The character, Oisille, is a "spiritual guide to the group of storytellers, reading lessons from Scripture to them each morning when they rise." In the book, the author, Marguerite de Navarre, describes her as "a widow lady of long experience" that is old and wise. The audience can interpret that she is religious because she reads the bible, begins the day meditating, and frequently visits church. The characters in the story do not refer to each other by proper titles, only her as Madame Oisille, to show their respect and admiration.

Citations:

Larsen, Anne R. Renaissance Women Writers: French Texts, American Contexts. Wayne State Univ. Press, 1994.

Bernard, Robert W. “Platonism - Myth or Reality in the Heptameron?” The Sixteenth Century Journal, vol. 5, no. 1, 1974, pp. 3–14. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2539584. Accessed 31 Mar. 2023.

The author, François Rabelais, is known for his indecent jokes and comments in his work; some involving sexism. This quote highlights his attitude towards widowed women and the belief that their child needs to be the "heir" to the deceased husband so they can be considered an "honest woman". Rabelais assumes that women will do whatever is necessary for their husbands because they seek their approval. During the Renaissance, they were only useful for child-bearing or sex, so they are mostly non-existent in the plot. If their is a female character, such as Gargantua’s mother, Gargamelle, they eventually disappear without a mention. The story mostly does not "incorporate women into a[ny] dialogue", which creates an absence of them in a masculinized environment that only uses them when needed.

Citation:

Berrong, Richard M. “Finding Antifeminism in Rabelais; Or, a Response to Wayne Booth’s Call for an Ethical Criticism.” Critical Inquiry, vol. 11, no. 4, 1985, pp. 687–96. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1343425. Accessed 31 Mar. 2023.

As stated, "Mamelukes" or Mamluk is taken from the word slave in Arabic and began usage in the 9th century CE. A Mamluk is a slave soldier that served in an army during the Abbasid era that amassed political power in various Muslim nations. In One Thousand and One Nights, "the characters live in a society very familiar to the Mamluk period audience". This provides a better understanding of the time frame and the character's relevance to the Arabic culture.

Citations:

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Mamluk". Encyclopedia Britannica, 11 Feb. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mamluk. Accessed 10 March 2023.

Perho, Irmeli. “The Arabian Nights as a Source for Daily Life in the Mamluk Period.” CiteSeerX, Studia Orientalia Electronica 85, 1999, https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=0a8757e7813a60135a95eaa1d701eeabee19acbe.

In "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", there is a large influence on French vocabulary, names, and references. In the fourteenth century, many French romances were translated, which resulted in the English adapting various French linguistics. As seen in the poem, the "English channel is referred to as the 'french flo[o]d'". The story takes place in Medieval England and Wales during King Arthur and his knight's time period. "The Gawain Poet" allowed readers to learn more information about the setting and how Æneas's kin, Felix Brutus, passed over the English channel to discover Great Britain.

Citations:

Clough, Andrea. "THE FRENCH ELEMENT IN "SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT": With Special Reference to the Description of Bertilak'S Castle in II. 785-810." Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, vol. 86, no. 2, 1984, pp. 187-196, https://doi.org/10.2307/43343651. Accessed 10 Mar. 2023.

Volkonskaya, Maria A. “Translator and Language Change: On J.R.R. Tolkien's Translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” SSRN, National Research University Higher School of Economics, 14 Oct. 2015, https://deliverypdf.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=726071067021026018095017117122127028058084022041061078026026030075121025068088095010010097040106104063121089081097005116104098022084007077063117071121100100071069075017040017005108093105081027116117102064101025126098028101008105015118092087004001118111&EXT=pdf&INDEX=TRUE.

The word "Pitris" or "Pitṛ", as known in Hinduism, have many different meanings in religious contexts. These include: "Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit, Jainism, Prakrit, [and] Hindi." In Sanskrit, Pitris also means "father" and these "fathers" were considered to be immortal in a similar way to the gods. They are ancestral spirits that have been laid to rest with a proper ceremony or ritual. After the funeral rites, they pass onto "Pitrloka"; the place where the ancestral spirits reside. In the Bhagavad Gita, divinity and ancestry is a significant part of Krishna's reasonings as to why Arjuna should fight in the battle. He tells Arjuna that worshipping the ancestors will lead to him reaching Pitrloka after death.

References:

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "pitri". Encyclopedia Britannica, 12 Feb. 2015, https://www.britannica.com/topic/pitri. Accessed 3 February 2023.

Hiemstra, Gabe. “Pitri.” Wisdom Library; The Portal for Hinduism, Sanskrit, Buddhism, Jainism, Mesopotamia Etc..., 6 Nov. 2022, https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/pitri.

Hiemstra, Gabe. “Pitriloka.” Goto Glossary/Dictionary Page, 15 Oct. 2021 https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/pitriloka.

Athena or otherwise spelled as "Athene" is a greek deity of war and wisdom. Zeus, the chief god, is her father while her mother is said to be a nymph named Metis. Although in other versions she never had a mother and Zeus gave birth to Athena through his forehead. The name "Athena" is related to the city of Athens. "Athena’s [often] associat[ed] with the acropolises of various Greek cities..." such as Athens, as in the Lysistrata. In the play Athena was the goddess of wisdom and people came to her temple in the Acropolis to honor her. In Lysistrata, she is kept within the background as a reminder to the Athenian men that have forgotten about wisdom in their greed. Towards the end of the story, Athena fully regains her role as the goddess of wisdom in the Acropolis.

References:

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Athena". Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Nov. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Athena-Greek-mythology. Accessed 3 February 2023.

Wilson, Joshua. “Athena and the Acropolis Symbol Analysis.” LitCharts, 2023, Description