SOURCE: "The Women in Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy," in Interpretations: A Journal of Idea, Analysis, and Criticism, Vol. 15, No. 2, Spring, 1984, pp. 101-14.

[In the following essay, Herman argues that Stewart's portrayal of women in her Merlin trilogy is the most sympathetic and groundbreaking in Arthurian legend because of her rejection of feminine stereotypes.]

With the publication of The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, and The Last Enchantment Mary Stewart has made a significant contribution to the development of the Arthurian legend, for her trilogy is not merely a retelling but a reworking of earlier Arthurian material. Claiming that, though firmly based in both history and legend, her novels are works of the imagination, she has nonetheless provided explanatory notes for the benefit of those readers who wish to "trace for themselves the seeds of certain ideas and the origins of certain references." Because she has specified some of her sources, one may also examine them to see how she used earlier works to create her trilogy on Merlin. Obviously many of the changes, deletions, and additions were necessitated by her concept of Merlin as basically a human being with the god-given gift of sight.

The focus of this study, however, is not Merlin but Mary Stewart's female characters. A student of the Arthurian legend is struck by her vivid portrayal of women who are not frightened, submissive creatures content to satisfy their men's lustful appetites and blind to everything except bearing and rearing children. Rather than being toys of men, for use or abuse, they themselves often select the men they wish to bed and wed. They frequently dominate the men around them, for they are stronger and cleverer than most men, and they are ambitious, demanding more out of life than marriage and children. It is this concept of women that distinguishes Stewart's trilogy from the earlier Arthurian works she used as her sources.

Stewart's ideal woman is Igerne, Duchess of Cornwall, whose portrayal in two of Stewart's major sources, Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae and Malory's Morte d'Arthur, is here examined. According to Geoffrey, Uther orders all his barons to assemble in London to celebrate his coronation. Among those gathered there is Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, a loyal supporter of Ambrosius and Uther, with his young wife Igerne, the most beautiful woman in the realm. Uther falls in love with Igerne and openly displays his affection for her, whereupon Gorlois, in anger, takes his wife and retires from the court. Enraged, Uther commands Gorlois to return and appear in his court so that he may take lawful satisfaction for the affront. When Gorlois fails to obey the summons, Uther with his army invades Cornwall and besieges Dimilioc, the castle Gorlois occupies after placing Igerne in the invincible castle of Tintagel. A week later, Uther, overcome with the love of Igerne, declares to Ulfin, one of his familiars, that he will die if he cannot possess her. At Ulfin's counsel, Merlin is summoned; and, moved by the sight of Uther's suffering, Merlin declares that to fulfill Uther's wish, he must call upon acts new and unheard of in their day. Through the use of "mendicaminibus" (i.e., "leechcraft" or "mendicaments"), he transforms the king into the likeness of Gorlois and Ulfin and himself into those of Jordan and Brithael, Gorlois's retainers, in such a manner that none could tell them from the originals. In this transformed appearance, they are admitted to Tintagel Castle; Uther enjoys the love of Igerne, who believes him to be her husband, and that night Arthur is conceived. Meanwhile, Uther's men attack Dimilioc; Gorlois, with his comrades, sallies forth and is killed; messengers arrive at Tintagel to inform Igerne of Gorlois's death and are amazed to see the duke sitting beside the duchess. Smiling at their tiding, Uther, as Gorlois, declares that he is very much alive, but is fearful that the king will overtake them there and make them prisoners in the castle. Hence he resolves to make peace with the king. Leaving Tintagel, he puts off the semblance of Gorlois and joins his army. Grieved at the death of Gorlois but glad that Igerne is released from the bonds of matrimony, he returns to Tintagel, takes the castle, and makes Igerne his wife. Geoffrey says that Uther and Igerne are thereafter linked together in no little mutual love. In short, Geoffrey's Igerne is a beautiful but passive woman, obedient to her husband, duped into having sex with Uther, and eventually united with the king in wedded bliss.

