Which witch?: Morgan Le Fay as shape-shifter and English perceptions of magic reflected in Arthurian legend

Descended from Celtic goddesses and the fairies of folklore, the literary character
of Morgan le Fay has been most commonly perceived as a witch and a one-dimensional
villainess who plagues King Arthur and his court, rather than recognized as the legendary
King’s enchanted healer and otherworldly guardian. Too often the complexity of Morgan
le Fay and her supernatural abilities are lost, her character neglected as peripheral. As a
literary figure of imaginative design this thesis explores Morgan le Fay as a unique
“window” into the medieval mindset, whereby one can recover both medieval
understandings of magic and female magicians. By analyzing her role in key sources
from the twelfth to fifteenth century, this thesis uses Morgan le Fay to recover nuanced
perceptions of the supernatural in medieval England that embraced the ambiguity of a
pagan past and remained insulated from continental constructions of demonic witchcraft.