Woman Vs Lanval Woman

On the other hand, this mysterious woman is defined by nature. She is incredibly beautiful and she is seemed to be illustrated as a nymph because they roam around the meadow with lavishing clothing and with rare beauty. “ their clothes were in expensive taste, close- fitting tunics, tightly laced, made of deep- dyed purple wool. Their faces were most beautiful. The older of the two conveyed.”(56). As demonstrated in other works of epic and romance, usually the older women is possessed with unnatural magic or obtains bargains with the younger gentlemen just like in this story. In addition, the older woman is always illustrated to be the most beautiful woman the male character has ever seen. In Lanval, nature v. humanity comes to play when the Queen is rejected by Sir Lanval for the Nymph who stole his heart. By this display of rejection the Queen falsely accuses Lanval as a man who betrays the oath and code of conduct to King Arthur and the rest comes to play. On the other hand, in “Sir Gawain and The Green Knight” the theme of nature v. humanity is demonstrated through the characters of Sir Gawain and The Green Knight. In this poem, Sir Gawain represents humanity, civilization and honor while the Green Knight represents nature and deviance. This concept is presented in the wager the was made between the Knight and the Green Knight, in this “beheading game”.

The knight endangers his manhood accepting Lady Bertilak’s purpose. So, we can say that manhood includes Christian, chivalric and loyal codes that are the cornerstone of a moral value. Moreover, it is normal that men make the first moves but in this case, Lord Bertilak’s wife makes it. As June states “The Lady is the one “making the first move”, so to speak, but it is ultimately Gawain who decides what is to become of those actions” (24). She does it because of her self-confidence and feels herself a superior being to him which was not normal at all in women at that time.

We as readers realize that many women of this era were objects of courtly love. However, in other Arthurian texts, Guinevere takes a more active role in the story and portrays an adulteress. In "Du Mantel mautaille" a knight arrives at King Arthur's court and brings with him a magic coat which is to fit the women who has been faithful to her husband or lover. Guinevere is singled out by the author as the "incarnation of unfaithfulness" (Bloch 95). In medieval literature, women are also portrayed as adulteresses such as the Lady in Sir Gawain and The Green Knight.

Throughout the play, women are used as a means to showing off male honour. Women are defined in connection with men, such as wife, mother and daughter. Therefore, Hero is addressed by characters as “Leonato’s Hero, your Hero, every man’s Hero” and “the old man’s daughter”. With the image of jewel, women are like the property of men which can help boast male honour. As Hero possesses the socially desirable qualities, such as beauty, modesty and chastity, Leonato once says that Hero is “mine I loved, and mine I praised, and mine that I was proud on”. Owing to having Hero as Leonato’s daughter, Don Pedro even lauds him as an “honourable father”. When Leonato misinterprets that Don Pedro eyes on Hero, he considers it extremely honourable. To him, it is even like a dream. Put it simply, Leonato’s male ego hinges on both Hero’s own qualities and her attraction to Don Pedro with high social status.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a classic example of the behaviors of a medieval knight and how the code of chivalry works within the courts and towards women. When Sir Gawain visits Bertiak’s castle, he respectfully treats the elderly woman and Bertiak’s beautiful young wife with the same level of dignity. “To the elder in homage he humbly bows; the lovelier he salutes with a light embrace. They welcome him warmly, and straightaway he asks to be received as their servant, if they so desire” (lines 973-976). The treatment of women is an essential part of the code of chivalry. If Sir Gawain had only given attention to the pretty young woman, then he would not have been abiding by the knight’s code of honor. He also keeps the code of chivalry intact when he says “Lover have I none, nor will have, yet awhile” (line 1790). Sir Gawain says this to Bertiak’s attractive wife, when she tries seducing him in the bedroom, which proved Sir Gawain’s loyalty to Bertiak, upholding his chivalric code. Honorable Sir Gawain demonstrates the knightly code of chivalry throughout the poem.

