Wezinhlaka Zikamasipala, 1998 (uMthetho No. 117 we-1998) lapha ukhipha imithetho kamasipala exhunyiwe ngokwesigaba 13(a) sezoHulumeni Basekhay--a; uMthetho Wezinhlaka Zomasipala, 2000 (uMthetho No. 32 wezi-2000) eyoqala ukusebenza ngosuku lokushicilelwa kwayo kwiGazethi yesiFundazwe. This essay argues that the women in Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s Idylls of the King (1859-1885) are Orientalized. Provided with characteristics which, according to Edward Said’s Orientalism (1978), reflect Western assumptions about the Orient, all of the female characters are perceived as the Other. Woman is depicted either as a representation of the Victorian female ideal, or as an immoral creature of sin and unrestrained passion. These are the only female roles Tennyson allows for, it appears. Further, like the stereotypic Oriental female in Western literature, Tennyson’s women are perceived as sexually alluring and tempting, and their actions bring disorder and downfall to Camelot. In contrast to the fallen women, Arthur and his knights seem to represent everything that woman is not. Whereas the women are ignorant, passionate, irrational and depraved, the men are portrayed as noble, controlled, reasonable and virtuous. The knights thus embody Western assumptions about the Occidental man, as defined by Said’s theory. It should also be noted that Tennyson has made a number of alterations to his sources, and appears to have Occidentalized the knights in the process. The Orientalization of woman and the alterations of the men’s characters strengthen the heroic and godlike traits of the knights’ personalities. Woman has to be Orientalized, it seems, in order to ensure that the knights appear the true and only heroes of the work.