The Marriage of Sir Gawain
Encyclopedia
"The Marriage of Sir Gawain" is an English
Arthurian ballad
, collected as Child Ballad
31. Found in the Percy Folio
, it is a fragmented account of the story of Sir Gawain
and the loathly lady
, which has been preserved in fuller form in the medieval poem The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle
. The loathly lady episode itself dates at least back to Geoffrey Chaucer
's "Wife of Bath's Tale" from The Canterbury Tales
. Unlike most of the Child Ballads, but like the Arthurian "King Arthur and King Cornwall
" and "The Boy and the Mantle
", "The Marriage of Sir Gawain" is not a folk ballad but a song for professional minstrels.
is asked for a favor by a young lady in distress. Her love has been taken away by a surly, selfish and rough knight who is in reality blinded by magic, pride and arrogance because of a charm that was cast upon his family by a wicked witch. In order to break this spell, this churlish knight must discover, by the mouth of the king, "what thing it is all women most desire?" or the king will lose his life. After numerous encounters with various villagers, he comes up with a list of insufficient answers. A hideous woman from the forest accosts him and proposes a bargain. If King Arthur promises the old hag a young, fair, and courtly knight, she will give him the answer. To save Arthur, Gawain
sacrifices himself to marry her, and she tells him that the answer is that "women wish to have their own will". Arthur is saved and discovers that both the churlish knight and the old hag are related and suffer from the same spell. Gawain marries the loathly lady. On their wedding night, she becomes beautiful and tells him to choose whether he would have her beautiful by day and ugly by night, or vice versa. He tells her she can choose for herself, giving her her will, which breaks the spell of ugliness that binds her. The entire court is amazed by her beauty. They live happily ever after.
. The closest analogue is the medieval The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle
. A similar bride is found in "King Henry
", Child Ballad 32.
The positive view it expresses of Gawain, who is willing to marry the woman who saved King Arthur despite her hideous looks, is not a common feature of Arthurian literature at the time. It is often noted that Sir Gawain breaks the spell by giving her her own way, as in the riddle.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
Arthurian ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
, collected as Child Ballad
Child Ballads
The Child Ballads are a collection of 305 ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, collected by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century...
31. Found in the Percy Folio
Percy Folio
The Percy Folio is a folio book of English ballads used by Thomas Percy to compile his Reliques of Ancient Poetry. Although the manuscript itself was compiled in the 17th century, some of its material goes back well into the 12th century...
, it is a fragmented account of the story of Sir Gawain
Gawain
Gawain is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table who appears very early in the Arthurian legend's development. He is one of a select number of Round Table members to be referred to as the greatest knight, most notably in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight...
and the loathly lady
Loathly lady
The loathly lady is a common literary device used in medieval literature, most famously in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Wife of Bath's Tale. The motif was prominent in Celtic mythology and to a lesser extent Germanic mythology, where the lady often represented the sovereignty of the...
, which has been preserved in fuller form in the medieval poem The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle
The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle
The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle is a 15th-century English poem, one of several versions of the "loathly lady" story popular during the Middle Ages...
. The loathly lady episode itself dates at least back to Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...
's "Wife of Bath's Tale" from The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century. The tales are told as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey from Southwark to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at...
. Unlike most of the Child Ballads, but like the Arthurian "King Arthur and King Cornwall
King Arthur and King Cornwall
"King Arthur and King Cornwall" is an English ballad surviving in fragmentary form in the 17th-century Percy Folio manuscript. An Arthurian story, it was collected by Francis James Child as Child Ballad 30. Unlike other Child Ballads, but like the Arthurian "The Boy and the Mantle" and "The...
" and "The Boy and the Mantle
The Boy and the Mantle
"The Boy and the Mantle" is Child ballad number 29, an Arthurian story.Unlike the ballads before it, and like "King Arthur and King Cornwall" and "The Marriage of Sir Gawain" immediately after it in the collection, this is not a folk ballad but a song from professional minstrels.-Synopsis:A boy...
", "The Marriage of Sir Gawain" is not a folk ballad but a song for professional minstrels.
Synopsis
King ArthurKing Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
is asked for a favor by a young lady in distress. Her love has been taken away by a surly, selfish and rough knight who is in reality blinded by magic, pride and arrogance because of a charm that was cast upon his family by a wicked witch. In order to break this spell, this churlish knight must discover, by the mouth of the king, "what thing it is all women most desire?" or the king will lose his life. After numerous encounters with various villagers, he comes up with a list of insufficient answers. A hideous woman from the forest accosts him and proposes a bargain. If King Arthur promises the old hag a young, fair, and courtly knight, she will give him the answer. To save Arthur, Gawain
Gawain
Gawain is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table who appears very early in the Arthurian legend's development. He is one of a select number of Round Table members to be referred to as the greatest knight, most notably in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight...
sacrifices himself to marry her, and she tells him that the answer is that "women wish to have their own will". Arthur is saved and discovers that both the churlish knight and the old hag are related and suffer from the same spell. Gawain marries the loathly lady. On their wedding night, she becomes beautiful and tells him to choose whether he would have her beautiful by day and ugly by night, or vice versa. He tells her she can choose for herself, giving her her will, which breaks the spell of ugliness that binds her. The entire court is amazed by her beauty. They live happily ever after.
Commentary
The poem is significant as a retelling of the loathly lady episode, which hearken back to a common motif in earlier literature, attested earliest in IrishIrish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
. The closest analogue is the medieval The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle
The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle
The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle is a 15th-century English poem, one of several versions of the "loathly lady" story popular during the Middle Ages...
. A similar bride is found in "King Henry
King Henry (song)
"King Henry" is Child ballad 32.It is a version of the tale of the loathly lady. This form of the tale appears in Hrólfr Kraki's saga and also in the Scottish tale, The Daughter Of King Under-Waves...
", Child Ballad 32.
The positive view it expresses of Gawain, who is willing to marry the woman who saved King Arthur despite her hideous looks, is not a common feature of Arthurian literature at the time. It is often noted that Sir Gawain breaks the spell by giving her her own way, as in the riddle.
External links
- "The Marriage of Sir Gawain" from the Camelot Project