The Once and Future Queen

by Nicole Evelina

“I’ve learned and unlearned all my life; it’s helped me to survive. There are no constants, nothing is immutable, only random circumstance from which our experience builds a coherent arc of life. And for that arc you have only to be truly done with one thing before moving to another. There’s an art in letting go.”419

  — Beloved Exile by Parke Godwin

  A New Type of Guinevere

  Around the same time that The Mists of Avalon was published, two other authors were tackling the subject of Guinevere in very different ways. They gave readers a fresh perspective by having something positive to say about Guinevere. First came Parke Godwin’s early 1980s novels Firelord (1980) and Beloved Exile (1984), in which Guinevere is shown for the first time as Arthur’s equal. She is a woman with agency, intelligence, and a willingness to act according to her own whims. It is likely not coincidental that this is the same time period when women were beginning to enter the workforce en masse and take responsibility for their place in business and society as well as in the home.

  Godwin’s Firelord is mostly about Arthur and Morgan, who is a Pict, but Guinevere is there, representing and mirroring in many ways Arthur’s ambition to fulfill his destiny to become Emperor of Britain. The young, unmarried Guinevere is intelligent. She has suitors, but she rejects those who want her only as a brood mare, keeping an interested eye on Arthur, both as a man and potential future king. When it appears that he will become Ambrosius’ successor, Guinevere defies her father and sides with Arthur. When wed, they are equals as they attempt to piece together a united kingdom.420 This is a Guinevere quite different from those who have come before, a woman who is Arthur’s equal in education, experience, and will. As Howey writes, “This Guinevere does not exist to inspire knightly deeds, for she can fight for herself. Nor does she fit the stereotype of woman as ruled by emotion; she believes she must ‘think first, act, and then feel.’”421

  However, Guinevere shares one damning trait with her previous literary incarnations: her hatred of Arthur’s former lover, Morgan (or Morgana, as she is called in this story) both for coming before her in Arthur’s affections and in her ability to bear a child to Arthur, which Guinevere cannot do. “As Arthur’s queen and wife, she has no intention of sharing him with even the memory of a former beloved,”422 notes Howey. So she takes what appears to the reader as a drastic step but is in fact in keeping with the war-like nature of her time: Guinevere arranges for the deaths of Morgana and her people, the Pryden, leaving only Mordred and Arthur alive. She does not deny her role in the crime, but justifies it as protection against a horde of Pryden that would invade Camelot, in a defense Hoberg characterizes “as remarkable as [the one] Morris’ Guinevere makes to the charges of adultery.”423 Understandably upset, Arthur exiles Guinevere for Morgana’s death. But instead of fleeing, she raises an army against Arthur, threatening war until he reinstates her in her proper place as queen.

  In giving Guinevere strength and determination, “Parke Godwin has fashioned a Guenevere of equal status and strength with Arthur, who was his friend and his lover, and if necessary, his adversary, a fit consort for this greatest of legend’s kings…. [She] stands equal with Arthur during his life and, after he dies, perseveres in her own right and shapes her own arduous but ultimately triumphant future,” 424 writes Hoberg.

  Firelord’s sequel, Beloved Exile, tells of Guinevere’s life after the death of Arthur. The story begins with her hearing the news of Arthur’s passing. There is no last great battle; it is clear Morgana and Mordred are responsible for Arthur’s death.425 Arthur names Guinevere his successor. She must then fight Constantine, who also seeks the throne. On her way to deal with Constantine, she is kidnapped and enslaved by the Saxons, eventually falling in love with her owner and being freed after many years of captivity. In the end, Guinevere reaches a compromise with those who wish to have power in Britain. She goes into exile in Constantinople as advisor to the Emperor Justinian, ending her life as powerful as she was in her youth.

