Let Calle Hym Trystrams: Women's Reproductive Bodies and Resistance in Malory's "Le Morte Darthur"

Alongside the battle scenes and amidst the holy quests, the female characters of Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur abide within the patriarchal norms of their chivalric world. The gendered expectations of this society include the assumption that queens and ladies will fall pregnant and give birth to the next generation of kings and destined knights. This article analyzes the portrayal of five Arthurian noblewomen--Elyzabeth, Igrayne, Margawse, Elayne of Corbenic, and Gwenyvere--in relation to this reproductive role expected of their childbearing bodies. It argues that a critical perspective is present throughout Malory's fifteenth-century text. This perspective challenges the belief that women should be constrained to a reproductive purpose for the benefit of patrilineal succession, only to be then subsumed and forgotten by the narrative. This article seeks to highlight the persistent voice throughout Le Morte Darthur that calls for female characters to be defined not by their reproductive potential but their individual identities.