Textual Analysis Of Lanval By Marie De French

The main characters, Day and June have no reason to cross paths, until the day June's brother, Metias, is killed. Day becomes the most suspected killer. While Day is trying to make sure his family survives, June wants to kill whoever ended her brother,Metias's, death. As the story unravels its dizzying twist and turns, the two realize the reason they came together in the first place.

Marie De France’s Lanval is a remarkable short narrative that engages the reader into a world filled with unrealistic elements, but enhances on the true meaning of romance, chivalry and nature during the years that King Arthur reigned. “Sir Gawain and The Green Knight” unfortunately does not have an author that can be recognized but this epic poem demonstrates the ghastly adventure of a knight who decides to defend the honor of young King Arthur against a supernatural being in this malicious game of cat and mouse. Both of these pieces of literature have enchanting characteristics that define them as a masterpiece of their era and that’s why they both are easily compared and contrasted. In addition, both Lanval and “Sir Gawain and The

“Lanval” by Marie de France and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer are both medieval romances that put a knight on trial by a queen’s court for his treatment of a lady. Throughout the course of this paper, readers will get the opportunity to travel back in time to the Middle Ages and that during the twelfth-century women were superior to men, specifically in their relationships and marriages; however, today men dominant individuals, especially in working world.

The focus of this paper will be to compare and contrast the works of two playwrights. The works that will be considered are Molière’s The Would-Be Gentleman and Beaumarchais’s The Marriage of Figaro. Both considered comedies, Moliere’s is a short play that tells the tale of Monsieur Jourdain, a tradesman who desires to become a gentleman. Beaumarchais’s play, second in the Figaro trilogy, follows the series of event prior to Figaro’s wedding. Figaro and his companions scheme to ensure that his marriage occurs smoothly. Furthermore, the plays are dated 100 years apart from each other, and they deal with the representation of social hierarchy, social mobility, and gender roles in various ways. With that in mind, they become good sources to compare and contrast the changes in society that occurred within those 100 years. This paper will compare both plays to examine how Molière further endorses the social values and ideas of his time, while Beaumarchais’s presents a shift in attitude towards those values and challenges them.

Often times in literature the body becomes a symbolic part of the story. The body may come to define the character, emphasize a certain motif of the story, or symbolize the author’s or society’s mindset. The representation of the body becomes significant for the story. In the representation of their body in the works of Marie de France’s lais “Lanval” and “Yonec,” the body is represented in opposing views. In “Lanval,” France clearly emphasizes the pure beauty of the body and the power the ideal beauty holds, which Lanval’s Fairy Queen portrays. In France’s “Yonec,” she diverts the reader’s attention from the image of the ideal body and emphasizes a body without a specific form and fluidity between the forms. “Yonec” focuses on a love not

The article “Thematic Irony in Marie de France’s ‘Guigemar,’” by Joan Brumlik, focuses on how motifs are used by Marie de France’s lai “Guigemar” to undermine the themes of an idealized version of courtly love that are expected in lais. Brumlik first does this by exploring the motif of the merveilleux, or “supernatural.” Brumlik explains that the merveilleux is made to “merge with the real world to which it is frequently an antidote” (8). The example Brumlik uses of the merveilleux is that of the magical boat that takes Guigemar to his lover. Brumlik uses the comments of R.W. Hanning, stating that:

When the two woman first entered the town, they were automatically recognized and adorn by the people. When the Queen herself entered, everyone came and stared at her beauty and recognized that she was the most beautiful woman in the world. “The judges who saw her marveled at the sight; no one who looked at her was not warmed with joy,” helps depict the beauty of the Queen (Norton Anthology 1044). The judges saw the beauty and realized someone as beautiful as herself couldn’t defend Lanval. Once the Queen defended Lanval and spoke the truth the barons made their decision to claim Lanval innocent and free of charge. “Whatever the barons judged by law the king promised would prevail. To the last man they agreed that Lanval had successfully answered

Lanval stays loyal to his promise until Queen Guinevere confesses her interest in him, offering herself to him in which he then he delicately rejects her. Speaking his loyalty to King Arthur. Angry, she blames him of being homosexual, Lanval, because of Queen Guinevere’s accusation says, “The poorest girl of all, is better than you, my lady queen, in body, face, and beauty.” The queen asking to be involved in an adulterous relationship is not seen as ideal behavior for modern women or for twelfth century women. During this time men were commonly known for being dishonest and unfaithful, therefore, to have this woman do this, definitely was a different direction than expected. Hurt by the rejection and statement of Lanval, Queen Guinevere tells King Arthur that Lanval came onto her. Arthur upset at the situation orders that Lanval be sent to court where if he could not prove that such a woman existed more beautiful than his beloved queen, he shall be

