Enough Already

OH JOY! He finds his lost love...Can you feel my sarcasm? Is it tangible? Because the sarcasm is so thick you should be able to physically see it from your screen.

I don’t know if it’s due to my being in both the medieval romance class and Jane Austen, but I’m just kind of, a little bit, really sick and tired of romance. Maybe it’s because I was once really obsessed with Greek and Roman mythology that I’m slightly biased towards the version where Eurydice dies and Orpheus done screws up and loses her in the end. Who knows. Either way, this version bored me. I’m a cynic. Sue me.

My eyeballs must permanently be stuck in an upright position...it’s literally the same story we’ve been reading all semester. Girl gets kidnapped, boy is sad, boy goes on quest, boy wins, everyone is really happy. What would have been a cool twist was having Cerberus eat Orfeo or something. Not lazily wrapping up the ending with unicorns and rainbows. Lame. The ending was so ridiculous, it’s almost as if they didn’t know how to really write it so they just threw ink across the page and said “close enough.”

I might be coming off a tad harsh...so let me say something nice. It was nifty how the ladies had falcons as pets. I liked that. I wish I had a falcon as a pet….I would totally use it to send messages...if I had people to send messages to. Damn.

Back to the story, after my sharp turn down the rabbit hole, I’m not sure if it was a direct reference to the original but the name dropping of “snakes that past him glide” (253) was interesting. That whole section was actually interesting. It detailed his descent(ten bloody years) into a hermit, comparing and contrasting his nobility to the poor rank he fell to. “Ermine robes...leaves and grass...castles...freezing weather…” (241-247). It really brought into perspective this King Orfeo lost everything when he lost his love. Same ol’ story but it was a nice few lines.

Lastly, the appendix, let me just take a moment to revel in the appendix. “...like smoke dispersing in air, she was gone” (498-499). Beautiful. I love this version. Just the tragedy and the loss, I love it. Something about the hero not winning pleases me.

Side note, I looked up the different types of harps, because I was curious if he had a mini harp or something, and there are a lot of harps in the world. Even a harp guitar.

This is obviously not a harp guitar.

The Overall Concept of Women in the Middle Ages

After getting to read this piece, I came across some overall ideas. First of all, this can be classified as a feminist piece; and, as a overall concept, the story has different viewpoints from some of the other pieces we have read.

When it comes to being a feminist style of writing, readers observe the woman of the court taking a strong role of leadership. As we see the Knight in King Arthur's court, the wife of the King, along with some other ladies of the court, give him the second chance at life. The women inform him of going on this journey for a year, informing us readers that this is going to be another one of those epiphany moments. When I read this, I thought this was way ahead of its time. Chaucer definitely put himself way ahead of any other author of his time, by putting strong, independent female characters as leaders in his novels.

The one thing the really grabbed me in this was the idea that he had to answer the one question all men dread to be asked: What do women want most in this world? Guys, heart to heart moment, we don't even understand what is like to be a woman, let alone what they truly want. We can ask all of the women on this planet, and we still wouldn't know the answer to this Goddamn question. If I were in the Knight's shoes, I would beg for my head to be chopped off, because there is no way in hell I will ever know the answer to this question.

This was definitely a different style read than the other pieces we have read in this class for a lot of reasons, mainly the idea of reading in middle english, and it grabbed my attention right from the beginning. The concept of middle english is much different from today's english, For me, since I didn't obtain the book with middle english in it (amazon didn't have the book mentioned online... my life lol), I had to read this off of the Harvard website. In a couple of words I can describe to you that this was interesting and difficult to read. That's what grabbed me; the idea that I can have so much fun reading a book makes me want to read more and more.

Overall, I thought this was a great read. I read this story before my junior year of high school, and after reading this for a third time, I understand what the story is truly trying to tell me.

He gets what now?

As I finished The Wife of Bath's Tale, I immediately had to re-read it. Even translated into modern day english I found I had to double back to understand what had taken place. Now, I will admit I'm still working through the middle english version...that's some rough language.
I can't believe that the knight, who completely disregarded his knightly code of honor and committed such a disgusting act, still got "redemption". Not to mention his wife went all Hocus Pocus and suddenly the ugly crusty woman he forced himself to marry is now beautiful and everything is peachy. Yeah, he really learned his lesson.

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This knight, someone who is supposed to be widely respected and trusted, violated a girl in the worst way possible. But it's okay cause the fairy queen-lady-thing gave him a good talking-to so he totally learned what he did was a no-no. Seriously? Even if the queen decided to send him on this impossible task(seemingly impossible at the time) I would still argue she should have let the guy die. Forever.

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Another issue I had with this particular little tale is when the hag told the knight her ugliness should be a security to him. “Don’t worry, the fact I’m ugly means I’m less likely to cheat on you.” Are we really going there right now? Did I really just read that? How about the knight made a promise to do whatever you want, a situation he got himself into in the first place, and whether or not he likes you he should honor that promise. OH WAIT! He raped a girl so I can see how she would worry he might cheat, but never ever should a girl think of herself like that. Even if she is a fairy queen who totally and completely knows what she is doing by manipulating the entire story, it still infuriated me.

