By Katarina Dyck
The “loathly lady” is a common trope in the medieval genre known as chivalric romance. The trope critiques courtly values and societal expectations of female appearances and behaviour, while offering women the ability to assume positions of power in a male-dominated system. The tale, “The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell,” written by an anonymous author, adheres to the loathly lady trope. Dame Ragnell’s stepmother places a curse that transforms her from physically beautiful to utterly unsightly. Dame Ragnell’s grotesqueness initially results in fear, disgust, and embarrassment from the court; however, she ultimately proves to them and her husband, Sir Gawain, that looks should not regulate social status or treatment, nor that the men should be allowed to determine what is “beautiful.” Abigail Heiniger provides a modern interpretation of the trope and defines the “loathly lady” as a “hag with motifs of sovereignty and female sexuality,” an interpretation consistent with medieval representations (315). Heiniger claims that these “hags” carry the potential to “transform both themselves and their chosen consorts into something lovely and powerful” (315). Dame Ragnell adheres to Heiniger’s assertions by having the court and Sir Gawain pay attention to her first as an unappealing woman, then rearranging the gender hierarchy once the curse is lifted. Dame Ragnell also uses her sexual desire as the “hag” to remind men that women’s passions deserve to be validated no matter their external appearance. Russian philosopher and literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin’s grotesque theory productively challenges aesthetic norms and prioritizes women’s voices over external beauty. In this particular tale, the literary theme accompanies underlying themes of the grotesque, as well as female sexuality and excess. The portrayal of Dame Ragnell as the cursed Loathly Lady in “The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell” unfolds to her advantage. Dame Ragnell combines her sexuality with the grotesque to refigure the text’s male perspective on women, teaching men to prioritize respect over physical beauty and to prize women’s sovereignty.
Irish versions of the tale focus outward on land and kingship, but as Lauren Chochinov explains in her work, “Damsels in Distress: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as a Loathly Lady Tale,” English tales, such as that of Dame Ragnell, instead address “domestic issues of knightly behaviour and female independence” (33). King Arthur and his court are immediately judgemental of Dame Ragnell’s appearance and treat her with disdain; even Sir Gawain is initially repulsed. By definition, the Loathly Lady is an unsightly woman who, after answering what women desire most, marries the man who asked the question. In this tale, however, Ragnell resolves to marry Arthur’s loyal knight, Sir Gawain. When the couple is alone in the marital bedroom, Dame Ragnell offers the knight the choice to have her be either ugly yet loyal or pretty but promiscuous. The man allows her the freedom to choose for herself, consequently lifting the curse and revealing that she can always be both loyal and beautiful to him. Dame Ragnell’s natural beauty returns after Sir Gawain goes to kiss her, but she informs him of a complication—that she can only remain desirable during the day or at night—and he then advises her to “do as [she] lyst” (line 678). In other words, Sir Gawain gives Dame Ragnell the choice to appear to him and the public however she wishes. Perhaps the most famous text that features this motif is Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath’s Tale, which almost exactly follows the story of Dame Ragnell. The loathly lady, in each text, insists that all women seek “to have the sovereynté of such a syre”; this implies that the ladies want power over men and the destruction of the existing gender ranking system (429). Overall, the objective of the loathly lady is to shift the status quo to accommodate and yield to female power and desire, regardless of how conventionally beautiful they are.
A term best used to describe the loathly lady is grotesque—she is divorced from the strict feminine beauty and behaviour ideals in Europe during the Middle Ages. According to D.S. Brewer, to be quintessentially beautiful was to have “‘milky’ whiteness; golden hair contrasting with black eyebrows; [and] slightly swelling lips” (258). In this way, all literary women would conform to the single aesthetic model Brewer outlines (258). That being said, the literary mode of grotesque realism developed by Bakhtin reveres this dismissal of custom; his ideas apply to Dame Ragnell’s exterior and mannerisms.
A crucial aspect of grotesque realism is the exaggeration of the body, which Bakhtin calls the “material bodily principle,” and its functions such as “food, drink, defecation, and sexual life” (18). To Bakhtin all of these elements are positive and deeply tied to womanhood. Dame Ragnell embodies the concept of grotesque realism: her beast-like appearance and mannerisms transgress the expectations of the court, though her clothing remains that of a noblewoman’s. Dame Ragnell is said to look “so fowlle and horyble. / She ha[s] two tethe on every syde / As borys tuskes […] / A mowthe fulle wyde and fowlle igrown, […] / [and] lyppes laye lumpryd on her chyn” (lines 547-554). As previously outlined by Brewer, the “hag’s” features oppose the beauty ideals in medieval literature. Ragnell does not seem to be at all ashamed of her cursed looks and is still “arayd in the richest maner, […] / worthe thre thowsand mark / Of good red nobles, styff and stark.” Her wedding dress is said to outdo that of Guinevere (lines 590-593). The Dame does not use fine and expensive clothing to mask her unattractiveness; rather, ornamentation makes her deformities even more striking and grants her an audience who will listen to her. Her unapologetically authentic nature satirizes the court’s shallowness, as well as its
simultaneously disgusted and terrified reaction to Dame Ragnell. For example, though Guinevere does not want Dame Ragnell to have a lavish or public wedding, Ragnell stands her ground and enjoys a very extravagant ceremony, much to the Queen’s mortification. In this text, the material bodily principle underscores Ragnell’s determination to make autonomous decisions regarding her appearance.
