Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Pledging Troth in Malory's “Tale of Sir Gareth”
- 2 The King and Queen's Marriage: Dowry, Infertility, and Adultery
- 3 Marriageable Daughters: The Two Elaines
- 4 Fathers and Sons in Malory
- 5 Royal Bastardy, Incest, and a Failed Dynasty
- Epilogue
- Works Cited
- Index
- Arthurian Studies
3 - Marriageable Daughters: The Two Elaines
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Pledging Troth in Malory's “Tale of Sir Gareth”
- 2 The King and Queen's Marriage: Dowry, Infertility, and Adultery
- 3 Marriageable Daughters: The Two Elaines
- 4 Fathers and Sons in Malory
- 5 Royal Bastardy, Incest, and a Failed Dynasty
- Epilogue
- Works Cited
- Index
- Arthurian Studies
Summary
Adultery lies at the heart of the Arthurian tragedy. In discussing Guenevere in the previous chapter, I returned to the two dimensions of marriage that undergird this study: marriage as a private companionate relationship between a husband and wife, arising from the partners' mutual affection; and marriage as a public social institution, the means through which heirs were produced and, for elite families, wealth and political power transferred. Pivotal to both the private and public aspects of Arthur and Guenevere's marriage is her dowry, a round table whose transfer makes possible the institution of the Round Table. It is this dowry that allows Guenevere to play a crucial role in chivalric society, in part substituting for the son she never bears. At the moment King Lodegreaunce hears of Arthur's desire to wed his daughter, he rejoices in the match and considers the dowry as a way to confirm it:
That is to me … the beste tydynges that ever I herde, that so worthy a kyng of prouesse and noblesse wol wedde my doug[h]ter. And as for my londis, I wolde geff hit hym yf I wyste hit myght please hym, but he hath londis inow, he nedith none. But I shall sende hym a gyffte that shall please hym muche more, for I shall gyff hym the Table Rounde … (Works 98.3–9)
Guenevere is, of course, not the only bride in the Morte Darthur, and Lodegreaunce not the only father eager to arrange a match.
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- Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2006