There is no “belated desire to challenge the traditional ethos of the Arthurian world.” Even in the Medieval period, writers were playing with the ideas of gender and chivalry presented in their time. The Knight of the Cart, the Romance of Tristan, and Lanval all play with these ideas. The Knight of the Cart continuously has a struggle between whether or not Lancelot should follow the laws of chivalry or love. The Romance of Tristan also plays with this idea. Marie de France play with gender by introducing a woman who saves the male character. Most notable is her interaction with Arthur and being the driver of the getaway horse.

The sources are not as free range and are usually from the perspective of one party which can hinder how much you can take in about the topic. Therefore, plenty of the sources Karras engages with are poems, stories, paintings, and letters written by men. As a result, Karras cannot exactly provide a definitive answer as to what certain pieces of art or literature exactly mean, or how medieval people viewed them, or even if they carried a sexual meaning or not. However, Karras uses this interpretative aspect to strengthen her argument that medieval sexuality is deserving of a place in academic study—showing that the topic medieval sexuality is not cut and dry, or that you can modern views on sexuality and simply apply them to the Middle Ages. Rather, it illustrates that medieval sexuality is more complex and complicated than what some individuals might

Lavinia Lloyd Dock is a nurse leader that had a huge influence on the profession of nursing. Her actions throughout her life categorize her as a nurse leader, suffragist, and social reformist. She found herself becoming a nurse when she recognized her passion of caring for the suffering. One of her goals was to improve global health. Lavinia accomplished much in her lifetime for females and the nursing community. She can be considered a great pioneer in the evolution of nursing.

Chaucer and Shakespeare have created literature that has lasted for centuries by no coincidental matter. Many similarities link the two men together, but I believe that the most prominent characteristic that the men share is their innovativeness. More specifically their innovative construction of gender confused characters. Dinshaw’s examination of the eunuch Pardoner in her essay “Eunuch Hermeneutics” distinguishes The Pardoner to be a partial character because of his in-between state. Chaucer and Shakespeare’s construction of partial characters reveals that we cannot trust everything to be true in fiction literature and plays on our

hereas a variety of Canterbury Tales tales are inclined to make the nobility aware of the capability of ordinary people and how beauty presents itself in their lives, other medieval popular romances strive to provide a sense of wish fulfillment for a different audience; the powerless. Thomas Chestre’s Sir Launfal in particular appeals to someone who wishes to escape profound social inequality and injustice. Thomas Chestre speaks to his audience by rewriting a better version of the difficult life of a commoner as a fairytale that idealises familiar views of the peasant; “Her faces wer whit as snow on downe” (l. 251). Radulescu’s statement that anonymous audiences should be acknowledged for embracing the incendiary nature of these medieval popular

Two of the most common themes found in many medieval literature are those of desire and fate. Sometimes these themes are explicitly explored by authors to illustrates their understanding or to make a point about them. Other times the authors make implicit, nuanced suggestions through the plot of their tales that allows the readers to discover their own understandings about two and to make connections between them. Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath’s Tale, as well as Thomas of England’s Le Roman de Tristan and Marie de France’s “Lanval” do just that. These three pieces of medieval literature present a unique connection between the desires of men and the role of fate.

“The Wife of Bath’s Prologue” and “The Clerk’s Tale” show what the ideal woman and man were as opposed to the flawed an undesirable versions of women and men. Despite Chaucer utilizing Griselda as a cautionary tale against blind submission and succumbence by exaggerating her traits, she still represents the ideal woman of the Medieval Period. Griselda is a virtuous, fair young woman admired by all. Her husband, Walter, puts her through intense emotional distress by telling her to sacrifice her children, and she complies so she can remain loyal to him. She remains affable, “[meeting guests] so cheerfully… with so much skill… that none could find a fault in how she treated them” despite her inner affliction (Chaucer 350). The ideal Medieval woman is submissive, loyal, affable, beautiful, and virtuous under any circumstance, just as Griselda