When Was Bisclavaret Betrayed

Once discovered in the meadow by the fairy queen’s maidens, he is taken to meet her where he is immediately awestruck by her incomparable beauty as well as her lavished castle. Ireland describes this seen as the “Court of Love” where Lanval and the fairy queen establish a comitatus amongst each other (Ireland 134). Lanval’s love for the fairy queen is infact so great he claims to her “I shall obey your command; for you, I shall abandon everyone. I want never to leave you. That is what I most desire.” As described earlier, knights displayed the utmost respect and admiration for women, especially, as in Lanval’s case, a lady is was trying to court. The only stipulation is that Lanval my keep their relationship a secret or he will “never see [her] again possess [her] body.” Promptly after their comitatus takes life, Lanval becomes seduced by his King’s wife, Queen Guinevere. During his encounter with Queen Guinevere, sir Lanval acts chivalrous in every way except one (much more then sir Launcelot can say). He responds the Queen’s advances by emphasizing his loyalty to the King. His only misstep and lack of judgement comes from insulting the queen: “any one of those who serve her, the poorest girl of all, is better than you, my lady queen, in body, face, and beauty, in breeding and in goodness.” Admitting this single instance of failure to the code, the more important aspect details his insistence of protecting his pact with the fairy queen. As seen with other Knights in the tales of King Arthur and the knights of the round table, some fail to retain perpetuate the virtue of chastity, while sir Lanval yet again displays why the fairy queen chooses him over other

The knight shows his true chivric colors by saying “My lady and my love, my dearest wife, I leave the matter to your wise decision.” (406-407) By allowing his wife to chose for him he displays true chivalry. He is also allowing to choose what she wants for her husband; this is a recall to the answer she gave him to save his life.

The narrator is being completely controlled by her husband. The narrator's husband has told the her over

Two other mortals have entered the woods that night as well, Demetrius and Helena. Helena, hopelessly in love with Demetrius, is following him on his mission to find his betrothed, Hermia, and they are also subjected to the mischievous workings of Oberon and Puck. Oberon, after observing the two young mortals, feels bad for “sweet” Helena, that even though she is professing her undying love and devotion to Demetrius he rejects her at every turn. Demetrius hatefully tells Helena “ I’ll run from thee and hide me in the brakes, and leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts’’, along with other loathsome statements, in rebuttal to Helena’s

The short story presents women as aware but misunderstood by men through use of narrative point of view. In society women are usually seen as inferior to men, and therefore often don’t get the acknowledgement they deserve. “The women held their secrets because when they mentioned it to their husbands or brothers they were laughed at….Instead of sympathy, the husbands and brothers now had a secret weapon”. This shows that women did not share their fears as it gave others ideas to torment them further. Women in the short story are also shown to be fully aware of the boy’s behaviour early on in the story. “The men of his home town said, but how

Although the Nun holds a lower position in society than the Knight, she tries to act similarly to the Knight by attempting to show good manners and a sophisticated attitude. Chaucer writes that the Knight is “ever honored for his noble graces” (Chaucer 146.50), demonstrating how the sophisticated way the Knight acts results in him being liked and honored by many. Chaucer describes the Nun’s usage of manners by writing “no morsel from her lips did she let fall” (Chaucer 148.132). Here, it is made apparent that the Nun did her best to act in an experienced, worldly manner, even though at the time it was unusual for a nun and a knight to have similar manners due to the large hiatus between their positions in the social hierarchy. Chaucer uses both of these characters’ manners to contribute to the overall theme of The Canterbury Tales by giving a specific example of

"The Knight's Tale" is one of many tales from the Canterbury Tales. This story sets in the city of Athens. Which opens into the theme of violence, foolishness, impetuousness, and impulsiveness; initially exceedingly emotional responses. One example is when two of our main characters, Palmon and Arcite, both fall in love with Theseus's sister-in-law (Emelye). These two blood brothers, leave each other after seeing Emelye out of the window of the tower. Which, I believe is a very impulsive decision, for they have not got time to know who she is and her personality. Also, they act like mortal enemies after just seeing her, so this thought process was completely impulsive and based on her looks. And later, Arcite tries to get to know her better after he was released from his imprisonment sentence by disguising himself, so he can take a job as a page in Emelye's chamber. I believe this shows that he wants to know her, but also it shows he is not being honest with her, which shows he was being impulsive and deceiving. He only learned about the little things that she liked, not her personality. Emelye learned a little bit about Arcite after the little conversing they shared, so they learned a little of each other's personality. This shows that the friendship was growing and not an intimate relationship, like Arcite wanted. So the story goes on and both Palmon and Arcite have been released from prison. And they happen to both decide to wander in the woods. Then they confront each other, each claiming the right to Emelye. The next day, they were brutally hacking away at each other. Honestly, I believe they are being impulsive and violent, they still barely knew Emelye (especially Palmon), and they decide to go kill each other. Then here shows up Theseus, which a loving and wise duke, but he can also be a little impulse when it comes to violence (which is fairly normal for a duke in the 1390s). Theseus tries to be loving when he sees the two men fighting, but he changes his mind when he found out it was Palmon and Arcite fighting. And that they were fighting because they "love" Emelye. Then Theseus was about to respond by killing them, but his loving wife and Emelye intervened, pleading for their lives. They pleaded

