In Sir Thomas Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur, most characters face serious conflicts with chivalry and romance. This essay, however, will analyze the female characters and their roles in Mallory's interpretation of Le Morte d'Arthur and how these female characters handle the pressures and restrictions placed on them as women. Queen Guinevere and Helen of Ascolot represent the ideals of women in Arthurian romance; both Guinevere and Elaine are beautiful Arthurian and aristocratic women who love dearly and are willing to put everything they care about on the line for the sake of their love and their lover. Although Queen Guinevere and Helen of Ascolot are both considered ideal lovers by Mallory, their gender reveals the boundaries established for women in chivalry and romance through their similar struggles with patriarchy and their differences in how they express their Love. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The similarities between Queen Guinevere and Helen of Ascolot follow a common theme of women controlled or repressed by men. We see this in many examples with Guinevere because she is constantly accused of some kind of heinous crime and therefore needs to be defended by a man, especially Lancelot. He will never be able to defend himself; she always needs a man to do that, even when she uses her words to try to defend herself she gets more or less nowhere with Arthur's court because she is a woman and her words are considered meaningless. That's why a man, or Lancelot, must step in and fight for her and save the day. Here we see Ginevra trying to explain the mysterious death of a knight who died after eating a dinner she had prepared: “'I have prepared this dinner with a good intention, and never for any harm; therefore Almighty Jesus help me in my right, for I was never destined to do such evil deeds, and let me refer to God'” (Mallory, 407). She really couldn't have been clearer in what she was trying to say to defend herself from the charges the court was throwing at her. Yet a few lines later we see Arthur dismiss what he says and ask where Lancelot is to defend his word. Why does he need a man to stand up for his word? This shows that judicial outcomes in Camelot and in Arthurian romance are only considered fair or truthful when a man defends the case or matter. "'Where is Sir Lancelot?' Said King Arthur. 'And if he were here he wouldn't stay to fight for you'” (Mallory, 407). This is a perfect example of how Guinevere is humiliated by a patriarchal society, and even though she is an ideal lover and even though she is a member of high society, her opinion is still considered unimportant or less important than a man's opinion . However, Guinevere is not the only female character who is ignored and abused by the patriarchy. Helen of Ascolot, another female character, is again described as an ideal lover: “Thus this maiden Elaine never departed from Sir Launcelot, but looked upon him day and night. night, and paid such attention to him that the French book says there never was a woman kinder to the man” (Mallory, 427). Elaine is described as ideal; however, even though she is described as the kindest and most loving woman, she is still taken advantage of when it comes to romance and chivalry. As the story continues, poor Elaine is completely manipulated and used by Lancelot; her good nature and selfishness create a toxic combination that ends up breaking her heart and ultimately causes her death. We see in many examples with Elaine how she is confined to a certain feminine role due toof its kind. An example of this inequality would be when Lancelot tells Elaine and her family that he must leave to return to Camelot. Lancelot explains that he has no intention of marrying Elaine even though he deceived her by wearing his sleeve to a tournament. who is an obvious symbol of love in Arthurian romance and he also expressed his affection for her earlier when she groomed him for get him back to health. However the scene continues and we see clear sexist gender roles when Elaine's brother Sir Lavain also professes his love for Lancelot and says he wants to be with him and understands why his sister wants to kill herself if she loses Lancelot. Launcelot says, "Father," ... "I dare say she is a clean maid as far as my lord Sir Launcelot is concerned; but she does as I do, for since I first saw my lord Sir Launcelot, I could not never turn away from him, nor will I and may follow him” (Mallory, 433) This quote shows how a man can do something that a woman cannot do in the Arthurian romance. Elaine wants to stay with Lancelot and be with him forever, but she cannot, because she is a woman. However, her brother, because she is a man, can be knighted and follow Lancelot and be with him forever. Even though Elaine saved Lancelot and nurses him back to health and played a role very active female, she cannot yet be knighted and as a result can never stay or be with Lancelot The only way Elaine could still be with Lancelot would be if she were his mistress or his wife, both possibilities were rejected by. Lancelot. Although Queen Guinevere and Elaine of Ascolot are described as ideal lovers, they express their love differently. While Queen Guinevere has a more demanding approach to handling her love with Lancelot, Elaine has a generous and generous way of expressing her love. Even though Lancelot rejects Elaine and serves Guinevere, the issue at hand is still gender. Elaine's love is not considered legitimate to Lancelot because she is not his mistress, so a woman's love is only considered valuable if she is his mistress, which is a double standard within Arthurian society. Queen Guinevere tends to be considered the perfect Arthurian lady and lover; she is beautiful, graceful and puts her love for Lancelot above all, she truly believes in and inflicts all the ideals of romance and chivalry, as does Elaine. However, Guinevere tends to be more demanding and requires Lancelot's full attention and devotion, if she does not meet his demands or expectations Guinevere will think that he does not love her because she is not demonstrating the ideals of chivalry. An example of Guinevere's overly dramatic expectations would be at the beginning of the Tale of Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere, in a few lines we see Guinevere berate Lancelot for his lack of attention: "Sir Launcelot, I see and hear every day that thy love begins slow down, because you have no joy in being in my presence, but you are always out of this court. And the quarrels and issues you have today for ladies, maidens and gentlewomen, more than you were ever accustomed to have before” (Mallory, 403).These idealistic attributes that Ginevra lives up to and strives to achieve are simply expected of her, they are expected of her because she is a beautiful woman. If Ginevra were a peasant, or a less attractive woman, such rigid ideals would not be so fundamental to her life. Thus demonstrating that these ideals and dramatic rules that she expects from herself and Lancelot are simply implemented in her by the patriarchal society in which she lives. However, the debate is not about class or beauty, because Elaine was also an aristocrat and was also very beautiful. , the point is.