9th Annual WML Academic Symposium

Time: 10:30
Room: 301
Presenter(s): Mary Gatti
Title: Of Gender Roles, How They Were Begotten
Developed under the guidance of Dr. Elizabeth Rambo , English

In Sir Thomas Malory’s 15th century tale, “Of Sir Galahad…How He Was Begotten,” from Le Morte Darthur, Sir Lancelot is tricked into having a baby with Elaine of Corbin. His shame for having betrayed Queen Guenivere then results in him falling into madness and running away. Applying feminist literary criticism to medieval texts, although complicated, can both identify stereotypical gender patterns and their reversal. The characters of Elaine, Sir Lancelot, and Dame Brusen do not fit neatly into typical gender roles, so that Malory’s tale demonstrates a looser binary of gender roles than is commonly associated with medieval texts.