Equitan bothered me. When the king confessed his
love to the woman, all she did was argue that he would eventually get bored of
her because he was of much higher rank than she was. And love only works if it is equal… but what
about her husband? I personally think
that the fact she has a husband is a much bigger problem for them than his rank
in society. They may have focused on
that because of how important hierarchy was at that time, but I found it
weird.
It
was definitely a classic tale of karma where the secret couple got what they
deserved in the end. I’m sensing this is
a common theme among most of these stories, which makes them somewhat
satisfying. Happy endings are universal,
no matter the time period. Although I do
think that the seneschal could have kept his cool a little more than he did…
Le Frense confused me. I’m not sure why the wife spread the rumor about the pregnant woman in the first place. It said she was deceitful and evil-tongued, but was that it? I think nowadays, there’s always more to the story. People don’t just do messed up things. There’s always a very specific reason behind it for a more interesting plot.
I do also want to give props to the woman for not killing one of her babies when she had twins herself later on. That was tough decision to make… And it wouldn’t be a separated at birth story if they didn’t reconnect at some point. That story line has definitely been used more than once.
Le Frense confused me. I’m not sure why the wife spread the rumor about the pregnant woman in the first place. It said she was deceitful and evil-tongued, but was that it? I think nowadays, there’s always more to the story. People don’t just do messed up things. There’s always a very specific reason behind it for a more interesting plot.
I do also want to give props to the woman for not killing one of her babies when she had twins herself later on. That was tough decision to make… And it wouldn’t be a separated at birth story if they didn’t reconnect at some point. That story line has definitely been used more than once.
Bisclavret was weird. Why did the wife even want to leave and get rid of her husband? Just because he was part werewolf? If that happened to me, it would certainly come as a shock, but it would be pretty cool. Hasn’t she heard of Jacob Black? I think love means sticking by your partner no matter what mythological creature they turn into every once in a while.
I found it even stranger that the king trusted a werewolf enough to let
it come up to him, bring it into his life, and basically have it
become a pet… Like it’s not a dog.
However, I think this story makes it clear that werewolves and vampires
and zombies have always been a good read for the public. I also thoroughly enjoyed the ending of the
ex-wife’s noseless children. Definitely
a nice touch.
First of all, I love your anchorman picture. Secondly, I like what you said about equitan. Why was the wife more bothered about class hierarchies rather than the fact that she had a husband? Perhaps it was because she just wanted to hear the king say that it did not matter...which he did obviously. But I think that exchange of power was exactly what she was looking for. Conniving woman that one was.
ReplyDeleteI definitely noticed the same thing you point out in your intro here; the topics we're reading about in popular fiction today are hardly any different than they were centuries ago. They seem to try a little harder to make them have warnings and morals in these particular stories, but ultimately the subject matter is pretty similar, what with cheating and killing and lying and loving, and even as specific as werewolves and separation-at-birth twins, as you've noticed in The Parent Trap.
ReplyDeleteI can definitely agree that Equitan's ending satisfied me, despite it's violence. Being boiled alive head-first is arguably worse than just having your nose torn off and living forever in banishment with several generations of noseless kids and grandkids.
Which brings us to Bisclavret, where, to answer your question, I guess the wife wanted to get rid of the husband because she was afraid she'd be hurt by him, which seems silly considering she'd lived with him for a while up until that point and been totally fine, since he's pretty proactive about going out when he's going to transform. Still, I can get wanting to split up from a guy who's never around, no matter the reason.
*although her method of "divorce" was maybe not the coolest*
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