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So, do I think he really learned his lesson after the really long sermon? Not really. I’m curious if anyone did. Even still, should the hag have transformed herself into a younger woman in despite of his crime? Maybe. I don’t believe he deserved it, he violated everything knights stand for: chivalry, honor, respect. He ignored all of them just to satisfy himself. I wonder what people thought of this story when it was written...would they agree or disagree with what we are saying now?

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A Love/Hate Relationship

After reading, "Cliges," I sorta developed this style of is this a good read, or is this a long, strenuous read.

Within the first couple pages I was instantly hooked, which is a weird feeling, because my relationship with school reads have plummeted since I read Fahrenheit 451 freshmen year of high school.

I loved how committed young Alexander was to be a mature leader for his land, wanting to Serve under King Arthur and his high court.

However, as I continued to read this, we once again come up with the topic of love. I understand that this class is entitled, "Genre Studies: Medieval Romance," but my mind still wants that idea of it being medieval. You know, with the knights and the crusades, slaughter and ravaging every female thing in sight. That's what I would love to see. My mind doesn't grip with the idea that love is apparent in every concept of every human being. In my opinion, some people in this era didn't really give a flying shit (Yes I do understand that shit cannot fly, it's more of an expression.)

The one thing that baffles me the most, is that Brittany suspects Alexander of cheating. Within a blink of an eye, she goes 0-100 real quick, "Oh I love him... Oh I cannot stand the little bastard!!!" As I tell everyone, however, we all know that crazy chick named Brittany.

Overall, fascinating read, too long though, and it never gets to a solid point in my mind.

Self-Insert and Honor

    Erec and Enide was a fabulous read! A bit dry in some lines, but overall enlightening. I enjoyed the self insertion of the author during a couple points of the story: “I do not know what work they were doing” (pg 6) I don’t know why I gain so much amusement from it…sort of reminds me of Jane Austen...it adds to the bedtime story feel. Perhaps I should get to the point now.

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    Both the characters of Erec and Enide were equal parts important to this story. I really like how the focus was on both the male and the female rather than one or the other. The whole point of the first half was Erec redeeming himself as a Knight, after being whipped in the face by a dwarf. What a vicious dwarf he was...then the last half of the story was about Enide learning that perhaps she should’ve been more delicate in telling her husband he’s lost his public manliness. Tsk tsk. However, in these areas they both drive the story forward. Without one, there wouldn’t be a plot. They are both instigators in the rising action. As Erec rides to regain his knightly pride, he finds Enide and is able to fight the rude knight Sir Yder. Without a beautiful maiden, Erec would not have been able to fight in the competition(it just so happens he finds the most beautiful maiden). In the second half of the reading without Erec, Enide would not have had anyone to insult. Simple as that.

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     I would like to mention briefly my favorite part of medieval tales such as these:honor. The honor that these knights(both “good” and “bad”) is such a cool aspect. For example, when Yder and Erec were fighting they both agreed “hey man, I’m beat, you’re beat, let’s chill for a mo’” that’s so cool! Then of course Erec got mad and told Yder to get up and finish this, but he let him live so that’s cool too. Another example could be afterwards, when Yder actually rode all the way to the Queen and surrendered himself. For being so honorable, he got a place in court. SWEET! Maybe some might find it lame, but Knights in these tales really cared about their honor as men and as Knights. It’s something I really enjoy.
    There are a lot of interesting aspects of Erec and Enide. I look forward to reading the rest of it for class.

True Love? OR NAH????

They say love is a topic that many people appreciate, and others can hate until the end days. Love has been existent since the medieval ages. In, “The Lais of Marie de France,” the epic story of Equitan described an epic knight who was pissed the hell off at his lover.

This is what brings up the mighty question, was love in that time period classified as true love? Or even better, do the people of today know the true definition of love? And if so, do they truly follow it?

Oxford English Dictionary defines love as, “A feeling or disposition of deep affection or fondness for someone, typically arising from a recognition of attractive qualities, from natural affinity, or from sympathy and manifesting itself in concern for the other's welfare and pleasure in his or her presence” (Love).

With this as the following, do we actually follow this, or do we go straight to the aux cord, and pull out the iPhone and listen to Jeremiah’s Birthday Sex and get some sweet horny action in!

In today’s world, I believe that we are following the same standards as Equitan did. All we do in this day of age is find the closest person next to us, and go after a quick fuck session. We never go through the styles of love that Nicholas Sparks proclaims in every single one of his books.

The styles of Equitan would leave me to believe that this could leave to domestic violence, brutality, or even death. Just leave it to be foreshadowing to Eminem’s Kim, “Don't you get it, bitch, no one can hear you? Now shut the fuck up and get what's coming to you You were supposed to love me NOW BLEED! BITCH, BLEED! BLEED! BITCH, BLEED! BLEED!”

Overall, love is still something that still boggles my mind. Whether it may be about love preferences, or if it comes to sexual preferences. However, if the any reader follows the ways of the, “mighty,” Equitan, then we will end up seeing more and more baby daddies.