The Fluidity of Monstrous and Chivalrous identities in Sir Gawain and the Carl of Carlisle and the Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle

This study examines the fluid interplay between chivalrous and monstrous identities in Arthurian romances, using a framework drawn from monster studies, theories of evil and harm, performance studies, and postcolonial studies. Monstrosity is understood as a constructed and composite category. It is not an ontological category someone is but an epistemological category an agent becomes through reiterations of the collection of tangible and intangible signifiers that validate the subject’s coming into being within a particular discursive system. In the Arthurian romances, the discursive normality is framed through the regulating codes of chivalry. Monsters are beings whose performance of transgressive acts inflict various forms of undeserved harm to chivalry, others, or society in general. The article explores this porosity in Sir Gawain and the Carl of Carlisle (c. 1400) and The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle (c. 1500). It argues that in these stories, knights and their adversaries exist in a fluid state, constantly shifting between chivalrous and monstrous identities based on their actions in confrontations. These encounters highlight how chivalric and monstrous identities are not fixed but are shaped through performative acts and cultural constructs, leading to conflict within these narratives. Thus, Arthurian knights risk embodying monstrosity when they engage in behaviors that deviate from, threaten, or harm the core values of the chivalric society they uphold.