Galadriel and Morgan le Fey: Tolkien's Redemption of the Lady of the Lacuna

Abstract

Abstract: Morgan le Fey of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Galadriel of Lord of the Rings are both ladies of the lacunae: women who exert control out of sight. Tolkien, who translated Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, redeems this trope in Galadriel. There are many similarities between Morgan and Galadriel (as well as an obvious moral difference, since Morgan is a menacing agent, Galadriel, good, a moral difference marked by their different appearances). This paper focuses on the lacunae effect, and also on the Celtic Loathly Lady connection. Morgan and Bertilak,s lady enter Sir Gawain and the Green Knight together as a dual representation of loathly and lovely femininity, something like the Loathly Lady of Irish sovereignty tales, and Chaucer,s Wife of Bath,s Tale. Galadriel too has an aspect of menace, and thus a glimpse of duality as a Loathly Lady. Suspicion that the alienation of the feminine is at work motivates this investigation of the uses of the extra-textuality (active lacunae and shape-shiftiness) around these women of power.