Malory begins his Book I, "The Tale of King Arthur," with Uther as King of England and the Duke of Tintagel as Uther's enemy, who warred against the king for a long time. Summoned by Uther, Gorlois and his wife, "a fair lady and a passynge wyse," arrive at court, and Uther lusts after Igerne, who, as a "passing good woman," rejects him. As a faithful wife, she tells her husband of Uther's lust and suggests that they quickly depart from the court and ride all night to their castle. Angered, Uther invades Cornwall. The story continues as in Geoffrey, but Malory's Merlin is already on his way to the king when he, as a beggar, meets Ulfin, for Merlin has foreknowledge of Ulfin's mission. Shortly after Ulfin has ridden back to Uther, Merlin is magically there, promising to fulfill Uther's desire on the condition that the child who will be conceived that night should, upon birth, be turned over to him. Uther agrees and, magically transformed into Gorlois, beds Igerne. The child is conceived, and the next morning Merlin, transformed as Brithael, arrives and takes "Gorlois" away. When Igerne hears that her husband was killed three hours before Uther came to her, "she merveilled who that myghte be that laye with her in lykenes of her lord. So she mourned pryvely and held hir pees." With the assent of all the barons, Uther makes Igerne his queen. When, six months later, Uther asks her to name the father of the child within her body, the queen truthfully explains, and Uther tells her it was he who came to her in the likeness of Gorlois and "the cause how it was by Merlyns counceil." Then the queen "made grete joye" when she knew Uther was the father of her child. At this point there is no mention of Uther's telling his wife of his promise to turn over the child to Merlin; rather, we are merely told that when the child is born, it is delivered to Merlin, who takes it to Ector and has it christened Arthur. Later in the tale, when Igerne is brought to court to meet her son for the first time, she is accused by Ulfin of falseness and treachery because she did not proclaim Arthur as her and Uther's child and thus prevent the civil war. Igerne defends herself, saying that when the child was born Uther commanded it be given to Merlin, that she did not know the child's name, and that she never saw him thereafter. When Merlin declares that Igerne is Arthur's mother and Ector testifies that he fostered Arthur according to Uther's order, Arthur embraces his mother. Thus, Igerne is portrayed by Malory as the faithful wife, first to Gorlois and then, in spite of the duplicity, to Uther; her only concern is to serve her lord and husband. Indeed, Ulfin speaks the truth when he says to Merlin, "Year than more to blame than the queene."

Mary Stewart's treatment of this episode is vastly different from Geoffrey's and Malory's because of her different concept of Merlin and of Igerne. Unlike Malory's Merlin, Stewart's Emrys has no foreknowledge of Uther's love for Igerne; he learns of it from Cadal, who reports the gossip at the inn. And it takes four days for Merlin to get to the king in London. When Uther asks him to bring Igerne secretly to him and make her love him, Merlin replies that his magic cannot do what the king desires. Significantly, he does not magically transform Uther into Gorlois. Stewart's Merlin, of course, has prophetic sight, but unlike Malory, whose Merlin states outright that a child will be conceived when Uther lies with Igerne, Stewart parcels out this particular prophecy bit by bit in the form of Merlin's vague visions. In fact, it is not until Merlin is outside Tintagel waiting for Uther disguised as Gorlois that Stewart has Merlin clearly explain to Cadal and to the reader that Merlin is merely an instrument of fate, Uther a tool, and Igerne a vessel to bring forth the "past and future king." Moreover, Merlin's prophetic sight is not complete, for although he earlier saw Cadal's death, he has no foreknowledge of his own physical injuries or of Uther's anger and refusal to acknowledge the "bastard" he begot that night. Such a treatment of Merlin's sight, especially the earlier vague visions, is necessary to enable Stewart to create suspense, but it also enables her to focus on the human side of Merlin's character and to develop other characters, especially Igerne.

