This thesis will explore the depiction of same-sex love and desire in Middle English literature by comparing and analysing two key Arthurian Romances, namely Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (SGGK)...Show moreThis thesis will explore the depiction of same-sex love and desire in Middle English literature by comparing and analysing two key Arthurian Romances, namely Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (SGGK) and Lanval. By looking at the context behind these texts, this thesis will explore how medieval audiences would have responded to the texts’ portrayals of same sex love and desire. SGGK was published around 1400, and it is interesting because of the relation between Gawain and the Green Knight. Gawain and the mysterious lord he is staying with – the Green Knight – have to exchange what Gawain receives at night; Gawain receives only kisses from the lord’s wife, and the terms of the exchange require him to ‘deliver’ these to the lord. This situation raises the question of how a medieval audience might have reacted to such an example of same sex desire – and if the audience would have interpreted this exchange as homoerotic at all. Lanval was composed around 1200. In Lanval, the main character is accused of being a homosexual. However, he only gets accused of this because he refuses the queen’s love. This raises the question of whether same sex love was seen as negative in the medieval age, and how people dealt with those who are accused of being homosexual. The analysis in this thesis will focus on the question of how medieval society dealt with same sex desire. This question will be analysed by drawing on the context of the medieval time and the literature that time produced; which was centred around the Bible. Furthermore, the analysis will focus on the differences between the texts under exploration—taking into account the different time periods in which they were written—and on the differences between these two texts in terms of how their audiences would have read the texts’ portrayals of same-sex love and desire.Show less
This MA thesis contains analyses of the status of same-sex desire in late medieval Europe and researches how same-sex desire is depicted in three Arthurian stories written during this period: the...Show moreThis MA thesis contains analyses of the status of same-sex desire in late medieval Europe and researches how same-sex desire is depicted in three Arthurian stories written during this period: the Lai de Lanval, the Prose Lancelot and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The thesis examines whether these depictions engage with or react to the socio-historical circumstances around same-sex desire in the late medieval period.Show less
