The document provides an analysis of gender roles and socialization of men and women in medieval Britain as depicted in the Disney film Brave. It summarizes that in medieval Britain, women had very few legal rights and their lives were strictly controlled by male family members. Girls were often married in arranged marriages without their consent at a young age. Widows had more freedom as they could own property. The film Brave depicts these gender dynamics through the character of Merida, a Scottish princess who rebels against the expectations for her to conform to traditional female roles through activities like archery that were typically reserved for men. The document analyzes how various scenes from the film reflect or challenge gender norms of the time period.

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Emily McConnell
SOC100S
Davies-Robinson
25 November 2014
Gender and Socialization in Medieval Britain
In Western society, there have been many efforts to eliminate the stereotypes that
originated through gender roles. Though progress has been made in breaking down some ideas
such as the home-making woman and bread-winning man, these gender roles still remain
ingrained in society as seen through television shows and movies in which a woman must choose
between a career and her family. In contrast, men are almost never shown in this predicament
because they are not the socially designated caretaker of children. The concept of women being
submissive birth-givers and men being dominant providers emerged when people began to
practice agriculture and horticulture, but it was during the Middle Ages (approximately 400 to
1400s CE.) that gender roles were more prevalent; the socialization of men and women was
predominantly enforced by family members shaping their offspring into the next generation of
powerful men and their powerless wives.
Most notably, men and women experienced extremely different degrees of freedom.
Women had many restrictions to uphold, particularly as women were under the power of their
fathers until marriage (Bennett, 1987). This control of females was so deep-seated in medieval
society that it extended to legal constrictions; women could not be witnesses to crimes, make
their own wills, act as guardians for their own children, make contracts, or make decisions about

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property, such as selling, buying, or even owning land and possessions (Wiesner, 1986). As
mentioned before, relegation of control of women fell to husbands once a woman was married.
However, the betrothals for these marriages were made without the bride’s consent as they were
arranged marriages; even then, ‘consent’ for these marriages were often made when the bride
was still a child at age twelve (Bennett, 1987). The only women to experience actual freedom
during the Middle Ages in Britain were those who had already been married but had lost their
husbands - widows. Widows were entitled to lands called dowers that were given to them in the
event that they were widowed. This claim to property superseded any male claim to the land
regardless if the woman’s heirs were adults or minors, and the right to these lands could not be
stripped away by a husband while he was still alive (Bennett, 1987).
While not completely historically accurate, the Disney-Pixar film Brave illustrates the
power and gender conflict of a girl during this time period with the character of Merida. Merida
is a Scottish princess who wants to live her own life out rather than be subject to her mother
Elinor’s wishes. In an attempt to change her fate, Merida gives Elinor an enchanted cake which
transforms Elinor into a bear; the princess must now salvage her damaged relationship with her
mother in order to restore her mother’s humanity, while also surviving against the demon bear
Mor’du who also made the same decision (changing his fate) long ago. At the end of the film,
Mor’du is defeated, Elinor becomes human again, and the mother-daughter relationship is saved,
allowing Merida and Elinor to understand each other better.
As a study in gender and socialization, Merida is a particularly interesting case as she is
a medieval Scottish princess, who would be expected to have more political power than the
average female in the Middle Ages. Yet she is curtailed in social power by none other than her

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mother Elinor, who is grooming her for succession. Merida herself exclaims that “...my whole
life is planned out!” not only because she is a young woman, but because “...I’m the princess.
I’m the example. I’ve got duties, responsibilities, expectations…” (Serafian). Her ascribed status
of Princess causes different roles and duties to be expected from her than women from a lower
class (McIntyre, 2014). As a royal figure, Merida has to “appear serene and beautiful and to give
no sign of trouble if she was anxious or happy,” (Johnston, 2011, p. 741) because it is expected
for her to have social graces that will resolve uncomfortable social situations. Her mother Elinor
demonstrates this social power when she stops the three visiting clans from fighting simply by
striding through the fray (Serafian).
Therefore, it is imperative for Merida’s life to be controlled by older members of her
family (particularly her father Fergus and mother Elinor) so that she will one day be adept in
handling such situations as a future queen. “My whole life is planned out, until the day I become,
well, my mother,” Merida says (Serafian), reinforcing the idea that gender roles are perpetuated
through the generations through the teaching of children. Through this lifestyle, Merida’s
freedom is encroached upon as she cannot allowed to make decisions for herself, much like other
women of the time period. In contrast, her younger brothers are free to get into trouble not only
because of their young age, but because they are boys, as indicated by Merida’s mention of
“They get away with murder!” immediately following it with, “I can’t get away with anything!”
(Serafian).
Queen Elinor says a litany of things a princess does and does not, each one reflecting the
expectations of a noblewoman who has different but similar restrictions and expectations. For

