The Lady Is A Groupie

Since you all helped me with your input, especially Lindy with the idea, and Bel with the title and fixing my poor grammar and style, I figured I'd share it with you. For your reading pleasure *trying so hard to say that with a straight face*, I bring you "The Lady Is A Groupie"!

It seems that celebrities are not such a new thing. In fact, the concept of a celebrity and everything that goes with it have been around for quite a long time. Sir Gawain was a celebrity of his time. Or at least that is what the legend makes us believe. People wanted to know everything about him. Tales were being told, the legend grew, and his name became known everywhere. As every other celebrity, he had admirers, or as they would be called today, fans. The Green Knight's wife was one of them.

The idea of a celebrity nowadays differs considerably from the idea of a celebrity of that time. In the past the most famous people were heroes. Heroes could have been kings, princes, sometimes outlaws, like Robin Hood, or knights, such as Sir Gawain. What made someone a hero were their heroic deeds. A man would go to a war where he would fight bravely, he would save lives, he would fight for some high ideals such as freedom or his country, and it would make him a hero. The others would tell stories about him and his fame would grow. It was also an honor to know a hero, to fight beside him or to be his friend.

Celebrity worship was no different back than it is today. People always seem to want to know their heroes, only today's heroes are famous movie stars or rock stars. People are hungry for the news about them, especially for the stories of their private lives. Most of all, they are trying to get near to them, to get to know them personally. It seems that being around a celebrity makes one a celebrity of some sort as well.

The best known if not notorious type of a fan is a so-called groupie. Groupies are girls follow their favorite bands and rock stars to their concerts and who spend all of their time around their favorite stars. More often than not these girls want to sleep with them only to be able to say that they have done it. Having sex with celebrities has little to do with love, it is more of a dream come true. Those are usually very brief affairs, encounters rather, and seldom if ever are they lasting relationships. A groupie would take it as a fun event, as some sort of her own heroic endeavor. It is her achievement, her own story to tell.

The Green Knight's wife was no different than those girls. She might have even been the very first groupie. She was probably leading a pretty boring life, locked in a castle while her husband was out hunting, or fighting enemies, or conquering land. All she ever got to do was to listen to the stories about all of those brave, famous people that she would never meet.

Therefore, having such a well known knight in her own house, at her disposal, must have been a thrilling experience. She had probably heard a lot of stories of Sir Gawain's adventures and of his bravery before she finally got to meet him. It is no wonder then that she acted like a true groupie the moment she got her chance. Her husband is out of the house, everyone else is sleeping, and she decides to seize the day and to seduce this famous man.

Being a woman, she had many tricks up her sleeve and she used them the best she could trying to achieve her goal, to seduce Sir Gawain. At first she playfully mocks him for being so careless to have her sneak into his room without waking him up. Then she suggests she would tie him up to his bed and have her way with him. The lady shows the strength of her will by telling him she would take him for her prisoner. She is also subtly reminding him of her position as the lady of the house, but he is not willing to submit to her yet. Then she flatters him, she tries to humor him by repeating what she heard about his bravery and glory and telling him that the whole world worships him. However, she never mentions love. To her it is only a game, a conquest of her own, and she only wants to win it. Finally, she seduces him by offering herself as his servant, realizing he is too proud to submit himself to a woman. She allows him to think it was he who won the game, not her.

In a manner of so many groupies centuries later, the lady succeeded to seduce a celebrity. Even though it may seem that she had to humble herself before him, it is actually exactly the opposite. She won because no matter how famous or important a man is, a woman can always make him do as she pleases. She can always get her way with him to realize her plan and gain what she wants from him, money, pleasure, or merely a story to tell. Therefore, groupies now and back then are the same. Women choose their game and they play it to win.