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Marie De France's Poem 'Milun'

Decent Essays

In the poem Milun, Milun’s mistress declares to herself, “Now I rather die than live, but I’m not free to do that…” (Line 143-144). The mistress is like a princess trapped in a tower, in other words, she didn’t have a lot of freedom to do what she desired. Also, she had rules to live by every day. In that day, some women were probably fine with this situation, but other like the mistress longed to discover what could be out waiting for them on the outside the tower. Women were trapped in the ideology of men’s morals and social belief of how they should conduct themselves and anything other than that would be considered impure or undignified. The poem shows women wish for love and what they do for it.
It is customary for women to be given into …show more content…

Marie De France seems portray the relationship among the daughter and some of her family. How they would not support the relationship she is having with Milun. Many women in that day didn’t have the support of their family. They mostly had to go through it alone. One emotional parts in the poem is when the mistress makes this statement: “Now I have to suffer like this if only I could die” (149-150). Milun’s mistress is supposedly ready to die because her father wants her to marry someone she doesn’t love. The writer shows that many women are willing to dead for what they love. So they are committing suicide, and this goes against their religious beliefs. A woman are supposed to be pure and virtuous and yet she is willing to kill herself for love. Marie shows love is everything and not to be taken lightly. Lastly, When it came down for Milun’s mistress to get married, her father walked her down the alter to her husband (151-152). Knowing there was nothing Milun could do, she gave in. Marie De France shows that sometimes that is all anyone can do, and just maybe something good may come out in the end. Many women have learned back then that it is hard fight the system, because they can dig themselves into a deeper

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