Thursday, November 8, 2007
Woe to the Women
Greetings yet again, questers. I am sorry to begin my address on such a negative note, but I must express my dismay at the direction Hawker has taken in shedding new light on the grail mystery. Time and time again, I have heard tales of you, brave knights—Galahad, Gawain, Lancelot, Perceval—and your heroic quests for the grail. I was beginning to think that the only women directly associated with this mythic object were either those who were evil or those who, like myself, were simply helpless females in need of rescuing. Finally, after hearing Sir Tennyson’s understanding of the grail, I felt there might be hope for we female questers; according to Tennyson, the first person from King Arthur’s court to achieve the grail is Perceval’s sister. I hoped that perhaps this woman’s importance might spur on other bards to consider grail-related females in a more positive light. However, after hearing from Hawker, I am disappointed; my hopes have been false. Hawker barely mentions women at all, and I am left feeling that, despite Sir Tennyson’s best efforts, we female questers are yet again being ignored as the scenery of tales meant to display the heroics of men
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1 comment:
I agree, Branwen, it is a shame that women are mostly absent in quite a bit of grail legend. But perhaps Hawker's version is kinder to women than you believe. Tennyson has Percival's sister achieving the grail, yes, but what good comes of it? In effect, Percival's sister does nothing more than throw a piece of meat into a pit for the dogs to fight over. One lousy knight gets the grail and, puff, he's gone. The land is not healed, neither is any king. In fact, Arthur's land is attacked and there are no knights to protect it as they are all out searching for the grail. When looked at in that light, the representation of women in Tennyson does not seem so sweet. At least Hawker leaves them out entirely. That may be a blessing. On a lighter note, keep in mind that grail legend seems to reflect the times of its writing. In a couple hundred years, women will take the lead in the grail stories both in print and on film. Chin up!
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