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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
Early in Malory's Morte Darthur, the knight Balyn encounters another young knight named Garnysh who tells Balyn of his rise from poverty to knighthood through the receipt of patronage and the love of his patron's daughter (87). Balyn asks to meet Garnysh's love, and they look for her in her castle. Finding her bed empty, Balyn discovers her in the arms of another man in the garden. As he reveals this to the young knight Garnysh, a curious thing happens: ‘And whan Garnyssh beheld hir so lyeng, for pure sorou his mouth and nose brast oute on bledynge. And with his swerd he smote of bothe their hedes, and thenne he maade sorowe oute of mesure’ (87). As Garnysh berates Balyn for showing him this scene, Balyn replies, ‘I did it to this entent that it sholde better thy courage, and that ye myght see and knowe her falshede, and to cause yow to leve love of suche a lady. God knoweth I dyd none other but as I wold ye dyd to me’ (87). This early episode in Malory's work provides some interesting insights into the interactions between men and women in the larger text. Throughout Morte Darthur, expressions of sexuality reveal the anxiety surrounding bloodshed, particularly male bloodshed.
The site of this anxiety for such scenes is the stained body of the male knight, inserted into female spheres.
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