Fitzhenry,
John Flaa and Amy Mendoza Flaa, Jo Goyne, Suzanne Greenberg, Liz Griff
and John Hilgart, Chris Grooms, Mimi Hotchkiss, Cliff Jones and Erin Sul-
livan, Lloyd Kermode, Eileen Klink, Lezlie Knox, Beth Lau, Paulino Lim,
Katie Little, Rebekah Long, Jessica Moen, Michael Murphy, Julie Paulson,
Doris Pintscher, Joe Potts, Sharon Robinson, Marty Shichtman, Christo-
pher Snyder, Martine Van Elk, Fred Wegener, and of course, the incompa-
rable Bonnie Wheeler.
viii Acknowledgments
I owe a special debt of gratitude to the Circulation and Interlibrary Loan
staff at California State University, Long Beach, where much of this book
was written. Dian Olsen, Gilbert Parra, Alex Rambo, and Leslie Swigart
dealt with my many requests on a daily basis for several months and al-
ways managed to be cheerful about it.
Some parts of this book have previously appeared elsewhere, and I
would like to thank those who have given their kind permission to reprint
that material here. Portions of chapter 1 have been published as “Gender
and the Chivalric Community: The Pentecostal Oath in Malory’s ‘Tale of
King Arthur,’” Bibliographical Bulletin of the International Arthurian
Society 51 (1999): 293–312, and “Malory’s Morgause,” in On Arthurian
Women: Essays in Honor of Maureen Fries, edited by Bonnie Wheeler and
Fiona Tolhurst (Dallas: Scriptorium Press, 2001), 149–60. A portion of
chapter 2 has appeared in substantially different form as “Gender and Fear:
Malory’s Lancelot and Knightly Identity,” in Arizona Studies in the
Middle Ages and the Renaissance, 6: Fear and Its Representations in the
Middle Ages and the Renaissance, edited by Anne Scott and Cynthia Kosso
(Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2002), 255–73. Unless otherwise noted, all
translations of the French Lancelot-Grail are copyright 1993–1996 from
the five-volume Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and
Post-Vulgate in Translation, edited by Norris Lacy. Reproduced by permis-
sion of Routledge, Inc., part of The Taylor and Francis Group.
I am grateful to my family for their continuous love and support:
Charles and Susan Armstrong; Katherine Armstrong and Mark Hoch-
stetler; Chuck Armstrong (the younger); Vivian Yunker; Paul and Jan
Schneider; Martye Armstrong; Scott, Lora, and Sara Davis; Molly Whiles
and Betsy LaFuze.
Finally, an extra-large thanks to my husband, Ryan Schneider, whose
love and patience made everything possible: this is for you.
Introduction
o
This book examines the function of gender in Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte
d’Arthur, arguing that an understanding of the particular construction of
gender in Malory’s text is critical to any attempt to engage with its narra-
tive project. Like many other medieval romance texts, the Morte d’Arthur
focuses on the masculine activity of chivalry—fighting, questing, ruling—
while simultaneously revealing the chivalric enterprise as impossible
without the presence of the feminine in a subjugated position. However,
Malory’s text differs from other Arthurian and medieval romance litera-
ture in the explicit legislation (as opposed to implicit coding) of chivalric
values, most notably in the swearing of the Pentecostal Oath, an event
unique to Malory’s text. This study examines how the institution of the
Oath defines and sharpens specific ideals of masculine and feminine gen-
der identities in the Arthurian community, arguing that a compulsion to
fulfill these ideals drives the narrative of the Morte d’Arthur forward to its
inevitable ending. While I generally agree with scholars who see the Morte
d’Arthur as, at least in part, a comment on the strife and instability of
fifteenth-century England, I feel also that the Morte is a text that does
much more than simply reflect and engage the anxieties of the author’s
time by turning nostalgically to a long-distant past for guidance and reas-
surance. Malory’s text examines the very idea of chivalry by setting into
motion the knightly enterprise and following it through to its ultimate
conclusion.
A sustained, book-length treatment of gender in the Morte d’Arthur is
long overdue; while the works of other medieval authors—most notably
Chaucer—have in recent years been subjected to rigorous and fruitful
scrutiny by scholars with an interest in gender and feminist studies,1 the
Morte d’Arthur has received comparatively cursory attention in this area.
In part, this may be due to what some scholars view as Malory’s “de-femi-
nization” of his source material. Terence McCarthy argues that Malory’s