Morgan the Crone

I was happy to read in Heng's article that so many have been puzzled by Morgan le Fey's sudden and unexpected responsibility for the action of the romance of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. It is certainly a tricky interpretive mystery, one that leads to a lot of interesting questions about her intentions and her success that are, to allude to Heng's title, knotty.

One knot in particular that interests me, however, is that of Morgan's evident old age. When she is described, ever so briefly, her main characteristic is that of her great age, especially in contrast with the youthful and beautiful Lady. Since Arthurian legend tells us that Morgan is Arthur's half sister, and that he, in this poem, is barely out of his youth, her apparent age is something of a mystery.

It could be that her age is a disguise, meant to conceal her presence in the castle and her control over the plot. After all, Sir Gawain shows himself to be more likely to pay attention to the young ladies than his venerable elders. The lack of unveiling of that aspect of the disguise would seem to weaken this theory, however, especially given the "reveals" that occur in this tale and that of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell.

Another theory is that she is meant to contrast to Gawain's patron, the Virgin Mary, who is often depicted as youthful and maidenly, and Guenevere the young queen. Morgan could be meant to be the wicked old witch preying on young ladies, in the same way that the stepmother in Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell preyed on her youthful stepdaughter.

Whether either of these, or some unknown third option, was the intent of the author is obviously impossible to know, but in any case, her age lends yet another layer of mysterious on top of the already enigmatic Morgan.