Marriage, Adultery and Inheritance in Malory's Morte Darthur
Regular price
€92.99
14 days return policy
Shipping & Delivery
A01=Karen Cherewatuk
adultery
Arthur
Author_Karen Cherewatuk
British gentry
Category=DSB
Category=DSK
dynastic dysfunction
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
heirs
land
marriage
Middle Ages
Mordred
nobility
Pendragon men
political rule
power
Uther
Product details
- ISBN 9781843840893
- Weight: 434g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 21 Sep 2006
- Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
An exploration of how Malory deals with the themes of love, marriage and adultery, revealing the socially conservative vantage of the gentry and nobility.
Marriage in the Middle Ages encompassed two crucial but sometimes conflicting dimensions: a private companionate relationship, and a public social institution, the means whereby heirs were produced and land, wealth, power and political rule were transferred. This study examines the concept of marriage as seen in the Morte Darthur, moving beyond it to look at "adulterous" and other male/female relationships, and their impact on the world of the RoundTable in general. Key points addressed are the compromise achieved in the "Tale of Sir Gareth" between natural, youthful passion and the gentry's pragmatic view of marriage; the problems of King Arthur's marriage in light of bothpolitical need and the difficulty of the queen's infertility and adultery; and the repercussions of Lancelot's adultery in the tragedies of two marriageable daughters, Elaine of Astolat and Elaine of Corbin. Finally, the author reveals and considers in detail (focusing on dynastic dysfunction in three generations of Pendragon men: Uther, Arthur and Mordred) the myth of benevolent paternity by which men, whether born legitimate of bastard, were united through the Round Table.
KAREN CHEREWATUK is Professor of English at St Olaf College, Minnesota.