Additionally, Dame Ragnell exhibits the material bodily principle in her exorbitant eating habits and table etiquette. During the wedding feast, Ragnell “ete as moche as six that ther wore […] / Al men therof had mervaylle. / There was no mete came her before / Butt she ete itt up, lesse and more” (lines 606-615). The court is shocked and seems to regard Ragnell’s entire appearance and demeanour as distasteful as well as excessive. Nevertheless, while the court is offended and confused by the Dame’s conduct, they are equally curious because it is so emphatic and foreign to them; they are accustomed to modest, well-mannered women at their dinner tables. In this vein, Geoffrey Harpham notes in his text, “The Grotesque: First Principles,” that through a grotesque lens the original social structure has fallen and because of this, the theory is “strongest in eras of upheaval or crisis, when old beliefs in old orders are threatened” (Harpham 466). In other words, Ragnell’s arrival to court as the loathly lady endangers the beliefs and customs regarding female aesthetics.
The grotesque bodily “excessiveness” of the loathly lady motif mocks the court’s judgemental attitude and surface-level notions of beauty. In doing so, it instead steers them towards appreciating mutual respect and kindness, all for Dame Ragnell’s benefit. The court’s reaction to Dame Ragnell’s eating habits at the wedding feast illustrates their unease with Dame Ragnell’s lavishness. The amount of sexual desire Ragnell exhibits as the Loathly Lady is also considered excessive, similar to how in the Middle Ages female unchastity and overt sexuality were recognized as sinful. Ragnell, however, is unrepentant about her unbridled sexual nature which she possesses in both physical forms. As proof of this, she tells Arthur that women “love to have lust in bed; / And often [they] desyre to wed,” as well as to be “holden nott old, butt fresshe and yong, / With flatryng and glosyng and quaynt gyn” (lines 414-419). In saying this, Dame Ragnell implies that women wish to be viewed as young, to be charmed, and to have sex whenever and with whomever they please; this is itself a form of power for them. The moment she and Gawain are alone in the bedroom, she requests that he kiss her and “shewe [her his] cortesy in bed,” before accusing him of not taking their marriage seriously (lines 630-634). Although Gawain is more transfixed by her natural attractiveness, Ragnell’s sexual passions are equal in measure in both of her states. If anything, the Dame is more excessive as the “hag” since she seeks to dominate the court and men. Ragnell refuses Arthur’s plea to marry Gawain in secret, and asserts that “openly [she] wol be weddyd, or [she] parte the froo […] / Of no man [she] wolle shame” (lines 507-511). With this statement, Dame Ragnell means that she will not hide her cursed appearance from everyone in court, especially not for the sake of a man’s reputation, as dignity and freedom are, above all, the most important.
To a greater extent, a sub-theme of Bakhtin’s theory of the grotesque is “carnival,” which provides a “temporary liberation from the prevailing truth and from the established order; it mark[s] the suspension of all hierarchical rank, privileges, norms, and prohibitions” (10). In terms of “The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell,” carnival allows Ragnell to upend social and sexual rules to help women achieve sovereignty over men; this begins with her introduction and carries through to her death. Ragnell’s time as the loathly lady is liberating in that it removes her from any fixed responsibilities or expectations for women in the court. Upon seeing her for the first time, people automatically designate her as the “other” and therefore demand less of her, which enables the Dame to surreptitiously subvert the system. The moments when Ragnell is planning her wedding, and the wedding itself, are arguably times when a revolutionary seed is planted in the minds of men and nobility, which drives them to put women in power.
Furthermore, the wedding night also demonstrates the effects of carnival on the text’s gender structure. The choice Dame Ragnell offers Gawain to have her remain either “fayre on nyghtes / And as foulle on days to alle men sightes, / Or els to have [her] fayre on days / And on nyghtes on fowlest wife,” is manipulative. It presents Gawain with two difficult options which have the power to injure his honour (lines 665-668). Having this choice makes the man feel as though he has authority, but he relinquishes it because the decision is impossible for him to make. By letting Ragnell choose for herself how she wants to appear in public and to Gawain, male and female power switch places within the gender dynamic. In addition, unlike other Loathly Lady tales, Ragnell and Gawain develop a more balanced mutual commitment to each other; while she is granted power over him, neither of them takes advantage of the other. Gawain is so enamoured by his new wife that “as a coward he lay by her bothe day and nyghte. / Nevere wold he haunt justyng aryghte” (lines 808-809). Ragnell promises never to anger or argue with him, and he confesses his love for her and her kindness (lines 785-795). Further, the use of carnival changes the way Arthur and the court perceive and treat Dame Ragnell, despite this shift occurring after her desire for sovereignty has already been fulfilled. She has won everyone’s hearts, Sir Gawain is devoted to her, and even Arthur respectfully obeys her request to make amends with Ragnell’s brother, the knight Sir Gromer.
