Lai Guigemar And The Erotics Of Tight Dress By Marie De France

The objectification of the female body is commonly done by men, who see women as something that is of use or owned by them. Although, this usually has negative implications Marie de France’s lai Guigemar objectifies the female body as a tool to expose the negative aspects of society. By objectifying the female characters her message is more easily understood and even satirizes, the patriarchal society. Marie explores the problems women face in society and how they are so much more than the box they are placed in. During the time that the lai was written, there was a drastic change in courtly women’s attire, as tighter more revealing clothing became in favor over more modest clothing. This is documented in the article “Estreitement Bende: Marie de France’s Guigemar and the Erotics of Tight Dress,” by Nicole Smith, where she explores how Marie uses dress to enforce controlled sexuality. In the article Smith explains that “garments that were once expansive and flowing came to be tightly fitted across the body with belts, knots, and laces” (96). This dress style “became the emblematic of a fashion-savvy noblewoman in the art and literature of the high Middle Ages” (Smith 96). This came into …show more content…
In the article “The Hind Episode in Marie de France’s Guigemar and Medieval Vernacular Poetics,” by Ashley Lee, she argues that the hind is representative of Marie de France herself. The hind is described as “a hind with a fawn; / a completely white beast, / with deer antlers on her head” (Guigemar 90-92). Although the hind is identified as female, and has offspring, it still has the male attribute of antlers. Lee argues that:
When we consider how white animals…frequently figure in medieval portraits of women as adjunct symbols of female virtue, purity, nobility, and innocence, it is not so difficult to see how the white hind can here as an extension of (or substitute for) the female body.