Unlike Geoffrey's and Malory's Igerne, who is a weak, unsuspecting, innocent dupe of Uther and Merlin, Mary Stewart's Igerne is a proud, strong-willed, politically astute, clever woman. It is she who, feigning illness, gets her husband to fetch Merlin to her. And, unlike other women, she is not in awe of Merlin, although she does believe he can see the future. To her, he is a wise, cold person who loves no woman, is committed to no man, and thus is a good judge of her situation. So to Merlin she declares that she loves and desires Uther but that she is a proud woman. She is the daughter of a king, married at sixteen to the Duke of Cornwall; and, although she does not say that she loves the old duke, she declares that Gorlois is a good man whom she honors and respects. Until she saw Uther, she was half content, she says, to starve and die in Cornwall. She knows what she must have, but it is beyond her. So she waits and is silent, for upon her silence hangs not only the honor of herself, Gorlois, and her house but also the safety of the kingdom that Ambrosius died for and that Uther sealed with blood and fire. She is no trashy Helen for men to fight, die, and burn down a kingdom for, she declares. She cannot dishonor Gorlois and the king in the eyes of men, and she can not go to him secretly and dishonor herself in her own eyes. "I am a lovesick woman, yes. But I am also Ygraine of Cornwall," she concludes.

I [Merlin] said coldly: "So you intend to wait until you can go to him in honour, as his Queen?"

"What else can I do?"

"Was this the message I had to give him?"

She was silent.

I said: "Or did you get me here to read you the future? To tell you the length of your husband's life?"

Still she said nothing.

"Ygraine," I said, "the two are the same. If I give Uther the message that you love him and desire him, but that you will not come to him while your husband is alive, what length of life would you prophesy for Gorlois?"

Still she did not speak. The gift of silence, too, I though.

Igerne intends to be queen, and she certainly has the qualifications. Indeed, throughout this scene Merlin refers to this fact. For example, standing over Igerne in bed, he notes that though she is only a woman and young, she acts as if she is a queen giving an audience. Looking at the lovely duchess, he notes her proud mouth, perceives that she is no man's toy, and concludes that if Uther wants her he will have to make her his queen. She is clearheaded, for, getting up from her "sick bed," she does not walk in front of the window to be seen from the courtyard. When Merlin asks her if she will go to Uther on the condition that he will tell her how she may have the king's love on her terms, with no dishonor to herself, Uther, or Gorlois, she takes time to think before answering. Moreover, she refuses to promise to obey Merlin until she knows what she is committed to. Merlin remarks that for the first time he has met a woman with whom he does not have to choose his words, to whom he can speak as he would to another man. Moreover, Igerne's concern is not only for herself and Gorlois and her family name but also for Uther and the kingdom: When Merlin outlines his plot—for her to inform Gorlois that she is pregnant and then to flee with him to Cornwall without the king's leave—Igerne interrupts and, with acute political insight, declares that the angry king will follow and there will be war, when Uther "should be working and mending, not breaking and burning." She then declares that Uther cannot win, for even if he should be the victor in the field, he would lose the loyalty of the West. Merlin observes at this point that Igerne indeed will be queen; though she desires Uther as much as he desires her, she can still think—is cleverer than Uther, clearer of mind and stronger too. Even her final speech to Merlin—if he brings bloodshed to Cornwall through her or death to Gorlois, then she will spend the rest of her life praying to any gods there are that Merlin shall die betrayed by a woman—reveals her concern for her people. So Igerne is not duped into having sex with Uther transformed as Gorlois, and there is no need of Merlin's magical transformations; for it is Igerne who arranges for the admission to Tintagel of the king, merely disguised as the Duke of Cornwall.

