Malory's Sir Gareth appears to be a reincarnation of Chretien de Troyes's Sir Percival. He is an incognito knight who, although he is not such an oaf as the lad from Wales, is nevertheless, considered a laughing stock and a figure of derision, especially by Sir Kay (who incidently, has reverted to his Chretien self).
I am wondering whether the two sisters, Lyonette and lyonesse are also Arthurian "Others" as they have magic salves and rings repectively. It is rather amusing where Lyonesse says to Gareth that he must return her ring as without it she is not all that beautiful. In this tale the dwarf appears to be a "good being" although it is not entirely clear whether he knows Gareth from Orkney and has been sent to him by his mother.
In this tale, Malory is far more sympathetic to Gawayne, who along with Sir Launcelot, believe that Gareth in the guise of the kitchen boy, should be treated well as he seems to come from noble lineage. The glossary does not explain the meaning of his name, Bewmaynes, which Malory also spells as Beawmaynes.
Some parts of the Gareth tale also remind me of Chretien's Gawayne so it seems Malory pieced toether certain adventures for Gareth unless of course he was using a source as he claims.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi, Nasreen! I know that until reading Sir Gareth's tale, I didn't really fully appreciate the fact that the feminine and the Other (manifest in the dwarf) are on the same side of the fence. Neither has any agency outside of the occasional subversiveness, and on pg. 204, Gareth actually challenges Sir Gryngamoure to fight him for ownership of the dwarf, just as two knights might fight over stewardship (ie, ownership) of a maiden:
ReplyDelete"Than, coward knyght," seyde Gareth, "brynge hym [the dwarf] with the, and come and do batayle with me, and wynne hym and take hym."
Also! I believe "Bewmaynes" is best translated as Fancy Hands. I think it's the medieval equivalent of "You got a purty mouth."
Nasreen, I was really surprised to read this, because I was actually struck by how much the Gareth story had in common with Chretien's Yvain! The relationship between Gareth, Lyonet, and Lyonesse seemed to me like an almost perfect replica of Yvain, Lunette, and Laudine, complete with the magic ring from Lunette/Lyonet and my own disappointment that the hero ended up with with her prettier and richer mistress/sister. The appendix on Malory's sources doesn't mention Chretien at all - I guess Malory got a version of Chretien's stories from later sources - but both the Tale of Sir Gareth and the later (short) story of Alexander just seemed right out of Chretien's romances.
ReplyDeleteGareth's trajectory from an unfamiliar figure who is mocked to a celebrated champion is indeed something he shares with Perceval, and with a long line of heroes who may be collectively described as "Fair Unknowns" (borrowing the term for a particular knight from an early romance called Le Bel Inconnu be Renaut de Bâgé). Often, these Fair Unknown knights are revealed at the end to be the son of Sir Gawain. It better suits Malory's long-term purposes for Gareth to be a brother rather than a son in this case.
ReplyDeleteAs for the name "Bewmaynes," it's sometimes taken as a sign of Malory's perhaps iffy French, since French "main" (hand) is feminine and one might expect "Belles-mains" instead. But I believe there are philological ways out of that grammatical impasse...