Bruxas e feiticeiras em novelas de cavalaria do ciclo arturiano : o reverso da figura feminina?

Abstract

Middle Age is a period full of questions about man definition and his role among others. The aim of this paper is centered on the figure of sorceresses in the mystic universe of cavalry narratives. Both different descriptions and approaches of characters considered as witches are presented in order to reveal behaviors that distinguish them from medieval women. It is necessary to appraise the historic meaning of this period in human evolution context, focusing women role in creation and improvement of arts, cavalry romances that portray social reality from Middle Ages and also the mysterious figure of sorceresses and their possible interpretations. The corpus of this paper is: Amadis de Gaula and A Demanda do Santo Graal. As a bibliographic study, all investigation is based on theoretical, critical and historic texts. The structural elements of narrative will be presented in literary analysis, focusing character study. The historical medieval woman will be pointed out in contrast with historical and literary figure of sorceresses. According to some scholars, witches were considered as evil women and this idea is related to demonology which favored the construction of the witch image in medieval mind. Thus, a feminine reverse is represented in A Demanda do Santo Graal, whose religious thematic is intense and medieval misogyny more visible. In Amadis de Gaula it is not possible to attribute the same image to the sorceress because all supernatural elements occur in a natural way. This reflects a pacific retaking of pagan values. The resemblance with real life helps verisimilitude to get credibility over the characters. A great similarity of a witch character with real conceptions about medieval sorceresses or witches gives the romances a unique and fictional documental sign of traditions.