  Beloved Exile was the first story to explore a non-cloistered life for Guinevere after Arthur’s death. Gordon-Wise notes, “In middle age, when the traditional Guinevere retires to a convent, this Guinevere struggles to survive and to regain her freedom.”426 While many critics, have noted that Saxon captivity seems an odd fate for Guinevere, Falsani argues that the slavery was necessary in order for Godwin’s overly-proud Guinevere to learn compassion; it brought about her personal and political self-awakening.427 “Guinevere’s adventures, her trials, awaken in her the ability to empathize with her subjects, to understand and identify with their needs and to desire to help them.”428 In this way, one could read the story as an attempt to correct the personality defects written into Guinevere’s character by previous authors.

  Interestingly, Guinevere’s Saxon captors, who do not know her true identity, speak of the queen Guinevere as “most notorious with these family-minded folk as a depraved wanton with an insatiable sexual appetite, whose reputed exploits were the subject of much interest—and the object of much awe—as the martial achievements of her consort.”429 One cannot help but wonder whether this is a wink and a nod to the character’s traditional reputation throughout the rest of Arthurian legend.

  To completely change his Guinevere, Godwin did away with what he called in 1989 “‘the ‘medieval cliché’ of her retreat to a nunnery after Arthur’s death. Such a ‘totally devout and submissive Christian ending’ he notes in a letter to [Teresa Boyle Falsani] would ‘make [Guinevere] something utterly insupportable in context of the legend,’ for he contends that she was ‘rendered astride both pagan and Christian traditions.”430 Falsani goes on to write, “Parke Godwin’s revisionist characterization of Guinevere…is remarkable because it makes of Guinevere a female archetype capable of heroic independence, dignity and strength,”431 completely at odds with the meek, jealous, temperamental woman of previous legend. This is a Guinevere for the modern age, one who will rule alongside her husband and claim her worth in her own right rather than allowing others to define it for her. She is a fitting symbol of the time when women were beginning to come into their own as people, both in the workplace and in the home, demanding an end to the sexual harassment that plagued them for so long and speaking up for equal rights. As Gordon-Wise notes, “In the final analysis, our discussion of the revisionist view of Arthur’s queen in modern fantasy indicates the transformational potential of the Arthurian mythos as it continues to reflect changing societal values.”432

  Gillian Bradshaw

  “I am old now. If I see my reflection, in water or a cup of wine—there are no mirrors in the convent, I can scarcely believe that I am the same Gwynhwyfar whom Arthur and Bedwyr loved. The face I see is an old woman’s, lined with use. Much use: many tears, hour upon hour of a grief which can never be eradicated, never be forgotten. Lined with laughter, too.” 433

  — In Winter’s Shadow by Gillian Bradshaw

  Gillian Bradshaw’s Arthurian trilogy (1980-1982) makes Guinevere a central character in the final book, In Winter’s Shadow. “Narrated in the first person by Gwynwyfar (Guinevere), this novel is one the first of the Arthurian worlds to give the queen a central and active role in the events of Arthur’s kingdom,”434 Gordon-Wise points out. This highly involved queen has her own agency and her own agenda, which she is not afraid to promote. Gordon-Wise highlights Guinevere’s role in reversing the male-dominated focus of past authors: “No longer on the pedestal of courtly love or veiled by the misogyny of the medieval church, Bradshaw’s Guinevere serves as a vehicle to dispel masculine myths of honor and valor.”435

  According to Gordon-Wise, she is a strong woman in her own right, with none of the “vanity, jealousy or weakness of medieval tales; instead she is educated and realistic in her emotions, be they sexual or maternal.”436 This freedom may well come from the fact that she has no men attempting to control her; her father dies early on and his successor, her cousin, attempts to punish her by levying
excessive demands for land, which cut her off from the tribe.437 Gordon-Wise notes that by having Guinevere suffer losses and face conflict in her back story, “Bradshaw creates a character who is an emotional, private person, and who accepts the responsibilities and obligations of her political role as well.”438 This is especially clear toward the end of the book when Guinevere accepts that becoming a nun is the only path open to her. When Taliesin suggests she might marry Lord Sandde and become Empress, a mature, clear-headed, realistic Guinevere replies, “I would not last a year. We do not have the warband to enforce such a rule, and the kings of Britain would not permit the unfaithful wife of a usurper to claim the purple…I will go north and join a convent.”439

