I
DO NOT KNOW WHO TO TRUST IN THESE LAIS!!!!
By:
Rory Conklin
Okay,
it goes without saying that the present day world we live in is one not to be
well trusted in the hands of others. But after reading three short lais; Equitan, Le Fresne, and Bisclavret, my eyes have been opened
even wider as to how sick and twisted these people were, and how little trust
was actually appreciated and upheld by anyone, even within the bonds of
matrimony does it mean nothing to these people. It was well put in Le Frense, and what turned out to be in
my opinion the main theme to these lais,
"Whoever slanders another never knows when it will rebound on him" (Le Frense, 87-88). The biggest karma
statement ever and it showed to be true! Whether it had been about spreading
rumors or just plain and simple adultery, it always came back to haunt them or
seal their fate.
Starting
with Equitan we return to the adultery
and hierarchy playing a significant factor. At first the wife tries to defend
the love of her husband and claims that any love between her and the King would
be forced and unforgiving in the long run. But in a few short pages she went
from the cliché "oh woe is me, I am not worthy" nonsense to basically
an "Eh, alright let's do it" with the King.
And then to top it all off plans to KILL her husband
the seneschal!!! I FOUND THIS RIDICULOUS. I did get a kick out of how the Kings
life was ended however, a foot-first dive into the boiling water and an instant
unforgiving scalded death. Classic!!! Karma you art thou a heartless bitch, but
hey they were asking for it am I right?
In
the lai, Le Fresne, I did not find this story nearly as annoying, but rather
ironic and simply weird how okay everyone was at the end when the Knight was
marrying his mistresses long lost sister, but then they found out and
practically said "Whoops! Start over! Marry her instead" because
after all Fresne was royalty and that
is all that matters right? I find that love in these lais do not mean a damn if a rich and powerful ranking in the
classes was not completely behind the decision making. Everyone was just a go
with the flow until a call needed to be made. Can anyone explain to me why
everyone was so calm and forgiving at the end? If I had been Le Fresne I would have been asking a
million questions.
And
finally, the one girl that did not jump in excitement to the idea of being
married to a werewolf. Just her!! Okay maybe that is an overstatement. But its
moments like these, the lai of Bisclavret where you would think love
would triumph over minor, although difficult to believe, circumstances such as
your husband turning into a werewolf for three days a week. Okay, again this is
a little supreme. However, this goes back to what my main point was, how does
anyone trust anybody in these times? When will they learn that karma almost
always comes back around, like how the werewolf bit off his wife's nose, and
then later she gave birth to nose less offspring?? It is pretty obvious that
someone was not taking their couples therapy seriously.
Overall
these were very entertaining reads, and definitely gave me something to think
about when I am bored!
You raise a good point about karma and consequences, and I think some of Marie's original readers were probably wondering the same thing (probably without using the word "karma").
ReplyDeleteI wasn't that surprised by the murder plot in *Equitan,* although it is kind of funny. Back in the Middle Ages, divorce was absolutely, positively forbidden and used only in special cases, so marriage truly was a "Till death do us part" affair. I'm not saying divorce-murder happened all the time, but people were definitely killed over marriages. (Ahem, do I see your wives there, Henry VIII?) Heck, medieval royal relationships even led to the founding of one of the first Protestant Christian denominations: Anglicanism.
The marriage in *Le Fresne* also made me uncomfortable, as well. Specifically, they wait until *after* the wedding night to annul the marriage between the lord and Hazel. Usually, the marriage would be consummated on the wedding night, but because they take the lord aside and explain the situation perhaps it wasn't. Two adulterers in a story is enough; once characters start getting into love quadrangles and pentacles, they're in trouble.
Now you've got me thinking about karma again. It does seem to be a recurring theme in the *Lais.* So, do you think Marie was being totally honest that telling good stories was her only goal, or do you think she also wanted to satirize a bit?
Love, politics... etc... were probably so shady in the past, and the power of media was not really around to expose them. Talk about how people get upset being exposed by TMZ. I am sure they'd prefer all the publicity than being pushed into scalding water.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me so mad that Fresne's mother did not get what she deserved at the end. I too would have questions in regards to what happened in the past several years. It seemed so superficial too (the story itself), because did they not mention that Hazel was also married off to a wealthy person at the end? I feel like the problem I have with the Lias is that class means everything.
I think most women would prefer to be with a man who transforms into a werewolf at night than a man would want to be with a noseless woman. I could be wrong, but at least a werewolf is human most of the time. Once you're noseless, you are losing an essential body part!