Essay Week 12: Women's Roles in Britomart

This week I read the Britomart unit. I’m pretty sure this is the first unit I’ve read where a female has been the main character in the story with the exception of Alice in Wonderland. That was a children’s story however, so it is much more common to have a female lead. This unit was unique though because it is about knights, which are traditionally male characters.

Britomart was a female but she was dressed up as a knight the entire time and trying to conceal her true identity when amongst the men. I think this made the story even more unique, but the author didn’t have a woman simply defeating men throughout the story. Britomart won every battle or competition she found herself in, but this was due to the fact that she has a magical spear and shield that she stole at the beginning of the unit. This is unknown to all of the characters in the unit, but the men definitely fear Britomart once they start fighting her.

I think having magical weapons being the way that the woman is successful in this unit still falls into the traditional male roles and does not present anything groundbreaking or unique. Other than Britomart, all of the other characters fell into “traditional” roles. Women were given as prizes to the knights and the knights were seen as the protectors of their ladies.

Another notable addition is that there was a woman who followed Britomart throughout her journey. She was an old nurse that took care of Britomart in the castle she lived in and the disguise was actually her idea.

Lastly, the entire theme of the story is Britomart searching for true love, which is actually just a face she saw in a magical mirror. Overall, this was a very fun unit to read and it was unique that the main character was a female who was disguised as a male, but the story still fits perfectly into “traditional” roles. 

Bibliography:
Stories from the Fairie Queene by Mary Macleod (1916).

Image Info: Illustration by Paul Mercuri (1860-1861). Web Source: Wikipedia.

Storytelling for Week 12: Britomart Wins!

“Welcome to another beautiful day in the kingdom! I’m your host Sir Kirk and doing the broadcast with me today will be Sir Brent. We have a good one lined up for you today at the 127^th annual jousting tournament. Today knights from all across the land will enter the competition and they will all be fighting for the same prize. Up for grabs to the victor is the fairest lady in the entire land! Let’s take it down to the dirt where the action is about to begin.

First up we have the mighty Satyrane and a newcomer to the tournament, Dan. The horses are off running and slowly building speed. The gentlemen have extended their spears and Satyrane just completely detached Dan from his horse! He should be thankful he’s still all in one piece after taking that hit.

We’ll take a quick break here and next Sir Satyrane will be taking on the Savage Knight, who has just been completely dominating his opponents today.

Welcome back folks and we have quite the matchup coming your way right now! The Savage Knight entered this tournament unknown by most of us but boy has he sure made a name for himself today. Facing off with him will be Sir Satyrane, who we just saw defeat Dan with relative ease. The horses are off running once again and the men are drawing nearer. The spears have been lowered! WOW! The Savage Knight wins again and he has clearly looked the best all day today. That might just do it for today folks; I can’t foresee anyone dethroning the Savage Knight today.”

“Not so fast, Kirk. It looks like there’s one challenger left, although I can’t tell whom it is from up here. Ladies and gentlemen I’m not sure who this is mounting their horse right now but it appears as though we have a new competitor!”

“Good eye, Brent. It looks like we’re getting our money’s worth today! We don’t even have a name for the challenger but the Savage Knight has suited up one last time and it looks like this is going to be it for the day. Both men are ready and just waiting the signal. They’re off and the horses are gaining speed! The spears have been lowered. I can’t believe it! The Savage Knight has been thrown off his horse!”

“Kirk, I can’t believe what we just saw!”

“Neither can I Brent! Ladies and gentlemen we’ve just seen an upset for the ages! We’re still not even sure of the identity of the latest challenger but he has just defeated the Savage Knight and now a whole new line of challengers is forming to take on our new unknown competitor.”

“Well Kirk it looks like we’re going to be here all night at this rate!”

Author's Note:

This is a retelling of the story The Golden Girdle from the Britomart unit. In this story, The Savage Knight, who is actually a man named Sir Artegall, gets defeated by an unknown knight at the tournament. The story never actually says its a jousting tournament, so I just kind of assumed and went with it. The unknown challenger at the end is actually a woman name Britomart, who goes the entire unit dressed up as a male knight. The whole unit is based on Britomart trying to find Sir Artegall, because she was told by a magician that he is the one she will marry someday. This story is an example of encounters they have without knowing each other. 

Bibliography:

The Golden Girdle from Stories from the Fairie Queene by Mary Macleod (1916). 

Image Web Source: Wikipedia.

Reading Diary Week 12: Britomart

Sir Guyon

Prince Arthur and Sir Guyon captured the wicked woman Acrasia. These two men would often go on adventures with each other and one day they saw a Knight on a horse. Sir Guyon attacks the Knight and gets knocked off his horse for the first time ever. To his surprise, it is a woman underneath the Knight’s armor, Princess Britomart. They learn that she is searching for Artegall, a Knight that she saw an image of in a magic mirror. Princess Britomart also carried a magical spear, so it was impossible to defeat her. Britomart then joins Arthur and Guyon on their adventures.