The loss of his love is more important to Bisclavret then anything else. The entire description of who he is, is almost a foreshadowing of what he will be like when he does turn into a werewolf. He is no different in beast form as he was in human form. It is his wife who betrays not him. The loyalty of Bisclavret is also shown when he explains how he has not taken on a lover but something almost far worse. The way the narrator described the reaction of Bisclavret sums up how loyal he is. “in God’s name have mercy on me! If I tell you this, great harm will come to me for as a result I shall lose your love and destroy myself.” (69). Spoke directly back to his wife, he was asking for mercy from his wife and not mercy from God alone. He knew he was doing wrong and he wanted nothing more but the approval of his wife. It is as if he wants more of an approval from his wife and not God, he needs mercy from both. The narrator explains how Bisclavret did not even want to explain, he was very nervous and did not want to share his story. The word “coaxing” stands out in this part of the story because the knight was such a noble man but now when it is time to reveal his secret he turned shy and cowardly. He did not want to run the risk of being judged falsely. Although Bisclavret was ashamed of being this beast, he still remained loyal to his wife he even trusted her with these

Honor is a concept that has a great deal to do with entitlement and based on the actions or qualities of a person. There are three main types of honor that society recognizes; family, men, and women and in The Heptameron, Marguerite de Navarre portrays each of the three types of honor throughout her stories. Published in the 1500s, the series of short stories portrays the values and beliefs of that period of time. However, there are often a number of complications that follow honor that lie with classified and understandably honorable deeds or traits, and who is it that determines this. Another issue that one may find is that it is also complicated to be able to view one form of morality in the presence of another due to certain views clashing with one another. In addition to this, Marguerite de Navarre’s stories are written around the themes of love, lust, and adultery, in addition to honor. Each of these has a significant role in portraying the integrity of men, women and family. The Heptameron’s twelfth story has each of the three types of honor present throughout it, and show how they either compliment or conflict with one another. Through the character of the Duke of Medici, the Duke’s “other half”, and the sister of this man, the reader is able to recognize the instances in which honor is evident.

The character of the mother executes the tell-tale signs of counterfeit happiness when she tells the murderous story of the narrator’s father’s brother. “‘Oh honey,’ she said, ‘there’s a lot that you don’t know. But you are going to find out’” (36).

This woman, came all the way from her land in search for this man in my opinion is something that a man would instead do. She gives him gifts, “horse had been saddled,” “Lanval was richly served.” The woman tells him after confessing her love that he would lose her for good if he ever spoke of their love. Lanval, who you’d think would be a “Brave manly knight” has no problem being demanded and agrees.

Even though these qualities are praised in this culture, medieval narratives commonly uphold unrealistic virtues of what a perfect woman is. After Lanval vows to keep their love a secret, the queen of the court tempts the knight with her love. She says, "Lanval, I have honored, cherished and loved you much. You may have all my love: just tell me what you desire! I grant you my love and you should be glad to have me" (pp. 1771). Shortly after Lanval rejects her advances, the queen further establishes her ill will towards the good knight by saying, "I well believe that you do not like this kind of pleasure. I have been told often enough that you have no desire for women" (pp. 1771). The importance of these accusations exemplifies the queen's power and influence over Lanval. Although he graciously declines the queen's love, he regrettably reveals his love to the queen in an attempt to prove himself to the court. He says, "And I will tell you one thing; you can be sure that one of her servants, even the very poorest girl, is worth more than you, my lady the Queen, in body, face and beauty, wisdom and goodness" (pp. 1771). The manner which the queen entices Lanval reveals that both power and evil can be easily compared to this woman's actions, showing readers the other side of the coin. The division between these two women illustrates how often this society feeds off of a virgin/ whore dichotomy, branding such women

The knight next door honors the woman’s wishes by ceasing his communications with her though he keeps the bird in a golden coffin he always carries with him. From reading the tale, readers can see the differences in knightly behavior. Both men love the woman yet how they treat her is vastly different. The husband is controlling and wrathful, whereas the neighbor is kind and attentive. Both knights are publically viewed as great men, yet the way they act in their personal lives shows how public opinion isn’t always

The stories of Lancelot (The Knight of the Cart) and Perceval (The Story of the Grail) within Chrétien de Troyes’ Arthurian Romances depict a world of Medieval Romance that is somewhat different from one that was depicted in earlier epics. These romances are more focused on the battle between love and honor rather than on war and valor, which were depicted in earlier epics of de Troyes’ time. The tale of Lancelot follows a star-struck knight who undergoes an inner conflict between both the lover and hero inside him. His intense commitment to rescuing the queen causes him to make rash decisions which inevitably restrain him from controlling his own fate. Perceval’s story exhibits a different purpose for love in a knight’s life. Unlike Lancelot, he accepts love only when he believes it can further advance him in becoming the perfect knight. The two heroes’ actions showcase an inner conflict between maintaining their honor as knights and the love for another. Through these two tales, Chrétien de Troyes shows that that idealistic love and conscious chivalry cannot necessarily successfully coexist, yet it is the unachievable idealistic view that these two ideals do coexist.

Milun is a story about a knight who is in love with a mistress, but are unable to be together as she is forced to marry a wealthy baron. Milun’s and mistress’s uncontrollable lust and love consequently cause them to conceive a child together. The fear of their affair being shown in broad daylight causes them to send their child to live with his aunt. Milun entrusts his son with a ring as a parting gift so that he would be able to recognize him when he gets older. Milun and his mistress are separated from each other in order to hide their relationship. They maintained their relationship for twenty years by communicating in a unique way. They were able to send messages to each other through a swan. This was done by making the goose fast making the goose hungry so that it would go back to the place where it knows it will surely be fed. Within the time gap of twenty years, their son grows older and learns about his father and all his chivalrous actions. In the excitement of knowing his father’s virtues Milun’s son sets out on a journey to find him. We are able to see that in order to maintain a reputation one must have honor and integrity even if it means sacrificing personal desires.