This portrayal of Igerne as a strong woman is maintained throughout the trilogy. In The Hollow Hills Merlin, secretly meeting with the pregnant queen, finds her as direct as a man, with the same high pride and fire as before. Unlike Uther, who blames himself, Merlin, and even the child for Gorlois's death, Igerne pragmatically dismisses the matter with What's done is done, for her immediate concern is her child. Uther refuses to acknowledge the child as his heir, planning to send him to King Budec of Brittany to be reared. But the queen (unlike Malory's Igerne) wants Merlin to take the child, rear him as a king's son, and bring him back fully grown to take his place at Uther's side. She, of course, wants Merlin to reassure her of the prophecy concerning her child and of the possibility of her having more children. When Merlin takes leave of Igerne, he reveals that when the time comes, the child will be taken not from a regretful, weeping woman but from a queen who is content to let him go to his destiny. In The Last Enchantment Igerne is present for the funeral of Uther; and although mourning the loss of her beloved husband and terminally ill herself, she plays the role of a queen, richly furnishing her quarters as an appropriate setting for her to meet her son. Also, there is evidence of her ability to judge people and of her political astuteness: She is aware of the ambitions of Lot and of the political necessity of betrothing her daughter Morgan to him. Later she sees the political advantage of marrying her to Urbgen. Moreover, she truly understands, though she dislikes, Morgause, Uther's illegitimate daughter, who tried to teach black arts to Morgan. And she marries Arthur to her lady-in-waiting, the first Guenevere, who unfortunately dies in childbirth.

And so here is Mary Stewart's Igerne, the finest portrayal of this character in the entire body of Arthurian literature. Stewart's remaking of Igerne, as already noted, is partly due to her concept of Merlin as basically a human being with the gift of sight, but it is also a manifestation of her basic concept of women, for her trilogy on Merlin abounds with strong females. Note, for example, Niniane, Merlin's mother, who in Geoffrey's Historia is the nameless daughter of a king of Demetia, a nun at St. Peter's who informs Vortigern that Merlin's father was an incubus. Stewart's Niniane is not a lifeless character but a headstrong woman who refuses to tell her father the name of the man who fathered her child, even though she is beaten so badly that the women believe she will miscarry. Refusing to marry Gorlan, she cooly withstands her father's anger and later bravely confronts her brother Camlach, the new King of South Wales, because of her determination to go to St. Peter's as a nun, even suppressing her gift of sight because the church is opposed to soothsaying.

Moravik, Merlin's governess, is another strong-willed woman. When Merlin's grandfather orders the women to leave the room so that he and Camlach can talk to Niniane, Moravik stands her ground, puffed up with bravery like a partridge, and then leaves with a sniff. Though Merlin is merely a bastard, she obviously regards herself to be superior to the other servants; and when Olwen's baby and Camlach's son are born, she firmly establishes herself in the royal nursery as its official ruler. After Vortigern's sacking of Maridunum, Moravik returns to Brittany and marries Brand, a retired army man who runs her father's tavern. As Merlin tells Hoel, Brand will do as Moravik bids him: "I never knew a man who didn't except perhaps my grandfather." Later, when Merlin arrives at the inn with Ralf and Branwen, there is Moravik, fists on her hips, a creature of bulk and commanding voice, surrounded by an aura of authority. She quickly takes command of Branwen and the child and throughout this scene treats Merlin not as a man, the renowned son of King Ambrosius, but as the wayward small boy from her nursery.

Similar to Moravik is Maeve, another innkeeper and a dominant, earthy woman. When Merlin and Ralf, disguised as an eye doctor and his assistant, arrive at the inn, Maeve eyes them up and down, assessing their sexual potential, until she realizes who they are. Maeve assures Merlin, who is to stay at the inn until Uther leaves Tintagel and the pregnant queen sends for him, that they will be safe there and that they should have no fear of her husband Caw, who is loyal to Igerne and always does as his wife tells him except "some things he don't do near often enough for my liking." Later when Marcia, Ralf's grandmother, riding as straight as a man, arrives at the inn, Maeve chases everyone out of the room, including her husband, so that Marcia can speak privately with her grandson.

Even Marcia, Igerne's maid and confidante, is a strong woman. Because Uther regards Ralf's service to him as a betrayal of his master the Duke of Cornwall, Marcia is concerned about her grandson's safety and sends him to serve Merlin and later Igerne's child, for she believes Merlin's prophecy to Igerne about the crown and the sword standing in an altar. When Merlin leaves the pregnant queen, Marcia, aware of her mistress's plans, confronts Merlin and demands reassurances that he will take possession of the child and keep him safe. Obviously claiming the birth of Arthur as her province of concern, she resents any interference, complaining to Merlin that Gandar, an army surgeon, is to deliver the baby and worrying about wet nurses and related matters. Note that it is she who delivers the baby to Merlin.

