Guinevere Ontem e Hoje: Representa o Feminina na Literatura

This essay presents the feminine representation through the Guinevere or Gwenhwyfar character in the following books: the contemporary “The mists of Avalon” series by Marion Zimmer Bradley, "The Warlord Chronicles" series by Bernard Cornwell, and the medieval "Lancelot: the knight of the cart" by Chrétien de Troyes.An important character in these Arthurian stories, Guinevere or Gwenhwyfar is presented under several ways: in the medieval age (specially, in this case, by Chrétien de Troyes), she is a courtly woman; in modern literature (by Marion Zimmer Bradley), she is Arthur's promised wife, with a Christian creation, taken for penitence and guilt because she loves another man (Lancelot). In another narrative (by Bernard Cornwell), she is a strong, determined woman, which makes everything to get the power of the Britain Kingdom. Strong, weak, religious, Christian, pagan, ambitious woman and member of the love triangle with Lancelot and Arthur: which fictional construction is closer of the medieval pattern?The construction of the character in those different books will be analyzed from the point of view of the feminine representation in the medieval society, in accordance with the grounds presented in the following works: "A history of women in the West: Middle Ages" by George Duby and Michele Perrot; and "A História e o Conceito na Literatura Medieval" by Kathrin Rosenfield, in order to show which of these characters would be closer to the present feminine profile in the Arthurian literary cycle.