Marie de France

In Marie de France’s poem “Bisclavret,” a baron named Bisclavret trusts his wife with personal information that he has always kept to himself: he is a werewolf. After much probing, he also tells her that the only way for him to transform back into a human is by putting his clothing back on, which is why he hides them next to the woods and by the path. Rather than being loyal to her husband, the unnamed and horrified wife goes to another knight who has been trying to court her for years and tells…

Milun: A Tale of Love and Loss Milun, transcribed and composed by Marie de France, is a love story that intertwines readers into the tragic sequence of events, drama, and imaginable love within the poem. The author, Marie de France, wrote The Lais- twelve short stories written around 1170. Marie de France 's lais, told in octosyllabic, or eight syllable verse, are prominent for their celebration of love, uniqueness of character, and vividness of description – hallmarks of the emerging…

died. In Marie de France’s “Yonec”, the knight, son of a married woman and an ideal knight, satisfies this fate with his father’s own sword against the disgraced husband. On the other end of the spectrum, fulfilling physical requirements, but with lacking reputation, the ‘real’ knight Lanval only takes on the image of an ideal knight for a moment, but still holds on to the reputation of a chivalric knight despite his teetering masculine reputation. In “Yonec” and “Lanval,” Marie de France…

While there are elements of each of these aspects in Marie de France’s works, many of her lais have a strong focus on the desires of her female characters and differ slightly from the works of romance written by her contemporaries. The male writers of her time were largely interested in chivalry and courtly responsibilities of knights, however, Marie went in a different direction and focused more her female characters. The fact that Marie de France is a female writer in a patriarchal society and…

the which is a celebration of medieval chivalry knight, Lanval by Marie de France is a critique of the medieval chivalry. Even though at timed Lanval shows acts that should be praised by the chivalry system, most of the story relies on mocking this system. In Lanval we see more of a mockery towards the chivalry system. One of the biggest factors that led me to conclude this was that this poem was written by a woman. Marie de France was not just any women, but she was someone who seem to oppose…

characterized as charitable, respectable, and interest in the well-being of others. The Oxford English Dictionary defines “nobility” as “The quality of having high status or value; renown or distinction arising from excellence.” (n.2). The poem Lanval by Marie de France and the play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde involves the noble class and the manner in which they conduct themselves. The upper class in these two texts may fit the definition above, but they do not uphold the…

Love & Nightingales in the Lais In the Laustic by Marie de France we hear a story about an affair, between two neighbors. The fable tells us about the love between a married women and the knight that lives next door. In the story they mention a nightingale, a song bird, which is used as a metaphor to represent their love for one another. The affair is short-lived, and can be interpreted in a few different ways. When reading the fable, you can see it either as a sad tragic ending to a…

Marie De France’s Lanval is one of the two Arthurian stories in her collection of Lais. Lanval is a work of a courtly romance and deals with issues of both sexuality and colonialism. More specifically, the text illustrates how women’s sexualities are treated differently in direct relation to their status within colonialism. I will argue that because Guenevere is English, her defiance is not addressed in this text because of the underlying proto-nationalist themes present in Marie’s imagining of…

The Unexpected Dimensions of “Lanval” The time period spanning from the fall of Rome in the fifth century all the way to the end of the fifteenth century is what most refer to as the Middle Ages. This period in time lasted nearly a thousand years and with it many great works of literature came about. Some which are still studied in the modern day. These works were passed down orally from one generation to the next as many were illiterate, books at the time were mainly written in Latin, and only…

and Peter Abelard by Marie de France are stories of love and gender role. Both of the stories represent the role of women and men in the society. Each lady in the stories faces her own difficult circumstances in a male society. Women in both stories are directed as helpless dismissal in distress. The stories display the image of a good mother and a good woman in the society. Women should act in a certain way to be accepted from society. Le Fresne by Marie de France is about a deceitful…