Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2023
Abstract
The Awntyrs off Arthur is concerned with critical introspection, manifesting in numerous unconsciously and consciously addressed expressions of anxiety. Gawain, speaking to the ghost of Guinevere’s mother, wonders how he fights for other lords’ land in an attempt to ‘wynnen worshipp’, when doing so ‘withouten eny right’ (ll. 263-4). The use of ‘wynnen worshipp’ demonstrates the futility of the battle prowess intrinsic to chivalry; Gawain’s faith in the ability to win praise of arms has been shrouded by the means used to achieve it. While ‘right’ is used in this context as an entitlement to land, Gawain’s word choice relates closely to another prominent anxiety within the Awntyrs, which is the anxiety of acting justly. There are several anxieties experienced by these characters that contribute to the poem’s underlying existential threat, such as: upholding chivalric ideology and identity; the impossibility of determining what is the right; the justification of exorbitant wealth and a failure of charity; and the commitment to purity and chastity, and refusing the temptations of ‘luf paramour’ (ll. 213). The supernatural figure of Guinevere’s mother plays a significant role in the poem’s anxious terrain. Historian Saunders relates the modern concept of phenomenology to a foundation of medieval psychology, which observes the relationship between body, mind, and affect. This connection informs the reading of anxiety in Arthurian romances, particularly in the Awntyrs, as the ghost’s decaying exterior represents a traumatized internal form that acts as both mirror and warning to Guinevere. In an age acutely anxious about the fragile relationship between body and mind, the supernatural becomes a vessel for addressing these concerns tangibly. This essay will argue that these various forms of anxiety establish the subterrain of the Awntyrs poem, and that the supernatural has the capacity to confront these anxieties in a way inaccessible to the human characters of the text.