The women of Camelot have often been overshadowed by the men; the stainless king,

noble knights, and mage Merlin possessed sufficient complexity to entertain all
audiences. Just as the men of the legend have overshadowed the women, so, too, have
male authors, translators, and artists enjoyed a greater degree of recognition.

Perhaps, when you think of King Arthur, the first characters that you might think
of would be Merlin, Lancelot and of course, Arthur. However, the female characters
play a bigger role than most people realize. Now that begs the question, what, if
any, does the influence of women play within the legends of King Arthur? To begin
this analysis, we must first look at the time period in which most of the Arthurian
literature was written.

In the Middle Ages, society was extremely patriarchal, granting women little to no
power, with men almost always at the head of the household. Arthurian literature
reflects this, as almost all of the main characters are men, whether they be
rulers, clergy or knights. Within these legends, almost all of the people who held
power were men, such as it would be in real life during this period. Compared to
the amount of male characters in the Arthurian universe, there are far fewer female
characters, and even less female characters that are even given names.

Nonetheless, despite the women often appearing as secondary or background

characters, they often can be seen as the driving forces behind the knights’ quests
or plotline. Perhaps this is due to the power that the knights’ code of chivalry
grants woman. If we take a closer look at the code in Malory, one can clearly see
the verse in which woman are explicitly mentioned, which the knights are to always
honor gentlewoman, protect them and help them in times of distress (Malory). And
yet, this code only applies specifically to women of higher class or position,
illustrating the lack of power of woman as a whole, since the only thing that even
gives the women power through this code is their status. This power the noble women
hold over the knights is possibly one of the stronger requirements asked of the
knights. Often times, woman are either the catalyst for the knights’ quests,
whether they make a request outright or create something in a more indirect way.

The easiest example here is that of Guinevere. One of her main roles is seen
through her romance with Lancelot as it can be seen as one of the main threats to
Camelot and this coupled with her inability to produce an heir with Arthur
ultimately helps lead to the downfall of Arthur’s kingdom.

Today there seems to be an underlying assumption that chivalry is all about men in
armor riding around questing, jousting and conquering, while the women sit
helplessly in their towers and castles with nothing to do but sigh and swoon.

To see the real place of female characters in Arthurian literature we must look
beyond the gender-biased affectations of the 19th century. Women in medieval
literature played an active and integral part in the development of the Code of
Chivalry.

Certainly, Guinevere, Isoud, Elaine and the other ladies of Arthurian legend didn’t
put on armor and ride into battle, but neither did they sit quietly on the
sidelines.

Male characters in Arthurian legends portray the practical side of chivalry — they
are characters of action. Female characters, conversely, represented the
intellectual side of chivalry — they are characters of reflection. Whenever a
knight accomplished a great deed, he (or perhaps his vanquished foe) returned to
Camelot to recount his actions to the Queen and ladies of the court.

In such instances, it was the job of the Queen and her ladies to either praise the
knight for adhering to the true spirit of chivalry, or rebuke him for succumbing to
the temptations of vanity, pride or greed. A knight who defended the helpless or
showed mercy to a fallen enemy received acclaim and admiration. Conversely, a
knight who was too boastful about his prowess or reputation received harsh,
critical words, and might well be sent on a dangerous quest to atone for his
vanity. In this way, Guinevere and the female characters of Arthurian romance
provide much-needed balance within the literature of chivalry — a dynamic which
today would be described by concepts such as “yin and yang” or “anima and animas.”