Women of Words in Le Morte Darthur

Offering a new reading of Malorys famed text, Le Morte Darthur, this book provides the first full-length survey of the alterations Malory made to female characters in his source texts. Through detailed comparisons with both Old French and Middle English material, Siobhn M. Wyatt discusses how Malory radically altered his French and English source texts to create a gendered pattern in the reliability of speech, depicting female discourse as valuable and truthful. Malorys authorial crafting indicates his preference for a certain type of female character: self-governing, opinionated, and strong. Simultaneously, the portrayal of this very readable type yields characterization. While late medieval court records indicate an increasingly negative attitude towards female speech and a tendency to punish vociferous women as scolds, Malory makes the words of chiding damsels constructive. While his contemporary writers suppress the powers of magical women, Malory empowers his enchantress characters; while the authors of his French source texts accentuate Guineveres flaws, Malory portrays her with sympathy.