Even Keri is a strong woman. The daughter of a prostitute, Keri is brought up at St. Peter's. It is she who pursues Merlin, waiting outside his mother's room to talk to him, pretending to have a toothache, placing his hand against her cheek to effect a cure. Later, fleeing from the nunnery, she goes to Bryn Myrdin, lures Merlin into her arms, and, when he is unable to complete the sex act because of his fear of losing the sight, demands payment for the torn gown. She is no common whore, for she knows that Merlin is a prince, and among her clients she can boast of Uther.

Obviously, with the exception of Marcia, an aged woman who nonetheless bears herself as straight as a young girl, none of these strong-willed women is a man's toy, content merely to satisfy a man's lust. Igerne, married young to old Gorlois, is fortunate to have a kind man as a husband. Yet when she meets Uther, she refrains from sex with Gorlois and physically desires Uther as much as he desires her, so that it is only with her consent that Uther beds her. Even Niniane, according to Merlin's vision of her last meeting with Ambrosius, initiates the sex act by declaring that they must not waste their last two hours together and by heading toward the cave. And one can be certain that Cerdic the groom would not have been permitted to sleep with Moravik without her consent, for Moravik, as does Maeve, dominates the men with whom she wishes to bed.

Indeed, Mary Stewart has little sympathy for women who are willing victims of sexual lust and childbearing. Such a one is Olwen, who, within a month after the death of Merlin's grandfather's second wife, has taken the dead queen's place in the royal bed. This young, dark, silent, "rather stupid" girl can sing like a bird and do fine needlework but little else. She is afraid of her husband, and although she secretly teaches Merlin to play the harp when his grandfather is not around, Merlin says that she was always kind to him in her "vague, placid way." Another is Branwen, Arthur's wet nurse, whose devotion to the baby, following the loss of her own, blinds her to all else. According to Merlin, she is the kind of woman whose life is in the bearing and rearing of children, and she is described as "weak and biddable to the point of stupidity." One should also note that she is of little interest to her companion Ralf, who later falls in love with and marries another girl.

This disdain for women whose lives are devoted solely to the bearing and rearing of children is evidenced elsewhere in the trilogy. In fact, Merlin declares to Ector that Igerne is not a woman for a family, any more than Uther is a family man. Their concern is for each other, and outside their bed they are king and queen. Also, one cannot imagine Morgause's being blind to everything except the bearing and rearing of her sons. And Niniane, who protects her son by remaining silent about his father's identity and later by lying to Vortigern, nonetheless turns him over to Moravik's care and pursues her own desire to become a nun at St. Peter's.

Rejecting the traditional role of women as merely sex objects and mothers, Stewart admires strong-willed women who seek other positions in society to fulfill their lives. Obviously, lower class women, like Moravik, Marcia, Maeve, and Keri, have limited opportunities, but Moravik is a governess, firmly established in the nursery as a figure of authority; Maeve is in charge of a clean, well-run inn; Marcia is not merely a maid but Igerne's closest servant confidante; and Keri rejects the convent to enter the oldest profession. Women of nobility have greater opportunities and are more ambitious. Granted, Niniane rejects the world to become a nun, but Igerne is determined to be queen, and she gets what she wants.

Morgause and Morgan are also ambitious women who end up as queens, but unlike Igerne, they and Rowena use their power for selfish, often destructive, purposes, and consequently there is no sympathy in Stewart's portrayal of these women. Let us first look at Rowena, Vortigern's Saxon queen. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, Vortigern, upon first meeting Rowena, lusted after her, and Hengist gave his daughter in marriage to him in exchange for Kent. Hengist later demanded and received more concessions of land from his son-in-law, but eventually Vortigern turned against Hengist, Rowena remaining faithful to her husband. This account is absent from Mary Stewart's work, whose unsympathetic treatment of Rowena includes her large, milk-white breasts bulging above a tight blue bodice and her beringed fingers thick and ugly like a servant's. She apparently shares her husband's power, for she is seated beside the high king in a chair which, though smaller, is as elaborately carved as Vortigern's. She questions the head magician about Niniane's story, and it is she who orders Ambrosius's messenger's hands to be severed and tied in a bloody cloth to the belt at his waist. Clearly the Saxon witch deserves to be burned alive along with her traitorous husband.

