2. How does medieval literature present the experience of romantic love?
The romances of medieval literature are often very different from what a modern audience would expect from a ‘romance’ in the twenty first century. However, our modern conception of romance, and indeed ‘chivalry’, owe a lot to their medieval precursors. From the middle ages, the concept of courtly love, described by the Encyclopaedia Britannica as a “highly conventionalised code the prescribed the behaviour of ladies and their lovers” (Encyclopædia Britannica) became a key aspect in the idea of medieval romance. Both in literature and indeed in the real lives of noble people – especially in Europe – the ideas of chivalry popularised a code of conduct for knights. …show more content…
It relies upon the good conduct of couple to maintain its stability. The narrator talks of Dorigen’s right to freedom, and the danger of allowing ‘mastery’ into the relationship. By consenting to marry Arveragus, she would “take hym for hir housbonde and hir lord”. Despite her position in the nobility being above his as a simple knight, she is effectively elevating him from his previous position to “serve” her, to a position where he is, traditionally, her lord and master (Kittredge 45). However, the narrator asserts that “[w]han maistrie comth, the God of Love anon / Beteth his wynges, and farewel, he is gon!” (Chaucer) With the idea of one of the lovers being in control of the other, the narrator argues, their love will be lost as the two things cannot endure together. By presenting the relationship as one of fairness and equality, we understand the love between Dorigen and Arveragus as healthy. This is an apparent subversion of the presentation of romance in many of Chaucer’s other texts. Pugh notes that the idea of marriage is a frequent motif in The Canterbury Tales, but notes that in the majority of the tales, marriage is presented as being associated with problematic elements ranging from adultery to domestic abuse. (Pugh 149) Though marriage, in all its problematic forms, is often played as satire by Chaucer, The Franklin’s Tale provides an example of a union which is stable and happy. In many ways, the ideal marriage is not dissimilar to what one would expect from a modern marriage. This is a much more positive view than the usual medieval marriage, and gives the idea of the couple as very much romantically invested in one another and in
The romances of medieval literature are often very different from what a modern audience would expect from a ‘romance’ in the twenty first century. However, our modern conception of romance, and indeed ‘chivalry’, owe a lot to their medieval precursors. From the middle ages, the concept of courtly love, described by the Encyclopaedia Britannica as a “highly conventionalised code the prescribed the behaviour of ladies and their lovers” (Encyclopædia Britannica) became a key aspect in the idea of medieval romance. Both in literature and indeed in the real lives of noble people – especially in Europe – the ideas of chivalry popularised a code of conduct for knights. …show more content…
It relies upon the good conduct of couple to maintain its stability. The narrator talks of Dorigen’s right to freedom, and the danger of allowing ‘mastery’ into the relationship. By consenting to marry Arveragus, she would “take hym for hir housbonde and hir lord”. Despite her position in the nobility being above his as a simple knight, she is effectively elevating him from his previous position to “serve” her, to a position where he is, traditionally, her lord and master (Kittredge 45). However, the narrator asserts that “[w]han maistrie comth, the God of Love anon / Beteth his wynges, and farewel, he is gon!” (Chaucer) With the idea of one of the lovers being in control of the other, the narrator argues, their love will be lost as the two things cannot endure together. By presenting the relationship as one of fairness and equality, we understand the love between Dorigen and Arveragus as healthy. This is an apparent subversion of the presentation of romance in many of Chaucer’s other texts. Pugh notes that the idea of marriage is a frequent motif in The Canterbury Tales, but notes that in the majority of the tales, marriage is presented as being associated with problematic elements ranging from adultery to domestic abuse. (Pugh 149) Though marriage, in all its problematic forms, is often played as satire by Chaucer, The Franklin’s Tale provides an example of a union which is stable and happy. In many ways, the ideal marriage is not dissimilar to what one would expect from a modern marriage. This is a much more positive view than the usual medieval marriage, and gives the idea of the couple as very much romantically invested in one another and in