In this essay I will be analysing and discussing the representation of women in the Welsh novel of The Mabinogion, in particular; the portrayal of the calumniated wife, a theme which is recurrent through Medieval Welsh literature. I will focusing in particular on how women’s speech is represented and how their relationships with other women and men are portrayed. I will also be looking at different female protagonists’ self-government and autonomy throughout the four branches. Throughout my research
The Mabinogion is a collection of eleven tales from the Welsh myths, preserved in two manuscripts, the White Book of Rhydderch and Red Book of Hergest. The tales from the Mabinogion are divided into three categories: the first four tales belong to the Four Branches; the next four are the Independent tales; and the last three are called the Three Romances, which show strong association to the French romances written by Chretien de Troyes. Historia Peredur ab Efrawg shares significant material in
Nevertheless, we are able to fill in some of the gaps as to where Enide is mentioned in some texts. Circa 1170, Chretien De Troyes wrote Erec and Enide that can be found in Chretienís collection entitled Arthurian Romances. Erec also appears in The Mabinogion, another collection of Arthurian tales. In this book, Erec, also called Geraint, appears in the tale Geraint son of Erbin. Lord Alfred Tennyson includes Enide in two out of the four Idylls of the King. Both "The Marriage of Geraint" and "Geraint
This brief journal entry will be exploring the work of Charlotte Ward in connection with The Mabinogion. Charlotte Ward examines how The Mabinogion has been translated while referencing scholars such as I.B. John who liken the tales to a pieced together “mosaic” (Ward, p.424). Ward focuses her essay on formulaic language as seen in the first branch of The Mabinogion in the context of Medieval European literature as a whole (ibid.). Ward then describes how the entire first branch is written in prose
difficulties of making the transition to adulthood. Garner manages to cleverly disguise this notion under the mythology of the Welsh myth of The Mabinogion. The tales of The Mabinogion are a celebration of Welsh pagan ancestry and Celtic roots, and roughly translate as `a story for children'. Garner's take on what is the fourth branch of The Mabinogion - "Math, Son of Mathonwy" - ingeniously changes the original tale of unrequited love into a metaphor for the heartache of adolescence. In the original
“Great Queen.” Here she is seen with a possible correlation to the goddess Rhiannon who was also known by that title during her time of worship years later. It is in this aspect that Epona is believed to be relived in the Welsh tales of the Mabinogion. Epona has also been associated with many other goddesses including Macha, the Goddess of War, in Ireland. While no stories are evident of a husband, children or other family, it is suggested that Epona may have originated as a great naturemother
Chretien de Troyes Arthurian works is easily divided in to four works, two based on the Mabinogion stories referenced above (Erec and Enide, Yvain), and two original works, the stories of Cliges and the knight Lancelot. While the Mabinogi stories are difficult to date, de Troyes wrote and published in Twelfth Century France during the height of the age of chivalry. Erec and Enide is based off of Geraint and Enide, with the title changed, but there are some differences throughout, mostly in how de
close relatives included Cymbeline (Cunobelinus, fictionalized in Shakespeare's later play), and Caractacus (Caradoc), a well-attested historical figure better-known today from the children's song ("It's too late... they just passed by"). In the Mabinogion, one of Llyr's two wives is Iweradd ("Ireland"). Geoffrey of Monmouth ("History of the English Kings", around 1140), who provides our oldest written reference to King Lear (spelled "Leir"), describes him as a pre-Christian warrior king in what