1. French and English Forms of "Morgan le Fay"
"Morgan le Fay" is a 15th century English form of the name that was institutionalized as the normal English form by Malory in the Morte Darthur.
2. Morgan's bloodline: Genealogically, she is identified three ways: as Gawain's aunt, as Arthur's half-sister, and as the daughter of the duchess of Tintagel--Igern in Geoffrey of Monmouth (1138), History of the Kings of Britain 8.19--on whom Uther Pendragon later sired Arthur. This is interesting because whereas genealogies tend to be traced through the male line, Gawain's relationship to his aunt is expressed chiefly via a female line.
3. Morgan and Merlin: Biographically, Morgan is identified through her relationship with Merlin, by whom she acquired her magic. In the Prose Lancelot and the Livre d'Artus in the Vulgate Cycle, Morgan does this when she's been driven from Arthur's court on account of a love-affair with Guiomar discovered by Guinevere. In the wilderness, she meets Merlin, who falls in love with her and teachers her his magic. Both the Prose Lancelot and the Livre d'Artus stress that once Morgan had fled the court she hated Guenevere.
4. Morgan as "Goddess": The Prose Lancelot is suggestively close to SGGK in terms of the information it gives about Morgan. It identifies Morgan as "Morgue la deesse"--Morgan the goddess as in SGGK line 2452. It also gives Morgan's genealogy in terms very similar to those in SGGK lines 2465-66: "Morgue was the daughter of the duke of Tintagel and of Igern, who afterwards was the queen of Britain and wife of Uther Pendragon, and from her (Igern) was born Arthur, who was engendered on her while the duke still lived through the treachery that Merlin devised." A few lines later, the Prose Lancelot tells the story of Morgan's affair with Guiomar, her expulsion by Guenevere from court, her consequent hatred for Guenevere, and how once in the wilderness she had an affair with Merlin, from whom she learned magic:
It was true that Morgue the sister of Arthur knew enchantment.... throughout
the
country, no one said that she was a woman, rather they called her Morgue
the goddess.... Morgue was the daughter of the duke of Tintagel
and of Igern,
his wife who afterwards was the queen of Britain and the wife of Uther
Pendragon; and from her was born king Arthur, who was engendered in her
while the duke still lived through the treachery that Merlin devised....
The duke was a very ugly knight and Morgue took after him, for she was
very ugly.... (After leaving court she sought Merlin) and she had brought
with her a very great fortune and a very great mounted troop; she had a
liaison with Merlin, who loved her more than anything and taught her all
the magic and enchantments that she knew afterwards, and she stayed with
him a long while. And the infant that she had of Guiomar was later a knight
of great prowess. This was the reason for the hatred that she bore against
Guenevere all the days of her life.
[Trans. MWT from the edition of Micha, vol. 1, sections XXII. I and XXIV.
3 9, 42]
5. Morgan in Bertilak's House: In addition to this biographical information, in SGGK she is said to live in Bertilak's house, and Bertilak refers to her honorifically as the "the ancient lady," which accords with the respect that Morgan is shown earlier in the poem, before she is identified to Gawain and to the reader. For example, when Gawain first sees her, she leads Bertilak's wife by the left hand, and the poet observes that Morgan "was older then she, an aged one she seemed, and highly honored by the men about her" (948-49). Morgan is seated at the highest place at table (1001), and later the poet notes that never was a knight so finely entertained between two such noble ladies (1315-16).