  Gordon-Wise argues that Guinevere is the true leader and hero of the novel because she serves as Arthur’s seneschal and steward.440 She fulfils the typical female role of managing Arthur’s fortress, but she is also involved in all aspects of his campaign.441 She works hard, pulling her own weight to keep the country together.442 Brewer notes that in addition to ruling in partnership with Arthur, Guinevere navigates policy to outwit Mordred, tends the sick, and fundraises for Arthur’s campaigns.443 In so many ways, Arthur would not be who he is without her by his side. Howey explains: “By often extolling Gwynhwyfar’s abilities and responsibilities, Bradshaw emphasizes throughout the series the ways in which the Queen is important to Arthur’s dream; Gwynhwyfar is not just a figure-head, but gives Arthur practical assistance in running the kingdom.”444 Gone is the fading wallflower or damsel in distress of previous legend. As Gordon-Wise points out, “This Gwynwyfar may occasionally be aided, but she is never just rescued.”445

  The old aphorism “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” can be applied to Guinevere’s affair, which in this book is with Bedwyr, not Lancelot. By the time she takes Bedwyr as a lover, Guinevere needs some time away from Arthur and all the responsibilities that come with being his queen; she needs to remember who she is again outside of her throne, as a woman in her own right. Howey notes, “The affair with Bedwyr is Gwynhwyfar’s one instance of selfishness.... Bedwyr allows her to be a person instead of a role, woman instead of empress…. Her love for Arthur does not diminish: she insists that she “loved [Arthur] even when [she] was unfaithful.”446

  Despite this, Bradshaw refuses to lay the guilt for the downfall of Camelot at Guinevere’s feet, perhaps reflecting the growing tolerance for infidelity, especially on the part of women, in society in the early 1980s. “Gwynhwyfar articulates the traditional verdict of her actions: her adultery destroys the kingdom. Yet the events of Bradshaw’s novel and the opinions of its other characters contradict that verdict,”447 argues Howey. For example, even King Arthur forgives Guinevere her sin. He “even blames himself for not realizing that Gwynhwyfar, like a strong warrior ‘need[s] rest sometimes,’” Howey explains. “His understanding and acceptance of her actions reinforces our empathy for the queen while his comparison of her to a warrior prevents any suggestion of the ‘weak woman’ stereotype. Others of Arthur’s supporters also forgive her because they admire her courage for returning to take Arthur’s side in the standoff with Mascen.”448

  One of the most unique choices Bradshaw makes with her Guinevere is to give her a new reason for becoming a nun, and imbuing that role with power. After Arthur’s death, Guinevere’s options are not many: live as a doomed Empress or join the convent. She realizes that the end has come for Camelot, saying, “there is nothing left of the empire, and nothing remaining from which we could build again, and nothing to show for our lives’ effort but guilt, shame and a few lying songs.”449

  In her wisdom, Guinevere sees a better end in trading her title for religious life where the skills of her old life are still very applicable. Over time, Guinevere becomes an abbess and is responsible for nearly 100 people. Her duties include overseeing the varied activities that keep a busy convent running: “The local people come to me with their problems, the sisters copy books and look after orphaned children.”450 Here we see a glimmer of the power of the medieval women who used this life choice to its best advantage, taking what it offered and transforming their convents into small religious kingdoms that they governed just like the queens of the secular world.

  The maturity and wisdom this Guinevere has gained throughout the course of the book also enable her to see that in order for progress to continue, sometimes one has to look beyond what is expected and trust those willing to help, even if they are former enemies whose way of life is very different. Toward the end of the book she says, “I had begun to fear that the ability to read would die out and the world would truly be confined to the present. But this Irish abbot is wild about books…. [The future is in the hands of] a handful of monks on a little island called Iona…. They are not Roman, have no understanding of what Rome was and meant. Yet they are as set to change the world as I was when I rode south to Camlann many years ago.”451 By her willingness to set aside her own pride and allow the monks to continue what she and Arthur started, Bradshaw’s Guinevere shows more depth and reason than her previous counterparts.