Uther's illegitimate daughter, Morgause, fully aware that the youthful Arthur is her half-brother, lures him to her bed, so that she will conceive a child and thereby retain her position of power at court after the demise of Uther. When her plans are foiled by Merlin, she turns to Lot and marries him, usurping the place of Morgan, the daughter of Uther and Igerne. Realizing that Lot will know her child is not his, she substitutes a newborn bastard of Lot's for Modred, whom she sends away. She then taunts Lot into murdering his own child and ordering his soldiers to kill all the newborn babies in the town, on pretense of orders from Arthur. Morgause and Lot then go to bed laughing and sate their sexual appetites. At the wedding festivities for Morgan and Urbgen, Morgause drugs Merlin's wine—the cause of his insanity and his wandering for seven months in the woods with a pig for companion. Morgause is Stewart's prime villainess, Merlin's and Arthur's enemy, a powerful, evil woman. Indeed, Morgause's only good act is withholding from Modred who his real father is. Arthur has her confined in a religious house, perhaps for her own good but definitely for the good of others.

Unlike Morgause, Stewart's Morgan is not vividly portrayed, her actions being reported rather than directly presented. Morgan, betrothed in her youth to Lot, is happy to be freed of him when Morgause becomes his wife. Not to be outdone by Morgause, Morgan marries the King of Rheged, though, interestingly, it is not until Morgan shows an interest in Urbgen that Igerne and Arthur acknowledge the political advantages of the match. Whether Morgan desires or merely uses the love-struck Accolon is not clear in Stewart's work, but Morgan is obviously in control of him. In the belief that her brother will be killed, she has Accolon steal Arthur's sword Caliburn, substitute a copy, and then challenge Arthur to a fight. Morgan believes that because of her possession of Caliburn her husband will be crowned high king and she queen, but her plans are foiled. Arthur's fake sword breaks, but he kills Accolon, and Urbgen confines his wife in the same nunnery that houses Morgause.

The three queens are contrasted with Igerne, for Morgause and Morgan seek positions of power for purely selfish reasons, and they, along with Rowena, misuse their power for destructive purposes. In this respect they are like their counterparts, Vortigern and Lot, who are contrasted with Ambrosius, Merlin, Uther, and Arthur, who serve the higher goals of ridding Britain of the traitorous Vortigern; containing the Saxons; repelling the Picts, the Scots, and the Irish; establishing peace and stability in Britain and freedom and prosperity for her people. And it is because Igerne shares in and selflessly contributes to the fulfillment of these ideals that she is an admirable woman.

Another such is Nimuë. As Mary Stewart points out in her "Author's Note" to The Last Enchantment, Nimuë's betrayal of Merlin springs from the need to explain the death or disappearance of the all-powerful enchanter. According to Malory, Nimuë is one of the ladies of the lake brought to the court by King Pellinore. Doting on her, Merlin will let her have no rest. She makes Merlin "good chere" until she has learned from him all that she desires. Warning Arthur to take care of his sword and scabbard because they will be stolen by a woman he most trusts (Morgan). Merlin tells the king that his own days are numbered, that he will be buried alive, and that he cannot circumvent his fate. When Nimuë leaves the court, Merlin follows; and because Merlin would have transported her away privily by his subtle craft, she makes him swear not to use any enchantment on her. They travel abroad, Merlin showing her many wonders. Upon returning to Cornwall, she is tired of him and his desire to have her maidenhead, but she is afraid to act against him because he is the devil's son. Nonetheless, when Merlin shows her a marvelous rock under a great stone, she asks him to go under the stone—ostensibly to let her know of the marvels there but really to confine him forever "with her subtle working." Freed of Merlin, she marries Pelleas and serves Arthur, saving the king's life three times. Needless to say, this portrayal of Merlin as a dirty old man lusting after a young, beautiful girl is degrading.

