Women in Sir Gawain & the Green Knight & Beowulf
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This study will provide a comparative analysis of the women in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Beowulf, using Joseph Campbell's description of the role of the woman in the heroic quest as expressed in The Hero With A Thousand Faces. The study will argue that the essence of the woman in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the temptress, as embodied by the wife of his host, and described by Campbell as one of the manifestations of woman designed both to advance the hero on his quest and at the same time introduce an obstacle. Additionally, the study will argue that the monstrous mother of Grendel in Beowulf corresponds to a number of aspects of woman as challenger to the hero, in terms of her efforts to destroy him as well as to spur him to achieve his most heroic status. Clearly, the sexual temptation of the wife of the host of Sir Gawain seems to pale in comparison with the destructive intent of the mother of Grendel. On a symbolic level, however, both females, directly or indirectly, subtly or grossly, are seeking to deter the hero from the fulfillment of his quest, Similarly, both are testing the valor of the hero and requiring him to fulfill his potential. Campbell, writing of the depiction of woman in heroic mythology, declares that she "represents the totality of what can be known. The hero is the one who comes to know" (Campbell 116). The question here involves the definition of the nature of that knowledge acquired by the hero.
. . .
n these ancient epics---the woman is portrayed as the enemy of man, whether she tries to draw him into a sexual liaison or whether she tries to slaughter him with her hellish powers.
In both cases, the female is meant to serve in the role of divisive force between the hero and his male companions. Woman is the enemy of man, whether she comes in a guise of loveliness or whether her destructive force is all too apparent.
In the case of Sir Gawain, the wife of the host is not merely tempting him with her sexuality, she is more importantly tempting him to betray the host, with whom he has just exchanged pledges of loyalty and allegiance. He is drawn to the woman, but he is repulsed by the possibility of betraying his host. We read in Campbell that
When it suddenly dawns on us, or is forced to our attention, that everything we think or do is necessarily tainted with the odor of the flesh, then, not uncommonly, there is experienced a moment of revulsion: life, the acts of life, the organs of life, woman in particular as the great symbol of life, become intolerable to the pure, the pure, pure soul (Campbell 122).
It is this revulsion which Sir Gawain is resisting, not the loveliness of the wife of his host. He resists the revu
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Approximate Word count = 1708
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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