How Britomart Fought with Six Knights

The trio rides into a forest and sees a woman on a pony being chased by a man. Arthur and Guyon ride off to save the woman and Britomart continues to ride through the forest and when she exits it she sees six Knights fighting just a single Knight. Britomart saves the Knight being attacked and while they are all talking afterwards she learns that they six Knights were ordered by a lady from the nearby castle to bring her any man traveling without a lady. If a traveler does have a lady, he is supposed to give her up or fight for her, which is what the Knight that had just been saved was doing. Britomart then attacks the six Knights and defeats them with her magical spear, which gets her invited into the castle to claim the lady.

Britomart in Castle Joyous

The Lady of Delight is the lady of this castle and does not yet know that Britomart is woman. The Lady of Delight is determined to get Britomart, who she thinks is a man, to stay in her castle. Once asleep, the Lady attacks Britomart with her Knights, but the Knight that Britomart had previously saved came to her rescue and defeated the Lady of Delight and her Knights. Britomart and the Knight she saved then left the castle together.

The Magic Mirror

While the two are on their journey, Britomart tells the Knight that she is in search of Sir Artegall and he tells her everything that he knows about Artegall. We are then given more detail about the magic mirror that Britomart saw Artegall in and we learn that his image appeared after she asked who her husband would be.

The Cave of the Magician Merlin

We are then given another flashback to after Britomart looked into the magic mirror. She was stricken with grief and depression because she wanted to see the image of Artegall again. Britomart’s nurse takes her to find Merlin, the magician who created the mirror. Merlin then tells the ladies about the future of Britomart, in which she will fight battles with Artegall and help him win the crown of his homeland.

Britomart’s Quest

Still in the flashback, Britomart and the nurse decide to disguise themselves in armor and go in search of Artegall. The women then steal some armor during the night as well as a spear and these are the items that Britomart still wears. They escaped on their horses and then began their journey for the search of Artegall.

The Castle of the Churl Malbecco

One day (not sure if we’re still in a flashback) Britomart approached a castle, which belonged to Churl Malbecco, and asked him for entry. He would not let her, or anyone else in. Britomart and her nurse then go to a shed meant for animals to stay, but they find other Knights there. After a short skirmish, they all agree to go burn down the castle of Churl Malbecco. He lets them in and invites them to dinner and then Britomart and her nurse leave the next morning along with one of the Knights.

How Britomart Walked through Fire

After leaving the castle they see a giant chasing a boy. They chase off the giant and then enter the woods to search for it, but never find it. The Knight then begins to cry and explains that his wife has been captured and is in a dungeon. Britomart says that she will help him and they go to the castle where the wife is located. The castle is shrouded in fire but Britomart walks straight through it with he shield. Britomart then goes into the castle and begins to search for the wife, but can’t find her.

The Enchanted Chamber

While Britomart is in the castle lots of strange things happen, from extreme wind to trumpet sounds. Then a huge amount of people enter the castle from a strange room, all with strange names such as Spite, Cruelty, Fear, and Hope. After they paraded around the castle a little bit they all retreated back to the room they came from.

How Britomart Rescued a Fair Lady from a Wicked Enchanter

After the door closed, Britomart then went over and tried to enter the room that everyone had come from. She waited until midnight the next day and the door opened once again and saw an empty room except a lady chained to a pillar and the enchanter that had captured her. Britomart then gets the enchanter to reverse his charms on the lady. Britomart takes the lady out of the castle to see her husband but both her husband and Britomart’s nurse are gone. We then learn that the Knight and the nurse thought Britomart was dead so they left to search for help.

Strange Meetings

Britomart and the wife start searching for the Knight and the nurse. On their journey they see two knights riding towards them escorted by two very evil women. One of the Knights with the two women was at the shed when Britomart fought and defeated them all. They all get into a fight and eventually the Knight and the nurse show up to help. For some reason the Knight gets mad at the nurse and almost kills her, but doesn’t.

The Golden Girdle

The story then fast-forwards to a tournament with knights competing, where one of the competitors is Sir Artegall. Britomart also competes in the games and it is determined that she should be awarded the fairest lady for her valor.

The False Florimell

Next they tried to decide which competitor has the fairest lady, which then gets awarded the golden girdle. The knight Blandamour is awarded this because he has the evil Snowy Lady who is faking to be Lady Florimell. All the knights begin to skirmish again over nonsense and Britomart takes the wife to go find Artegall, who she did not know that she just fought.

The House of Care

The story then switches to the knight, whose wife is with Britomart and the nurse. On their journey they happen upon a house that has blacksmiths working in it. They sleep in the house for a while and then venture onward.

Two Knights

Then the knight sees another knight and approaches him. The other knight is Artegall but he does not know this. Artegall explains that he was just disgraced by another knight at a tournament, who he does not know is Britomart. They two men agree to travel together and I’m assuming the nurse is still with them. A while later they see two knights, who happen to be Britomart and the knight’s wife. They begin to fight and Britomart’s helmet gets knocked off and Artegall sees that the knight he was envious of is actually a woman.

How Britomart Ended her Quest

They all realize who each other is and the knight that had been traveling with Artegall asks where his wife went. Britomart does not know but vows to help find her. They all journey together and Britomart and Artegall begin to fall in love.  We never learn if they find the wife or not and story just ends, so we assume they lived happily ever after.