Many female characters in the tales Before the Tain are pregnant when introduced and that pregnancy makes up most of their character. What does it say about modern values at this time that the important women are pregnant? How does the pregnancy being a main trait of the female character effect how they are presented in the book: description, personality, background, etc?
Medieval Feminism
ENGL 361 and WGST 322 | Spring 2020 | Dr. Myra Seaman
The reoccurring theme of pregnancy in each tale was something that also caught my attention and struck me as a distinct part of the women’s roles. Many of the instances involved women wanting to be impregnated by kings as a way to give their sons power and status. In other instances, kings desire specific women to have as wives and bear their children. This caused me to think, were women’s roles at this time mainly to bear children and carry on the noble legacy? If so, does this give power to women since they are the only ones capable of having a child? In the case of Nes and her son Conchobar, she is able to use her body in the means of giving more power to her son’s title. I believe that it does give women power in both a manupilative way and empowering way.
It definitely seemed to me like women were in the stories to have children, raise children, and/or tempt men to want their children. I feel like their sexuality (childbearing included) was about the only personality they had. Macha, who raced the chariots and gave birth on the field (p.7), did not fully agree with this theme, though. She demonstrated that she was angry, which showed more personality than some of the other female characters. What really set Macha apart was that she cast essentially a curse on the men who had wronged her, and therefore that was her main purpose in that story, rather than childbearing (although she obviously was also pregnant). It is interesting, though, that her powerful action was seen as negative. It was although she was a character to show women what happens when their main purpose isn’t childbearing. The message seems to be that happiness and strength should come from sexual partners and delivering them children.
I also noticed that about all of the female characters in the stories were either pregnant or became pregnant. The stories often revolved around the kings or noble figures. Their interactions with women were nearly always involved with sexuality. In the story about Cuchulainn’s courtship of Emer, the purpose of the courtship was because he was on a hunt to make sure he would have an heir. The relationships in the story are never about true love, as they usually are in the Medieval tales we’ve read so far. The values represented in the Tain are heavily focused on war, nobility, and sexuality in regards to what the men desire whether that be a son or their own pleasure.
Many female characters in the tales Before the Tain are pregnant when introduced and that pregnancy makes up most of their character. What does it say about modern values at this time that the important women are pregnant? How does the pregnancy being a main trait of the female character effect how they are presented in the book: description, personality, background, etc?
Pregnancy became a personality trait for women during this time period. It was all the men wanted from the women. Men wanted the sexual pleasure of the women and nothing else. From “The Tain” you can see men focusing on things such as war and of course sexuality and women did not have much if any say to what happened to them. It is a sad truth during this time period and women were so limited in their thinking about their ability that it caused men to think they could just do whatever they wanted to with no consideration in regards to women.
The amount of pregnancy displayed within just the before section seems a bit overdramatic. It does show a lot of the contemporary values of what is typically placed in 1st century pre-Christian Ireland. It speaks on the value of women within the community, as what one can assume was a traditionally oral tale for generations. If anything, I think it just places the emphasis on fertility that they’re so desperately trying to keep up. There’s a reason that a curse is placed while Crunniuc’s wife is birthing twins. With that and the mention of druids, it seems like there’s such a strong influence on the power, mystically speaking, of women in their community.