Thursday, April 16, 2020
What's Going on Inside Morgaine's Head?
In "The Mists of Avalon," Morgaine is pretty much in love with Lancelot throughout the entire story. About halfway through the story Lancelot decides that he won't "trespass" and take her virginity and she fills with happiness for the first time since she was a child. First of all, what a life to live. Haven't been happy for the past couple YEARS?? Nice... Moving on to the actual question I'm getting at is how exactly does Morgaine go from being dizzy whenever Lancelot looks at her to "in that molten instant she actually longed for death" (Bradley, 158)? Not only does she long for death, but when walking with Lancelot and Guinivere she was also "tempted to lead them both into the impassable mire...lead them out there and lead them to drown or wander forever in the mists."(Bradley,158) That's pretty freaking dark. Now I get that apparently when Lancelot looks at Guinivere there's nothing but love in his eyes, in fact the love that he just showed Morgaine, but come on. How good is she at reading eye balls because I certainly don't see true love in anyone's eyes I look at (weird). I guess what I'm trying to ask here is just how Morgaine went from loving to Lancelot to wanting to kill both him and Guinivere. I get that they had a "deep and meaningful conversation" (they didn't), but not sure how the story ends with her leaving as a walking omen of death.
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She's definitely having All The Feels. Remember, she's been kept on this island in relative seclusion and in service to a goddess for quite awhile, without the ability to really determine how she spends her days, so yeah, that does kinda suck. This is the first time she's gotten to spend time just hanging out and having fun with someone she likes (maybe ever, but certainly in a long time). So a lot is going on in that moment because it's like a whole lifetime kinda compressed into a moment for her. Before she was brought to Avalon, she was largely responsible for caring for her baby brother (Arthur) because her mom just couldn't be bothered. So yeah, her life has been pretty much not about her own choices until this moment.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is definitely a bit dramatic, but this reflects what happened to women and men in the middle ages (and beyond!) - children were given to convents and monasteries as "thanks" for a healthy and wealthy family. Hard for us to imagine in our time and place for sure.
And check out Kiki's post for a different take on the same scene - see if that helps you see these emotions in another way! ;-)
I think that these emotions, love/lust and jealousy, are some of the strongest emotions that we can feel. They are hard to even feel, let alone put into words. I think that these extremes are portrayed well in this writing. It does seem extreme, but these emotions are definitely that.
ReplyDeleteThese emotions are what makes Morgaine human. I agree with Abbey that it involves lust and jealousy and it must be new emotions that she cannot or does not know to handle. So she turns to anger or wanting something as dark as death for them. It kind of reminded me when some people who get so jealous to the point they think well if I can't have him or her then no one can sort of thing.
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