 Women of the
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in Arthurian legend are Guinevere, Morgan Le Fay, Elaine: Lady of Shallot, The Lady of the Lake, Nimue, and Isolde/Iseult. All of these women are flawed, they are tragic heroines, whether by deed, circumstance or historical rendering. INDEX Queen
Guinevere |
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GUINEVERE |
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ELAINE: THE LADY OF SHALLOT |
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NIMUE |
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She was the daughter of Leodegrance of
Cameliard, the Summer Lands, according to popular myth (Mallory, Stewart, Woolley), and
according to Welsh legend, her father is Gogrvan, in "Diu Crone", he is King
Garlin of Galore, and according to Geoffrey, she is a minor Roman noblewoman. In the later
and more popular version of the stories, she fell in love with Lancelot. Their love was
discovered, and Lancelot fled to France, leaving Guinevere to face burning at the stake.
Lancelot returned just as she was being led to the scaffold, and became the hero of the
hour by rescuing her. This led to a war between him and Arthur.
To me, Morgan represents one of the more tragic aspects of the
legends. Hated by most authors and scholars, treated as the scapegoat for evil and as a
Judas figure, she is the epitomy of the tragic heroine. Her methods may have been
questionable, but her goals were not. She is similar in this respect to the Greek tragic
heroine, Medea.
Elaine is a name associated with a number of women in the myths.
She was the daughter of Pelles, and he tricked Lancelot into sleeping with her. On another
occaision he slept with her thinking she was Guinevere. They were the parents of Galahad,
the most pure and perfect knight of the Round Table. In another rendering of the tale, she
fell in love with Lancelot, who wore her token during a tourney. She died of love for him,
and her body was born on a boat down the Thames to Arthur's court, with a letter saying
why she had died. She was the Lady of Shallot. 
She is a mysterious figure, associated at times with the Greek nymph
Circe. She was said to be Morgan Le Fay by some, and Nimue by others. Some scholars
suggest she was the High Priestess of a Pagan water cult. Whoever she was, she gave Arthur
the sword Excalibur, and she stole Lancelot when he was a child and cured him when he went
mad, hence the suffix "du Lac" after his name. She has also been compared to a
Celtic lake divinity similar to Gwagged Annwn. 
Nimue was 16 when Merlin first encountered her, and discovered she
was able to do magic. She became his lover, and he was infatuated with her. She enclosed
him in a tower, although some scholars put it as a cave, from which he could not escape.
She then became the lover of Pelleas. Her name is also given to Nininae, Viviane, and
Vivienne. Her father was Diones, a vavsour (a land holder, less than a Baron). Nimue is
also thought to be of mythical origin, from the Irish Niamh or Welsh Rhiannon. 
Nearly everyone is familiar with the
tragic love story of Tristan and Isolde. She was the daughter of King Anguish of Ireland,
who was sent to marry King Mark of Cornwall. As a result of drinking a love potion, she
fell hopelessly in love with Tristan. When she learned of Tristans death, she died of a
broken heart. Her name is not Irish, but comes from the Celtic Adsiltia (she who is gazed
upon). Although she married Mark, she never loved him, and Tristan married another Isolde,
Isolde of the White Hands, although he never stopped loving the original Isolde. 