Such a portrayal of Merlin was unsuitable to Stewart, and although Tennyson, whom Stewart mentions, is more sympathetic in his treatment of Merlin as a man of intellect overcome by sexual passion, the poet laureate's Vivian is such a vile harlot that Stewart rejected Idylls of the King and turned to another source, "Summer Country," in which Merlin, growing old, wants to pass on his magical powers to someone who can be Arthur's advisor after his death. For this he chooses as his pupil Nimuë. As Stewart says, this tale not only allows Merlin his dignity and a degree of common sense but also explains Nimuë's subsequent influence over Arthur, who would otherwise have hardly kept her near him or accepted her help against his enemies. Stewart prepares for Nimuë's (Niniane's) appearance in The Last Enchantment by having Merlin recognize in Ninian, Beltane the goldsmith's boy slave, the qualities of a prospective disciple who can carry on his work; Ninian, however, is drowned, much to the sage's grief. Ten years later, returning to Applegarth after Guenevere is rescued from Melwas's lodge, Merlin mistakes Nimuë of the Lake (Niniane), one of the ancillae of the goddess, for the boy Ninian and begs "him" to come along and be tutored. When Nimuë, disguised as a boy, finally arrives, Merlin accepts the youth as god-sent. Nimuë quickly learns, and even though Merlin realizes that his powers are being diminished as they are transferred to the "boy," he is content. He knows that because of the recurrent falling sickness his days are numbered and that Nimuë must be prepared to serve as Arthur's prophet. Moreover, Merlin is in love with him. Not until nine months after Nimuë came to live with Merlin does he learn from Arthur that Nimuë is a girl. Although he has foreseen his end, he knows that love cannot be gainsaid and believes that if Nimuë has any part in his end, it will be merciful. So, toward the end of his life Merlin finds a new beginning in love, a love for both of them. He takes her on a trip to visit the places where he passed his life. At Galava, where he tells her of Macsen's treasures of the grail and spear, he has another spell of passing sickness and, pronounced dead, is entombed alive in his cave. He recovers, escapes with the aid of his servant Stilicho, and is reunited with Arthur and later with Nimuë, now established as the king's enchantress. The meeting between Merlin and Nimuë absolves Nimuë of any guilt in Merlin's "death" and entombment and shows that, while they truly cared for one another, they now realize that the love they once shared is gone. At the end of their meeting, Merlin kisses her, once with passion and once with love, and then lets her go—to Pelleas, her husband, who later tells Merlin that Nimuë belongs first to the king and then to her spouse.

Nimuë is, of course, another of Stewart's strong women. She has no fear of Merlin, and she is not in awe of the king. And she is ambitious. She is not content merely to be another servant of the goddess but is driven by the god to serve Merlin and to acquire his powers. Merlin willingly teaches her, for he loves her and she loves him. Granted, she exults in her newly acquired powers, and one may even say that she is ruthless: as Merlin is slipping into the deathlike sleep, she takes the last of his strength by forcing him to yield the last of his powers to her. But even this action is defensible, for Merlin has instructed her to learn all that he had to tell her, to build on every detail of his life, because after his death she must be Merlin. Moreover, Merlin's "death" is attributed not to Nimuë but to Morgause, for his malady is an aftereffect of the drug that Morgause put into Merlin's wine during Morgan's wedding. And unlike Morgause, who uses her power for selfish and destructive purposes, Nimuë, by taking Merlin's place, uses her power for the higher goal of faithfully serving Arthur and Britain.

