The Loathly Lady

A fouler wight ther may no man devyse.

She’s ugly, old and lowborn.

All of these characteristics make her a less-than-ideal partner for the any knight in the world were this another romance. This however, does not stop her from trying, many say she desperately seeks the company of men. She’s jumps at the opportunity to lie a younger man, and she lectures them (some might say gives them a brow-beating) when they berates her for who she is.

She’s rhetorically skillful, a characteristic that becomes clear in her long speeches and poems. In this, just as in her cunning, the loathly lady resembles the beautiful Igraine herself, if not in the sentiments she expresses, at least with the skill (and lengthiness!) with which she does so.