CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Sharan Newman
Guinevere as Superwoman
By the time second-wave feminism was making its way into the workplace in the mid-1980s, Guinevere had evolved into a character with greater depth and agency than ever before. As Walters writes, “Since the new focus on Guinevere’s feelings corresponded to the development of the feminist movement, it ultimately led to her treatment as a being with desires and ambitions different from those dictated by a patriarchal society.”453 In many ways, she became an example of all the feminist movement hoped to achieve, just like she had been a symbol of proper female behavior in (more submissive) years past. Howey points to the opportunity this created: “Guinevere…provides contemporary writers with a female character whose importance to the leg
