Strong Female Characters: Lady Bertilak and Lady Brett Ashley

Strong Female Characters: Lady Bertilak and Lady Brett Ashley

The women in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight are key characters who are largely responsible for the overall development of the story. A main driving force is the wife of Bertilak who is largely responsible for testing Sir Gawain at the castle. Similarly, women in modern literature play key roles in the growth of the plot. One example is Lady Brett Ashley from The Sun Also Rises. She, like Bertilak’s wife, uses her femininity against the male characters in the stories. These two female characters are very similar in their roles within their prospective stories and this shows how the role of women in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a more modern view than other medieval epics.

Both Lady Bertilak and Lady Brett Ashley are very strong and independent women. In both stories, the women are described as extremely beautiful people who use their beauty for their benefit. Bertilak’s wife, with “the fair hues of her flesh, her face and her hair and her body and her bearing were beyond praise,” (134) attempts to use her attractive features to seduce Sir Gawain, as part of Morgan La Faye’s plan to test Sir Gawain’s knightliness. Brett Ashley, who is described by her friends as “damned good-looking” (29), uses her looks for more selfish reasons than Bertilak’s wife. She knows that every guy will fall in love with her and she uses that to her advantage multiple times throughout the story.

The main way in which each female uses her appearance is to affect the relationships around her. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Bertilak’s wife and Morgan La Faye know how seemingly irresistible Lady Bertilak is. They use this as a main part of their test of Sir Gawain. Bertilak’s wife tries three times to seduce her guest, and each time Sir Gawain resists, like the honorable knight he is. Each attempt to tarnish Sir Gawain’s honor is carried through in his bedroom, “and lo, we are alone here, and left to ourselves…the door drawn…my body is here at hand, your each wish to fulfill; your servant to command I am, and shall be still,” (139), and each situation is similar to the one before. Lady Bertilak flirts a little more each time, but the basic idea is the same throughout. Because Sir Gawain has made the agreement with Bertilak as a part of Morgan La Faye’s larger plan, Bertilak’s wife is left alone in the castle to try to make Sir Gawain appear to be a disreputable knight. Likewise, Lady Brett Ashley is seen as gorgeous by every male character in The Sun Also Rises, that inevitably she causes some disputes among friends. The bond between Jake Barnes and Robert Cohn is tested when Cohn tells Barnes that he thinks, “she’s a remarkably attractive woman,” (46) and proceeds to probe Barnes with questions about Brett Ashley. Barnes simply responds to Cohn by telling him that he has no chance with Brett because she is going to marry another man.  Not only does Brett cause a rift in the friendship between Barnes and Cohn, but she also uses her feminine wiles to annoy Cohn further with her relationship with Pedro Romero.

In both Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and The Sun Also Rises, the female characters utilize their beauty to the disadvantage of their male counterparts. In Sir Gawain, Lady Bertilak follows the guidance of Morgan Le Faye, whereas in The Sun Also Rises, Lady Brett Ashley is a very independent woman who disregards what others think. Both ladies are portrayed as extraordinarily beautiful and in both stories their beauty is strategic and beneficial. The comparison between Lady Bertilak and the other woman in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight further amplifies Bertilak’s wife’s beauty, a key characteristic of the female character. In The Sun Also Rises, Lady Brett’s appearance is described as boy-like, yet she is still stunning in the eyes of every male. The women in both stories are cunning and compelling personalities and portray strong female characters in two otherwise, very different tales.