Women's roles in Arthurian literature. Chrétien de Troyes' romance 'The Knight with the Lion (Yvain)' and his poem 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'

A survey of women?s roles as represented in Chrétien de Troyes? Arthurian romance The Knight with the Lion (Yvain) and in the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald (Anglistik/Amerikanistik), course: 'Historical Linguistics and Medieval English Studies' Proseminar 'King Arthur in Medieval England', 17 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: In King Arthur's court represented in Arthurian literature, women play a centrally important role. Not only do they often influence the heroes of such stories in many ways, they even exert a strong influence on the events in the story and thus on the storyline itself. In the following seminar paper I will elaborate on the roles of women in Arthurian literature. On that account I will concentrate on the medieval romance The Knight with the Lion (Yvain) by the French romance writer Chrétien de Troyes as well as on the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In these two pieces of Arthurian literature, the reader encounters different types of women. In the following, I will take a closer look at these women.