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example, “A princess does not stuff her gob,” (Serafian) shows that women had strict code of
manners from how to converse to how to eat politely in order to maintain their appearance of
elegance and serenity (Johnston, 2011). The rest of Elinor’s list also coincides with gender roles,
such as “A princess rises early” (Serafian) because it meant that the woman was taking charge of
the household early and getting the day’s work done through organization of the servants
(Johnston, 2011). “A princess must be knowledgeable about her kingdom,” reflects that Merida
must be wise if she is to keep accounts when someone else (a future husband) is away or
incapacitated” (Johnston, 2011, p. 741). Again, social graces were encouraged and enforced
because a noblewoman’s ideal conduct was to be “pious” and “kind” (Williams and Echols,
1994, p. 185) as seen by Elinor telling Merida that “a princess does not chortle,” and “[a
princess] is compassionate,” “patient,” “cautious,” and “clean” (Serafian). The queen’s final
declaration summarizes what was expected of a princess - “...And above all else, a princess
strives for well...perfection!,” (Serafian) tying in with the idea of royal figures being “serene”
(Johnston, 2011, p. 741), “chaste” and “sweet-tempered” (Williams and Echols, 1994, p. 185).
Betrothal, as mentioned before, was usually commenced without the bride’s consent (but
rather the consent of her parents). This trend also follows Merida as she is expected to agree
(adhering to women’s gender role of ‘obedient child/wife’) to this arrangement, yet she
adamantly disagrees, telling her mother, “I want my freedom!” reflecting that medieval women
had little freedom as was talked about before, to which her mother replies “Merida, this is what
you've been preparing for your whole life,” (Serafian) as it was expected for her to listen and go
along with what was asked of her. This trend of complying to the will of society is later shown
when Merida must wear a tight, constricting dress when she must see her three suitors attempt to

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win her hand through archery. She can only move stiffly, demonstrating the confinement of
women as the princess cannot move freely as she would like. Later Merida rebels against this
restricting role when she rips the dress at its seams to take part in the masculine hobby of
archery, disobeying the customs of Scotland as she fires for her own hand [in marriage]
(Serafian).
Archery was one of the main masculine activities of the Middle Ages in Great Britain,
along with sword-sparring and jousting. Women watching the sports and games was nearly
unheard of, let alone participating in them; gradually women made more appearances in order to
embolden men so as to stroke their egos in impressing the ladies (Howell and Howell, 1986).
Even so, females were not to participate in these events. Thus, Merida’s participation in the
archery contest is a revolt against the gender roles of the time.
Though women were not allowed to take part in these festivities, royal women were
known to be hunters with discernable archery skills, such as Charlemagne’s wife and daughters
(Howell and Howell, 1986). Women’s bows were described as ‘little crossbows, often highly
decorated with inlaid wood, metal and mother-of-pearl,’(Howell and Howell, 1986) still
demonstrating a need for women and their objects to be beautiful. In addition, women were
restricted to a ‘safer’ method of hunting involving hidden archers ambushing a spooked animal
that ran toward their hiding spots; this method of hunting was considered safer for women than
the alternate method: running down a stag until he tired and having him fight the hunting hounds
until death was delivered via a spear or sword. Besides hunting, the sport of falconry briefly
appears within the film, which does have historical roots involving women. Falconry was a