During a high point in medieval chivalric romance, both Marie de France’s Lanval and the anonymous Sir Gawain and the Green Knight tell fanciful tales of knighthood, chivalry, and spiritual and temporal (courtly) love. Both Lanval and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight portray their female characters as possessing considerable power and influence, within the events in the story and in the structure of the plot. Indeed, the female characters in both works function as the catalysts of the events within the stories, and also as instruments for each author's conveyed meaning. While Lanval presents its female characters in an unorthodox reversal of gender roles, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight employs the female characters as moral and spiritual trials for the hero, Sir Gawain. I will examine how the fairy princess and Queen Gwenevere in Marie de France's Lanval present a reversal of gender roles as was traditionally understood; she presents femininity as powerful, inspiring, and morally dynamic (for a woman can be ideal, or she can be corrupt). I will compare this to the representation of Lady Bertilak and Morgan le Fay in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, in which they are used to convey a “Biblical” warning for an ecclesiastical audience; particularly that of moral failure and the temptation of the flesh.

The Queen Guinevere's pride was wounded when she gets rejected by Lanval. Queen Guinevere offers herself to Lanval saying he could have anything he desires. Lanval rejects her by telling her he won't betray his king and that he

Lanval is sure that his lady will not show up, but in reality, she does. Judgement was about to be made “When through the city came riding a girl on horseback.” (Line 548). The way she is described is almost like a knight in shining armor. The sense seems to be that we should identify this lady as magical, almost like a fairy from a realm greater than our own

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

She wraps her female sexual fantasy of Guenever's humiliation around a woman's perception of a male masturbatory fantasy. A handsome, dejected knight withdraws to a forest meadow next to a stream to reflect on his ill fortune. When he wakes from a nap, two lovely maidens take him to a fabulous pavilion where he spends the afternoon making love to the most beautiful woman on earth who loves him "more than anything" (116). Moreover, his generous lover provides him with "a dowry" of inexhaustible means and the opportunity to have her whenever he wishes, knowing he will circumscribe his pleasures to discrete circumstances. Marie's lai reflects twelfth-century feminine tastes.

Although it seemed like there would be no hope for me and Lanval, we were both eventually saved by someone that loves and cares about us. At the end of Lanval, his lover returns and to prove his innocence, she says, “You know the Queen was in the wrong; / He never asked anything of her” (Marie 623-24). For the judges, the claims about her beauty are instantly verified the moment they see her and from then on her word is enough to save Lanval. On the other hand, after hearing what had happened to me and by whom it was done, my childhood friend came to my defense. As he was also previously good friends with my best friend, he told everyone that he had seen them do this type thing to other people whenever they did not get their way. After this,

During most of the time period women were used to further the success of men, mainly through the practice of being married off as peace-weavers, often leaving them lonely in their new land and marriage, as exemplified in “The Wife’s Lament” (Crossley-Holland.177.15-20). Often a woman’s appearance was meant to allude to her virtuousness and moral standing, rather than showing these characteristics through action, as they would have been written for a male character, in conjunction with her very identity being linked with a man, rarely being addressed as anything other than the wife or daughter of a man. For instance, the wife of Bertilak, as she is given no name or title that is independent from her husband, is described as having blushed cheeks and pale skin, most likely symbolizing an air of innocence and piety about her; two qualities that were expected of women (Stone. 243.952-56). Oddly, just as often as a woman’s physical appearance might have hinted at her pure personality, her actual personality directly opposes this, feeding the idea that women are inherently deceptive and detrimental towards men. This concept is symbolized in Queen Guinevere, King Arthur’s beautiful wife, beloved by her people and her husband.

She does not merely decide that this relationship is ultimately going nowhere and drops everyhthing, no, Marie is brave enough to not let go of this man who brings such glee into her life. For she is not the sort of woman who would throw away a relationship that may end in a long happy life just because Meursault did not say three simple words to her. Yet she still has the fearlessness to ask for a marriage with Meursault, who had recently denied her of his love.

Apparently, the era was strict about the maiden innocence, and naive brain of young girls, so nobody could blame Guilliadun for believing the sweet speech of a brave adult knight. In this context, the responsibility for the suffering of the girl lies solely on the knight.

In “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, a knight encounters a beautiful young lady who was all by herself. This knight, however, was not like those noble men who would typically adhere to the codes of chivalry. He was overcome with lust and entirely disregarded the feelings of this young maiden. In spite of her protests, he decided to take advantage of her isolation and defenselessness and force himself upon her. This event became widely known and was eventually brought to the king’s attention in order to get justice for this young woman.