Marie de France

Within the lays of Marie de France, a fascination for both man and beast runs rampant throughout. This focus, however, comes not without its own particular purpose, and indeed, the line between the realms of humanity and savagery is deconstructed with the intent of creating an overlap. One simply cannot exist without the other, and no better is this seen than in “Bisclavret,” the tale of man supposedly cursed with the malevolent affliction of lycanthropy. Still, Marie does not include this lay…

A deep self-conflict appears in her presentation as both mysterious and involved in the courtly love tradition. Malory’s work showed an English preference to steep the queen’s sexuality in mystery when he removed Guinevere’s explicit scenes from Le Morte D’Arthur and Vives’ aimed to erase women from society after the loss of virginity. Mystery implied innocence through ignorance, while the courtly love tradition acknowledged sex as the end goal of a Courtly flirtation. Capellanus’ argument that…

In Marie De France’s “Lanval”, It is interesting how, in spite of a woman’s common status as a tool toward greatness or moral poverty, the fairy queen is still technically a positive character because she raised Lanval to greatness, even though her interference in Lanval’s life appears to consume his personality and identity. In the beginning, Lanval does have some semblance of personality, indicated with the lines “For his valor, for his generosity, / his beauty and bravery” (21-22) which…

Since the early days of writing and even spoken word, stories often tell of the time in which they were first told, even if that story may be about dragons, mythical kings, or even magical beings. We learn from these stories and the insight they have to offer us in modern day education and observation. We learn how things operated, how people were treated, the views on religion, and sexuality, and in this particular case, women’s sexuality. It is no surprise that in history women are more than…

One of Marie de France’s lais, Eliduc, represents a knight whom finds adventure in two lands. In the lais, the hunt for love is looked at from two different perspectives. Eliduc, the knight, finds himself in a tangle of relationships. At the beginning of the poem, Marie introduces Eliduc along with two women: Guildeluec and Guilliadun. The first happened to be Eliduc’s wife, whom he loved…

“Eveline” is the story of a girl who is unable to move forward in life. No matter what she does, she finds herself paralyzed and stuck living the unfortunate life she believes she is destined. The short story, written in 1914, is the fourth short story in a collection written by James Joyce called “Dubliners.” Each story in the collection portrays a part of the life of a middle-class family living in Dublin, Ireland in the 1900s. “Eveline” depicts the story of a young girl, Eveline, who 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…

Romantic love is a significant theme in Marie de France’s Lay of Lanval and The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu. Both novels center on the romance of courtly love, however, Lanval concentrates on the love for one lady, while The Tale of Genji is a search for the perfect lady. Lanval’s acts of love are honor and secrecy, until the queen angers him into spilling the secret of his true love. Since the beginning of time, men and women have committed many different acts in the name of love.…

For most people, love is known to be a powerful emotion. For some, it can drive people to do honorable and inspiring actions. Others however, can use it for malicious intentions. In the novel A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and the film adaptation of Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, civil unrest in connection with the French government’s increasingly unwarranted rule allowed these traits of love to be illustrated. Sydney Carton, a brilliant but depressed Englishman makes great sacrifices…

There are no more powerful demons in the world than pure infatuation, and no angels that are sweeter than love. In Marie De France’s lai Le Fresne I see elements of maternal and romantic love. In This Lai, I’d define love as strong affection that results in caring for another, even if it leads to no advancement in society. Le Fresne’s mother judged her neighbor who birth twins, claiming that she had to have slept with two men. However, when she gave birth, she too had twins. Le Fresne’s mother…