  Godwin and Bradshaw gifted the Arthurian-loving world with something it sorely needed—a Guinevere who lives up to, if not surpasses, the until-now dormant potential in her character. In turn, this uplifting of Camelot’s queen brought hope to a generation of female readers who were coming of age reading about her alongside the flowering of second-wave feminism. In writing about these admirable portrayals, Gordon-Wise expresses her wish that “perhaps through her revision in modern fantasy novels, Guinevere may now help to shape a more positive image of the feminine.”452 If the next several Guineveres created by feminist authors as the 1980s progress are any indication, that is exactly what took place.

  * * *

  419 Godwin, Park, Beloved Exile (Avon Books, Reprint edition: 1994), 72.

  420 Hoberg,, "In Her Own Right," 69.

  421 Howey, "Once and Future Women," 123.

  422 Ibid.

  423 Hoberg, "In Her Own Right," 70.

  424 Ibid., 68.

  425 Gordon-Wise, The Reclamation of a Queen, 120.

  426 Ibid., 122.

  427 Falsani, "Parke Godwin's Guenevere," 59.

  428 Ibid., 62.

  429 Hoberg, "In Her Own Right," 74.

  430 Falsani, "Parke Godwin's Guenevere," 56.

  431 Ibid., 63.

  432 Gordon-Wise, The Reclamation of a Queen, 139.

  433 Bradshaw, Gillian, In Winter’s Shadow, 1981 (Naperville: Sourcebooks Landmark, 1981, 2011), 405.

  434 Gordon-Wise, The Reclamation of a Queen, 133.

  435 Ibid., 150.

  436 Ibid., 134.

  437 Ibid., 136.

  438 Howey, "Once and Future Women," 79.

  439 Bradshaw, In Winter's Shadow, 403.

  440 Gordon-Wise, The Reclamation of a Queen, 134-135.

  441 Howey, "Once and Future Women," 54-55.

  442 Knight, Stephen, "Queen Guinevere," The Politics of Myth (Strawberry Hills, NSW: ReadHowYouWant, 2015), 82.

  443 Brewer, "The Figure of Guenevere," 286-287.

  444 Howey, "Once and Future Women," 55.

  445 Gordon-Wise, The Reclamation of a Queen, 137.

  446 Howey, "Once and Future Women," 78.

  447 Ibid, 79.

  448 Ibid.

  449 Bradshaw, In Winter's Shadow, 401.

  450 Bradshaw, In Winter's Shadow, 406.

  451 Bradshaw, In Winter's Shadow, 409.

  452 Gordon-Wise, The Reclamation of a Queen, 6.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Sharan Newman

  Guinevere as Superwoman

  By the time second-wave
feminism was making its way into the workplace in the mid-1980s, Guinevere had evolved into a character with greater depth and agency than ever before. As Walters writes, “Since the new focus on Guinevere’s feelings corresponded to the development of the feminist movement, it ultimately led to her treatment as a being with desires and ambitions different from those dictated by a patriarchal society.”453 In many ways, she became an example of all the feminist movement hoped to achieve, just like she had been a symbol of proper female behavior in (more submissive) years past. Howey points to the opportunity this created: “Guinevere…provides contemporary writers with a female character whose importance to the legend’s events is established, yet she can be used to elaborate her own story or psychological motivation in new ways, or she can supply a new perspective on the traditional events or characters of the legend.”454

  Just like the women for whom she was now being written, Guinevere was an “I-can-do-it-all” type woman. Feminism changed work for women irrevocably. It gave women economic clout for the first time and at least the possibility of equaling their husbands. They demanded equal treatment with men in the workplace as well as at home, and no longer stood for the sexual harassment that used to be considered par for the course for the rare working woman.455 Consequently, Arthurian authors gave Guinevere a greater say in the rule of Camelot and dared to change the sexist traditional portrayals of her. “Written during an era when women were experiencing sexual freedom and demanding equal rights within the workplace, the authors empower female characters, who prevail in spite of masculine ministrations to keep them in check and provide readers with a readily identifiable conflict,”456 notes Johnson.