Kimberly Ellis
21 November 2000

The Mists of Avalon and Feminism

Feminism as a social movement has had powerful influence in the last two centuries. Responding to the "all men are created equal" status quo initiated by followers of such philosophers as John Locke and Thomas Paine, 19^th century women began noticing and rejecting the obvious inequalities that their societies pressed upon them, a process that has been passed down for generations and which is still alive today (Encarta "Women's Rights"). One of the most potent vehicles women could use in order to publicly express their outrage at the biases of the system was writing. Ranging from the seditious humor of Jane Austen to the crackling criticism of Kate Millett, women have been prodding at anti-femme prejudices for nearly two centuries (Bilger 9, Todd 21). However, not all writings by women are necessarily feminist, although there has been a growing tendency, especially in recent years, to assume that they are (Todd 15-16). When discussing female authors and their works, a distinction must be made between works written by women that are feminist and works that are simply written by women. In order to be qualified to make this distinction, a good understanding of what feminism is is the logical place to start.

The feminist movement began in the early 19^th century within living memory of the American Revolutionary War. Until the American Revolution, almost everyone in a Western culture was victimized by some level of discrimination. Many rights were reserved for aristocrats alone: the right to bear arms, to hold property, etc. The new government in the United States had eliminated that; it created a new system under which all (white) men were considered equal, and therefore had the same legal rights. White males were allowed to vote, to work outside the home, to own property, to become elected officials, etc. Their wives and daughters, however, had gained relatively few civil liberties; it was as if they were still held under the old aristocratic regime.

The first feminists concerned themselves with similar issues to those that are being addressed by feminists today. They fought for higher wages for working women and for better opportunities for women to work outside the home. They also fought battles that they eventually won: for the right to vote and for the right to own property even in marriage (formerly, if a woman was married, all property was owned by her husband, even if it was legally hers before marriage). Later feminists would fight for the passage of an Equal Rights Amendment, legalization of abortion, and unbiased education for their children (Encarta "Women's Rights").

Much of the difficulty that critics and readers have in deciding whether or not a literary work written by a woman can be categorized into the canon of feminist literature lies in the fact that over the ages, feminist literature has worn many different faces. Feminist literature has subsisted through many of the literary movements that are known and studied today, through Romanticism, Victorianism, Naturalism, Modernism, Post-modernism, and beyond. As the literature of their male counterparts changed in focus, style, and scope over the ages, so too did women's literature exhibit significant changes over time. Moreover, as the goals and tactics of the historical women's movement changed, the feminist literature associated with it also changed. So, for example, if Jane Austen were alive and writing today, her works would probably not be considered feminist, because critics would accuse her of buying into an outdated system; her works were set in a society in which gender roles and expectations were far more clearly defined than those of today. However, in her time, Austen's works made gentle humor, which in and of itself was revolutionary; in her time, women were considered improper if they displayed wit in any form (Bilger 21-23). For her period, she was a feminist in that she defied an unfair social norm created by a male dominated society, but she would not be considered a feminist by today's standards.

So what traits characterize the feminist literature of today? Feminist literature and literary criticism is currently riding what scholars call its "second wave," begun as early as the late 1940's with Simone de Beauvoir, but not reaching its maximum strength until the publication of Sexual Politics by Kate Millett in 1969 (Baym ix, Todd 18, Pearce 16). Although it is often criticized for being unscholarly or being too willing to lump all societies, all norms, and all customs into the realm of those that strengthen and sustain patriarchies, Sexual Politics was one of the boldest strikes against male domination, especially in literature, that had ever been made (Pearce 16-19). Since Sexual Politics, feminist literary criticism has taken two distinct routes. It sometimes takes a Freudian (psychoanalytical) approach, in which the psychologies and the suppressed desires of female characters are brought into focus. Other critics take a Marxist (socio-analytical) approach, in which patriarchical systems and stereotypes are deconstructed and criticized, at times with subtle tact and at others with outrage born out of centuries of discrimination (Encarta "Literary Criticism," Todd 4). Psychoanalytical theory deals with descriptions of women as individuals; socio-analytical theory places more emphasis on stereotypes and outdated roles than psychology. Although different in some ways, the two approaches have at least one thing in common; they both approach literary works, whether reading them or writing them, focusing on the experiences of female characters within them, rather than the experiences of males, who have dominated the literary spotlight for centuries (Todd 5).