But what of Guenevere? Because she is the wife of Arthur and the beloved of Lancelot (Bedwyr in Stewart's The Last Enchantment), one can best examine Guenevere in terms of the various writers' attitudes toward this love affair. At the one extreme is Chrétien de Troyes, who in accord with the dictates of Marie de Champagne, his patroness, glorifies Lancelot and Guenevere as ideal courtly lovers and portrays Arthur as an uncaring husband and an incompetent fool. At the other extreme is Malory, who, although he declares that Lancelot and Guenevere are one of the two greatest pairs of lovers in the world, nonetheless characterizes her in unflattering terms. As T. H. White remarks, Malory has no love for Guenevere. And neither does Tennyson, who places the blame for the moral decay of Arthur's court clearly on Guenevere.

Mary Stewart is more sympathetic. Melwas does abduct the queen, and Bedwyr, with Merlin's aid, does rescue her before Arthur's arrival; but it is Arthur, not Bedwyr, who defeats Melwas in singlehanded combat and is thus avenged. Arthur's dignity is restored, and the queen is blameless. That Guinevere was not blameless was Merlin's original deduction, but several days later he realizes his mistake when he learns from Arthur of Guenevere's true account of what happened. Pointing out that Merlin has declared several times that he knows nothing of women, Arthur, in his defense of Guenevere, offers a strong defense of women: "Does it never occur to you," Arthur remarks to Merlin, "that they lead lives of dependence so complete as to breed uncertainty and fear? That their lives are like those of slaves, or of animals that are used by creatures stronger than themselves, and sometimes cruel? Why, even royal ladies are bought and sold, and are bred to lead their lives far from their homes and their people, as the property of men unknown to them." Merlin recalls that he has seen women suffer from the whims of men, even those women who, like Morgause, were stronger and cleverer than most men. He also notes that, except for the lucky ones who find men they can rule or who love them, women suffer from men's use.

Arthur truly loves Guenevere, but unlike the majority of Stewart's female characters, Guenevere is not a strong woman. Although she is not afraid of her husband, she is afraid of the people around her, afraid of Melwas, and especially afraid of Merlin. Indeed, Arthur tells Merlin that at times he thinks Guenevere is afraid of life itself. When Merlin goes to Ynys Witrin to escort the queen back to Arthur, he realizes that Arthur has been right about her; for he sees that Guenevere, although a queen in composure and courage, is really a timid, lonely, frightened girl and that her youthful gaiety is merely the mask of an exile's eager search for friendship among the strangers of a court vastly different from the homely hearth in her father's kingdom. Because Arthur is frequently away from court on state affairs, she has no husband to stand between her and the flatterers, the power-hungry schemers, the enviers of her rank and beauty, and the young men ready to worship her. Moreover, being barren, she is tormented by those who tell her of the first Guenevere, who conceived the first time Arthur bedded her and for whom he grieved so bitterly. Consequently, Merlin—like the reader—pities the queen.

Guenevere and Bedwyr, of course, are lovers, but, again, Stewart is sympathetic. Because of their love for Arthur, both Guenevere and Bedwyr struggle against their desires. Moreover, Arthur is aware of this love affair long before Merlin informs him of it; he accepts it as fated and leaves Bedwyr with Guenevere when he travels north to Strathclyde in order "to let them have something, however little." Arthur explains that he is a king, not a cottager with nothing in his life except a wife and a bed to be jealous of, like a cock on a dunghill. His life is that of a king, whose principal concern is the safety and well-being of his people. Guenevere is queen, but because she is childless, her life is less than a woman's. Because of his duties he cannot be there at court with her, and, realizing that Guenevere is a young woman who needs companionship and love, he is thankful that of all the men she could have taken as a lover she chose Bedwyr. He refuses to say anything; to do so would be to no avail, for, as Merlin has noted, love cannot be gainsaid. And. most important, Arthur does not wish to destroy the trust and friendship that he and Bedwyr share. Merlin is overwhelmed by Arthur's wisdom, and thus Stewart has achieved two purposes: to increase Arthur's stature and to defend the queen in one of the most sympathetic treatments of Guenevere in Arthurian literature.

In conclusion, even in the case of Guenevere, a weak woman, Mary Stewart has both Merlin and Arthur defend and forgive her. Such a treatment of Guenevere is consistent with Stewart's overall theme of strong, dominant women who reject traditional feminine roles.