Guinevere – A Medieval Puzzle
Images of Arthur's Queen in the Medieval Literature of England and France
Ulrike Bethlehem
Despite her prominence, Guinevere is still largely reduced to her role in the Arthurian Triangle. Proceeding from a review of scholarship to a new look at all extant material, this book challenges the traditional concept, uncovering and explaining the extreme diversity of concepts and currents. It testifies to mysogyny, mariolatry, and pagan magic, to archetypes, stereotypes, and double standards, but primarily to an intense interest in a woman’s fate. A mute consort acquires a voice, a mind, and the power to act. Encompassing all of a woman’s scope and much of a man’s, Guinevere is a mirror of past legend and contemporary reality, and a medieval vision of female emancipation and the beginnings of individuality.
