In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight she is presented as the instigator of the Green Knight's visit to Arthur's court, partly motivated by her desire to frighten Guinevere. Her enmity towards Guinevere has its origin in the Vulgate Lancelot, where Morgan is having an affair with Guiomar, Guinevere's cousin, and Guinevere puts an end to it.
Despite the motif of Morgan's enmity towards Arthur and Guinevere, she is also presented as one of the women who takes Arthur in a barge to Avalon to be healed. This view of Morgan as healer has its roots in the earliest accounts of her and perhaps to her origin in Celtic mythology. In the Vita Merlini (c. 1150) Morgan is said to be the first of nine sisters who rule The Fortunate Isle or the Isle of Apples and is presented as a healer as well as a shape-changer. It is to this island that Arthur is brought (though Morgan awaits him and heals him rather than actually fetching him herself). Morgan proclaims that she can heal Arthur if he stays with her for a long time.
Morgan is also said to be the wife of King Uriens and the mother of Yvain or Ywain. Malory makes Morgan the wife of King Urien Rheged, an historical mid to late 6th century King of what is now Cumberland and Westmorland in Northern Britain. Though technically this may have been just about possible, during this time period it is stretching credulity a little far. Morgan was an elder half-sister of King Arthur who fought at Mount Badon around 495-500 and traditionally died in 537. Urien was assassinated during a military campaign around 590. The earlier Vulgate Cycle, however, makes Morgan a generation younger, being the daughter of King Lot of Lothian (Gododdin). On the other hand, Welsh Tradition tells us that Urien's wife was Modron ferch Afallach, apparently a sister-in-law of King Maelgwn Gwynedd, and it may be that two ladies have become confused.
Alternatively, this latter identification may betray the lady's true origins as a Pagan Celtic Goddess. Modron was the name of the Celtic Mother-Goddess, often depicted in Romano-British times as having a triple personality. This may be seen in Arthurian tales through her association with the Queens of Northgalis (North Wales) and the Wastelands. The Lady of the Lake may have been another aspect of the lady. Modron's father, Afallach, was the titular God of the Celtic Otherworld, Avalon. Morgan is said to have lived here with her nine sisters, a not insignificant group similar to the Greek Muses. Some early sources actually refer to Morgan as "the Goddess," while her shape-shifting and healing aspects clearly indicate heavenly powers. She appears to have gradually degenerated into "Le Fay" - a fairy - who could fly through the air on enchanted wings: to this day, the Breton name for a water-nymph is a Morgan.
The lady's wicked character appears to have been the invention of the Cistercian monks who wrote the stories of the Vulgate Cycle. Influenced by memories of the ancient Irish Goddess, the Morrighan (Phantom Queen), another triple-aspect divinity representing life & death, sexuality and conflict, they painted poor pagan Morgan as black as they could. They believed it blasphemous for a healer to be neither male nor a member of a religious order and Morgan paid dearly for her reputation.
Morgan rarely appears in post-medieval works--until the twentieth century when there is a renewed interest in her character. Sometimes she is conflated with Morgause and made to be the mother of Mordred, as is the case in John Boorman's movie Excalibur and a number of modern novels. Fay Sampson has made her the central figure in five novels. One of the most interesting modern portrayals of Morgan appears in Thomas Berger's Arthur Rex where, after a life devoted to evil, she decides to become a nun because of her belief that "corruption were sooner brought amongst humankind by the forces of virtue." Morgan actually does become a defender of good in modern stories like Roger Zelazny's "The Last Defender of Camelot" and Sanders Anne Laubenthal's Excalibur.
alternative names: Morgaine, Modron, Morgian, Morgan le Fee, Fata Morgana,
titles and positions: The Orcades Queen, the Rheged Queen, Princess/Queen/Priestess of Avalon, daughter of Duke Gorlois of Cornwall
Historical/Mythical Roots:probably from the goddess Modron (Matrona) or possibly derived from the Irish goddess Morrigan
TEXTS:
Cawein, Madison J. (1865-1914), Accolon of Gaul
Cawein, Madison J. (1865-1914), "Morgan Le Fay"
IMAGES:
Beard, Dan(iel Carter) (1850-1941), "Mrs. Morgan Le Fay" (1889)
Beardsley, Aubrey (1872-1898), "How Morgan le Fay Gave a Shield to Sir Tristram" (1893)
Dixon, Arthur (fl. 1893-1920), "She Snatched the Empty Sheath From Its Place" (1921)
Dixon, Arthur (fl. 1893-1920), "There Appeared Before Me a Dwarf" (1921)
Flint, William Russell, Sir (1880-1969), "'Madam,' said Sir Tristram, 'This is a Fair Shield and a Mighty'" (1927)
Flint, William Russell, Sir (1880-1969), "Morgan le Fay Was Put to School in a Nunnery, and there She Learned so Much that She Was a Great Clerk of Necromancy" (1927)
Flint, William Russell, Sir (1880-1969), "'Therefore Thee Behoveth Now to Choose One of Us Four'" (1927)
Ford, H. J. (1860-1941), "Morgan le Fay Casts away the Scabbard" (1902)
Galbreth, Jessica, "Morgana Le Fey" (2000)
Pyle, Howard (1853-1911), "Queen Morgana le Fay" (1903)
Pyle, Howard (1853-1911), "Queen Morgana Loses Excalibur His Sheath" (1903)
Rackham, Arthur (1867-1939), "How Queen Morgan Stole Away the Scabbard from Arthur" (1917)
Rackham, Arthur (1867-1939), "When She Saw She Must Be Overtaken She Shaped Herself Horse and Man by Enchantment unto a Great Marble Stone" (1917)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Paton, Lucy Allen. Studies in the Fairy Mythology of Arthurian Romance. 2d ed., Enlarged by a Survey of Scholarship on the Fairy Mythology since 1903 and a Bibliography by Roger Sherman Loomis. 1903; 2d ed. New York: Burt Franklin, 1960.
Thompson, Raymond H. "The First and Last Love: Morgan le Fay and Arthur." In The Arthurian Revival: Essays on Form, Tradition, and Transformation. Ed. Debra N. Mancoff. New York: Garland, 1992. Pp. 230-47.