The Female Role in Quest Stories
The Female Role in Quest Stories
When we think of “quest” stories what do we see? Knights in shinny armor? Magic? Fantasy? Fighting? Damsels in distress? Yes, in quest stories we do have a hero, which is predominately male, handsome, brave, and smart. His part is to defeat the foe, save the damsel, and ride off at the end, right? Sometimes as readers we focus too much attention on the hero and miss other characters that contributes to his success. No, I’m not talking about the sidekick or companion, but what about the women. The women in quest stories do more than be distressful, but also contribute a lot to making a hero “the hero. Using quest stories like Yvain, Perceval, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Shakespeare’s, Pericles we can find that woman can play important roles in quest stories..
One of the many roles a woman fills in quest stories are being helpers or provide aid to the hero. In the story, Yvain, we have a knight that rushes out to defend his cousin’s honor and make a name for himself. Yvain defeat’s another knight, but in the process of pursuing and finishing his enemy he get trapped and left to be possibly killed by an any angry mob. With help of a maiden named, Lunete, gave Yvain a magical ring that made him invisible to the bloodthirsty mob. In the context of this story we see a woman helping the hero in a life-threatening situation. It’s with the help of a woman that kept the hero in this story from loosing his head and giving him the chance to develop into the hero.
A women character in quest stories has a sort of power in designating and initiating who the hero is. In Perceval we encounter the old fashion “damsel in distress story.” Perceval, eager to be a knight helps out a princess named, Blancheflor, by defeating a tyrant. You may ask, “Now how did a woman in this story contribute to the making of Perceval as the hero?” Will it is simple. Blancheflor, being the princess in distress, told Perceval of her situation of being overtaken by a tyrant. It is here that we must understand that Blancheflor wasn’t asking for Perceval to intervene or help her, she...