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popular hunting sport for females as they were considered “strong enough to ride a horse and
hold a small bird” (Howell and Howell, 1986), perpetuating the stereotypical idea that women
were weaker and deserved special treatment in comparison to their male counterparts.
While Merida’s bow is an ornate wooden bow with Scottish designs, it simply appears to
be a normal shortbow rather than a miniature crossbow. However, archery was still considered a
masculine sport as it was “mandated...so the citizenry could fight in militias if needed,”
(Johnston, 2011, p. 282). Naturally, men were the only one considered true citizens, seeing as
women had very little rights other than the dower rights of a widow. In addition, when King
Fergus gifts his daughter with her bow, Queen Elinor immediately says, “A bow, Fergus? She’s a
lady,” (Serafian) and years later also says, “A princess should not have weaponry in my opinion”
(Serafian), further insinuating that the world of archery and the realm of a woman’s domain were
separate and that Merida should not cross the boundaries between them.
Merida also strays from the traditional female roles not only through her bow in archery,
but her will to climb. In Brave, the Scottish princess excitedly tells her father that she “climbed
the Crone’s Tooth and drank from the Fire Falls,” for which her father tells her, “They say only
the ancient kings were brave enough to drink the fire,” indicating that bravery is a trait to be
linked with men (Serafian). In addition, climbing was also a skill used in warfare for sieges,
tying climbing ability to strength for which women were not regarded as having (Johnston,
2011). Lastly, Merida was also pictured with a sword, angrily hacking at a bedpost at the news of
being betrothed (further proving her reluctance to adhere to the gender roles concerning arranged
marriages). The sword is most notable for being one of the choice weapons during the Middle

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Ages (Johnston, 2011), as even Merida’s father uses one as do the other clans and their members
(Serafian). This fact also adds to the credence of man’s role as a warrior, to which Merida does
not belong to despite her use of weapons. Indeed, she walks a narrow line between the gender
roles of both, though she still tends to fall to the feminine side thanks to her mother’s doing.
Elinor herself tries to instill her firstborn child with an appreciation for women’s hobbies,
which included music, sewing and embroidery. These skills were seen as a boon as they were
required for girls of the time period to “entertain and amuse themselves,” during a time when
most power was relegated to men (Johnston, 2011, p. 741). However, Merida shows little
interest in playing the lyre and sewing tapestries like her mother (Serafian). However, sewing did
help the redhead princess in terms of ‘mending’ the tapestry she slashed in her rebellion against
her mother over her unwanted betrothal. Sewing was often used in the medieval age for the
purpose of mending torn clothing, also lending itself to the idea of running the household
(Johnston, 2011).
Though Brave’s story has a medieval background with historic roots from the Middle
Ages, the tale remains but a loose interpretation of facts. Yet the plot and background still
maintains a majority of the historical nature correct, such as betrothals of young girls and the
maintenance of order and gender roles. However Brave does not tell its audience to maintain the
status quo of the world, conforming to what society wills people to become; it speaks of the
decisions and choices an individual can make to choose his or her own path in life. Children are
not destined to follow in their parents’ footsteps, much like future generations of African-
Americans and women are not enslaved to white men. While both groups are still not entirely

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equal to men today, the film and many others like it bring hope in telling people that one day the
stereotypes and disparities will be gone. While some aspects of destiny and fate are pre-
determined, people can still veer in different directions to follow their own hearts and desires,
much like Merida and real-life women sought freedom and power not yet obtainable to them.

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Works Cited
Bennett, J. M. (1987). Women in the Medieval English Countryside : Gender and Household in
Brigstock Before the Plague. New York: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from
http://www.ebscohost.com
Howell, R., & Howell, M. L. (1986). Women In The Medieval And Renaissance Period:
Spectators Only. Canadian Journal Of History Of Sport, 17(1), 14-37. Retrieved from
http://www.ebscohost.com
Johnston, R. A. (2011). All Things Medieval : An Encyclopedia of the Medieval World. Santa
Barbara, Calif: Greenwood. Retrieved from http://ebscohost.com
McIntyre, L. (2014). The practical skeptic: Core concepts in sociology (6th ed.). New York:
McGraw Hill.
Serafian, Katherine, & Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman. 2012. Brave [motion picture].
United States of America: Pixar Animation Studios.
Wiesner, M. E.. (1986). Women’s Defense of Their Public Role. In M. B. Rose (Ed.), Women in
the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Literary and Historical Perspectives (pp. 3-28).
Syracuse, N.Y. : Syracuse University Press.
Williams, M., & Echols, A. (1994). Between pit and pedestal : women in the Middle Ages.
Princeton, N.J. : Markus Wiener Pub., 1994.