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The Pearl-Maiden's Two Lovers

The Pearl-Maiden's Two Lovers STUDIES IN PH ILOLOGY Volume  Winter,  Number  The Pearl-Maiden’s Two Lovers by Jane Beal N her contribution to A Companion to the Gawain-Poet, Jane Gilbert analyzes gender and sexual transgression in Cleanness, Pearl, and ISir Gawain and the Green Knight, and she argues that Pearl contains implications of incest: ‘‘Feminist critics have long (Greer ) com- plained that women are infantilized in Western culture—that the fea- tures which are considered to constitute their sexual attractiveness are in many cases those of the child. . . . In Pearl, this combination works powerfully to emphasize the idea of incest with a very young daugh- ter, and thus to render the desire the Dreamer expresses disturbing.’’ Gilbert’s claim depends on an ‘‘elegiac’’ reading of Pearl, a reading that originated with Richard Morris in  when he edited the poem for the Early English Text Society. In his introduction, he wrote, ‘‘the author evidently gives expression to his own sorrow for the loss of his infant child, a girl of two years old,’’ and this view, that the relationship be- tween the Dreamer and the Pearl-Maiden is one between a father and a daughter, has been widely accepted. When http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Studies in Philology University of North Carolina Press

The Pearl-Maiden's Two Lovers

Beal, Jane.
Studies in Philology , Volume 100 (1) – Feb 24, 2003
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Publisher
University of North Carolina Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 The University of North Carolina Press.
ISSN
1543-0383

Abstract

STUDIES IN PH ILOLOGY Volume  Winter,  Number  The Pearl-Maiden’s Two Lovers by Jane Beal N her contribution to A Companion to the Gawain-Poet, Jane Gilbert analyzes gender and sexual transgression in Cleanness, Pearl, and ISir Gawain and the Green Knight, and she argues that Pearl contains implications of incest: ‘‘Feminist critics have long (Greer ) com- plained that women are infantilized in Western culture—that the fea- tures which are considered to constitute their sexual attractiveness are in many cases those of the child. . . . In Pearl, this combination works powerfully to emphasize the idea of incest with a very young daugh- ter, and thus to render the desire the Dreamer expresses disturbing.’’ Gilbert’s claim depends on an ‘‘elegiac’’ reading of Pearl, a reading that originated with Richard Morris in  when he edited the poem for the Early English Text Society. In his introduction, he wrote, ‘‘the author evidently gives expression to his own sorrow for the loss of his infant child, a girl of two years old,’’ and this view, that the relationship be- tween the Dreamer and the Pearl-Maiden is one between a father and a daughter, has been widely accepted. When

Journal

Studies in Philology – University of North Carolina Press

Published: Feb 24, 2003

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