Although Dame Ragnell informs Arthur that all women desire sovereignty over men “withoute lesyng,” as in without deceit, being the loathly lady helps her exert some sovereignty without requiring a husband’s permission (line 426). In the forest, for example, she undermines and, in a sense, blackmails Arthur by forcing him to let her marry Gawain so that he could avoid death. In the court, she makes her own decisions about the wedding that openly challenge Queen Guinevere and the court’s ideology. John Bugge attests in his text, “Fertility Myth and Female Sovereignty in ‘The Weddynge of Sir Gawen and Dame Ragnell,’” that Dame Ragnell’s sovereignty is, in fact, of a sexual nature and that the woman’s orgasm should therefore be prioritized above the man’s. Bugge believes this is the real meaning behind the answer to Gromer’s riddle. In this way, Bugge claims the couple achieves “marital harmony and mutual respect” since once Ragnell is given sexual authority, she “returns the favor by giving [Gawain] spousal sovereignty,” or sexual pleasure (209). Indeed, they live a life of compatibility and courtesy, and Ragnell is loved by Gawain and the court up until her death which “grevid [him] alle his lyfe” (line 821). What arises out of Ragnell’s curse is a newfound respect for women’s character and their bodily autonomy.
Finally, Dame Ragnell’s agency assists in her support of women and fortifies her mastery over the court and her relationship with Gawain. She does retain authority while being the loathly lady, but acquires even more once she marries Gawain and he voices aloud her right to choose how to appear. Through his acceptance of the fact that, while the curse is half-revoked, Ragnell cannot be beautiful all the time, Gawain learns a lesson about abandoning selfishness and aesthetic biases. Both choices he is given about her looks are, Bugge notes, “only about Gawen, reflecting only the stark polarities of the male ego’s construction of desire” (205). However, Gawain surrenders his desire to gratify and validate those of Ragnell. Gawain’s admission of defeat marks a successful, carnivalesque reorientation of the gender hierarchy in the court, and in the couple’s case even parity. Analogous to the Wife of Bath’s intentions in her Tale, Dame Ragnell as the loathly lady introduces and advocates for the opportunity for women to have their turn exerting control over men so that they can live on equal terms.
In sum, this text uses the loathly lady motif to highlight Dame Ragnell’s initiation of a movement that reshapes gender dynamics in the court and her marriage to Sir Gawain. In conjunction with Dame Ragnell’s Bakhtinian grotesqueness and powerfully unrestrained sexuality, the use of the loathly lady trope censures and analyzes the widespread view of gender ranking, feminine beauty, and what is traditionally considered to be “beautiful.” While Ragnell is beloved and treated with goodwill in her innately attractive form, she enacts real change as the Loathly Lady by deconstructing the behaviour of the medieval patriarchal society toward female competence and urging them to accept having women in power.
Works Cited
Bakhtin, Mikhail Mikhailovich, et al. Rabelais and His World. Translated by Hélène Iswolsky, Indiana University Press, 1984, Accessed 9 Nov. 2023.
Brewer, D. S. “The Ideal of Feminine Beauty in Medieval Literature, Especially ‘Harley Lyrics’, Chaucer, and Some Elizabethans.” The Modern Language Review, vol. 50, no. 3, 1955, pp. 257–69. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3719759. Accessed 10 Dec. 2023.
Bugge, John. “Fertility Myth and Female Sovereignty in ‘The Weddynge of Sir Gawen and Dame Ragnell.’” The Chaucer Review, vol. 39, no. 2, 2004, pp. 198–218. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25094283. Accessed 10 Nov. 2023.
Chochinov, Lauren. “Distressing Damsels: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as a Loathly Lady Tale.” University of Manitoba, The University of Manitoba, 2010, pp. 1–104.
Harpham, Geoffrey. “The Grotesque: First Principles.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, vol. 34, no. 4, 1976, pp. 461–68. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/430580. Accessed 9 Nov. 2023.
Heiniger, Abigail. “‘The Supreme Question’: Gratifying the Loathly Lady in James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses.’” James Joyce Quarterly, vol. 49, no. 2, 2012, pp. 315–34. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24598823. Accessed 7 Dec. 2023.
“The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle.” Edited by Thomas Hahn, The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle | Robbins Library Digital Projects, University of Rochester TEAMS Middle English Text Series, d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/hahn-sir-gawain-wedding-of-sir-gawain-and-dame-ragnelle. Accessed 8 Nov. 2023.