Arthurian Legend and Myth -- Term Paper

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She receives the wounded king after the last battle and offers to cure him if he remains long enough." (Rise, 2001) Because Christianity had such a difficult time "assimilating a benevolent enchantress," into Camelot's structure of tales, particularly a female outside of male religious spheres of power, Morgana "becomes more and more sinister," in later tales, and also more human in her jealousies and passionate wrangling in Camelot. (Rise, 2001)

In Malory's "Morte d'Arthur" for example, Morgana gives Excalibur to her lover Accolon so he can use it against Arthur. In the anonymous but still clearly Christian poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" Morgana is presented as the instigator of the Green Knight's visit to Arthur's court, partly motivated by her desire to frighten the Queen. (Camelot Project, 2004) "Part of Christianity's failure to understand the character of Morgan was their misapplied versions of morality. They imposed a Judeo-Christian ethical structure over a Celtic one and tried to eradicate the conflicts.

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The monks basically misunderstood the beliefs of Celtic rule. Women had equal if not greater power than men and were expected to take lovers. This is evident in the transcription of the Tain, the national epic of Ireland (except here scribal ignorance of Celtic ways actually preserved many of them). This is also the reason why Guinevere is seen as unfaithful rather than a free woman free to make her own choices in who she beds. Morgan necessarily becomes a witch to explain her sexuality." (Rise, 2001) Yet the ambiguities of the Morgana legend still remain in the two-sided nature of Excalibur, the sword of Arthur's power, for Arthur requires it to remain king of the realm -- it is both the symbol of the Cross and a sword that connects Arthur to an older, nationalistic tradition that personalizes the now-Christian tale to a uniquely English fairy tradition.

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