What type of study is this?

This is a Literature Review study.

August 21, 2025

Blaming the Victim: Stalking and Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthur

Key Points

The concept of stalking appears prominently through characters such as Merlin and Pelleas in Morte Darthur, highlighting historical attitudes towards consent.
In Pelleas's story, Ettarde is condemned and faces dire consequences for rejecting his affections, reflecting societal victim-blaming.
Elaine of Ascolat's pursuit of Lancelot complicates traditional views of victimhood, showcasing a reversal in stalking roles.
This investigation calls for re-evaluation of the narratives surrounding obsession and rejection, revealing deeper implications in gender dynamics.

Abstract

Examples of what we now call stalking comprise three important episodes in Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthur. The first is well-known: Merlin stalks Nynive, the Lady of the Lake, in pursuit of her maidenhead. Widely unrecognized as stalking is Pelleas’s action in the later episode of Pelleas and Ettarde. The condemnation of Ettarde for her “crime” of rejecting Pelleas’s attentions appears throughout Malory’s account of the event, coming to a head in her magical murder by the same Lady of the Lake who refused (and interred) Merlin. The third stalking has not been recognized as stalking because it is the man who is being stalked—Elaine of Ascolat’s stalking of Lancelot.

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Cite This Study

D. Thomas Hanks (Fri,) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/68a6fb955502675167ba91fa https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3138/flor-2023-0010

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