The Mists of Avalon as a feminist novel?

In light of the trends in modern feminism, can The Mists of Avalon (1982), by Marion Zimmer Bradley, be considered feminist, or is it merely a book written by a woman? If a tendency to focus on female rather than male experiences is the only criterion that must be considered, it certainly is; in it, the Arthurian legends are retold through the eyes of the women who lived through them. Moreover, women's roles are greatly changed from those that are given them by Malory, Twain, and the other male writers of the Arthurian tradition. In almost every version of the Arthurian stories, the illicit love affair between Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot ultimately precipitates the downfall and the death of Arthur, and moreover, Lancelot is almost always described as the best knight on life, leaving the brunt of the blame to fall upon fair Guinevere's shoulders. In Bradley's rendition, a love affair between Gwenhwyfar (as she spells it) and another man is not a destructive force; in fact, it is suggested to her by her husband the king ("My Gwenhwyfar, listen to me–a child there must be for this kingdom. If it should come about at any time that you give a child to the throne, be assured that I will never question...p 334). Not only does he condone this action, but he is also in the room, watching when the love between Lancelot and Gwenhwyfar is consummated. Later, when Arthur's kingdom falls, it is not due in any way to the love affair; instead it is the conflict between the two major religions of the time, Christianity and Druidism, which causes it to crumble (McClain 4). This reconstruction of the legend, changing the story so that women are not entirely to blame for Camelot's end, would fit neatly into the socio-analytical school of feminist literature. The stereotype of lusty, unfaithful women is cast down; Arthur himself suggests Gwenhwyfar's affair, and it is by forces other than her infidelity that he loses his power and dies.

The Mists of Avalon has elements within it that fit into the Freudian school as well. In telling the stories from the perspectives of the female characters, the psychoanalytical elements are explored thoroughly. Characters who had never before received such development, especially Morgaine (Morgan le Fay) and Gwenhwyfar, are brought to life as women with realistic desires and mentalities. They both have secret lusts and hopes and fears, which play significant roles in the development of the plot and characters. Some critics point to the dichotomy between Morgaine and Gwenhwyfar's characters as being one of the most important conflicts in the novel. Morgaine is a priestess of Avalon, a leader in the Druidic, matriarchal religion. She symbolizes equality and empowerment for women, being at least as intelligent as any of the male characters, and being surpassed only by the High King of Britain in power. Gwenhwyfar, raised in a convent, epitomizes the woman who lives under and accepts a patriarchal system and its Christian religious moralities (Hughes 25). In light of the fact that the destructive force in the end of the book is a conflict between precisely these same forces (matriarchy vs. patriarchy, Druidism vs. Christianity), it is fitting that these two characters have fully explored and developed psychologies, and that they represent a microcosm of the conflicts that are going on in the kingdom as a whole. It is the women whose psychologies represent the greater struggle, not the men.

For most reviewers and critics of The Mists of Avalon, that it is a feminist novel is rarely brought into question. Women are in the forefront of what is happening; they have defied their stereotypes and have become strong, powerful, intelligent characters. Bradley herself is said to have been against calling her book feminist, but the evidence seems overwhelmingly on the side of its being a feminist novel (Arthurnet posts, class discussion, 14 November 2000). In addition, like other feminist novels, it reflects the feminist movement of the time during which it was written. Feminists of the 1980's were concerned with "glass ceiling" inabilities to rise above certain levels of power on the job and in the home; Morgaine's depiction as a powerful, savvy woman show her to be the type of woman that feminists would champion as a prime example of what women should aspire to be, in spite of the biases still in place against them.

Baym, Nina. Feminism and American Literary History. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers UP, 1992.

Bilger, Audrey. Laughing Feminism. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 1998.

Bradley, Marion Zimmer. The Mists of Avalon. New York: Ballantine Books, 1982.

Hughes, Melinda. "Dark Sisters and Light Sisters: Sister Doubles and the Search for Sisterhood in The Mists of Avalon and The White Raven." Mythlore 71: Winter 1993, 24-28.

McClain, Lee Tobin. "Gender Anxiety in Arthurian Romance." Extrapolation 38: Fall Online. PerAbs. 19 November 2000.

Pearce, Lynne. "Sexual Politics." In Feminist Readings/Feminists Reading. Mills et. al. (ed). University Press of Virginia: Charlottesville, 1989.

Todd, Janet. Feminist Literary History. New York: Routledge.