First off, I have to say that these lais are very entertaining to read. I absolutely loved these stories. I believe that Marie de France was feeling some type of way when she wrote these lais. All of these stories captured my attention with all the betrayal, secrecy, and mystical creatures and most books or short stories don't always capture my attention. In Equitan, the betrayal of the wife for the King was epic. This story reminded me of the Story of David in the Bible. Just like how the king sought after David's wife, the king wanted to fulfill his own desire's with the seneschals wife. The fact that she gives in to the king's desires is not surprising to me. Females can be very devious and evil. The ending has to be my favorite part where the king and seneschals wife get caught in their own plot. The tub of hot boiling water becomes both of their way of death. The moral of this story was a good one, "He who plans evil for another may find the evil falling upon himself".
Le Fresne was a really sweet story. I didn't think that the wife had to go and bash the other wife for having twins, but hey karma is a bitch! This is a smooth point of why you shouldn't talk bad about people. Since she had spread a rumor about the other wife, she had to give up her own child just so she wouldn't contradict herself. That my friends is very sad and that's what she gets for spreading lies. Later on when the daughter returns after her lover was suppose to marry her twin sister, I thought that was a beautiful family moment. Just like the Parent Trap movie both sisters found their way back to each other unexpectedly which was really sweet.
Now I love mystical characters, creatures, and fantasies. This story had the most action and thrill. I know when people think of werewolf's everyone screams "Twilight". I have seen classic black and white movies that have the werewolf theme and that was my thought of what werewolf's would be in medieval times. I couldn't stand why the wife couldn't accept the fact that her husband was a werewolf. And when he ran off for quite sometime into the woods, she just decided to up and marry someone else. At that point she deserved to be bitten in the nose by her ex-husband. She should've stayed and helped him through his problem. See females today, when things get to tough or they don't like something that their "significant other" does they would just up leave. In the end at least he gets changed back into a human, but its still cool that he becomes a werewolf. He was about that life.
I completely agree with you Ari, these lais were fantastic and super entertaining to read! I don't know why but for some reasonI didn't expect them to be... like, at all. I went into reading them with the assumption that they would be a drag to get through (really, I've no idea where that assumption came from) and was so pleasantly surprised to realize I was wrong. I was engaged in the stories from the moment I started reading, and the more I read the more I enjoyed, as each story just kept outshining its predecessor. My absolute favorite by far was Bisclavret, though! I felt like it had the most engaging and sustained "thrill level" out of all three. There wasn't a moment of this lai that lost my attention and I was a bit shocked but nonetheless happy to learn of the pleasant outcome of the tale. While reading I expected things to end very badly for Bisclavret but was super surprised / excited to read of his former wife's fate... perfection!
ReplyDeleteI’m posting a comment to your blog as a “fill-in” for a member of my group.
ReplyDeleteI must begin by saying that I find it interesting that so many people are relating the lais we read for Tuesday, to other readings they have done in the past. It’s neat to see how many different stories pop into our heads while reading something similar. Your reference to David from the Bible is so different from the other references I’ve seen, and I think it gives an interesting glimpse into the different texts everyone in this class has read, or is interested in. So, that was somewhat off topic, just thought it was cool to note.
The Parent Trap! I’m so glad you put a picture up of the old movie (my favorite of the two editions). Plus, Hayley Mills spells her name the same way I do! Bet you’re going to be so excited learning that fact :P. ANYWAY, I have to say that I was disappointed with Le Fresne. I thought it was silly that the woman who talked so badly of the other mother couldn’t just admit her mistake, apologize, and happily raise the two daughters she gave birth to. This shows how desperate people are when it comes to being proven wrong.
I agree that the wife in Bisclavret was wrong to have left her husband in such a manner. And I agree that relationships are often given up on more easily than they should be. But the wife was punished in the end for what she had done, and the husband eventually became a man again, so I guess the whole story can be forgiven. What I’ve said in another comment though, is that I’m more disappointed in the husband than the wife. I know she was a terrible partner for ditching him in that way, but I felt that the werewolf lost a lot of his pride when he willingly became the knight’s pet.