The story of Emaré and her perilous journeys across the sea caught me incredibly
off guard this week and in the best possible way! Even though I never saw it
coming, this piece turned out to be my absolute favorite read of the semester
thus far and I couldn’t be more thrilled about it!
The main reason for my excitement is due to
the fact that my previously unresolved feelings towards the “Castaway Queen
romances” (Osborn 128), such as Chaucer’s The
Man of Law’s Tale, have become clarified
and somewhat elevated with my reading of this version of the story. Before Emaré, I had only encountered this type
of tale once, in The Man of Law’s Tale, and even though I
generally enjoyed reading the story of Custance, I found myself puzzled when
arriving at its conclusion. The highly unrealistic elements of the plot (such
as Custance surviving alone in a ship that safely makes it all the way from
Northumbria to Rome, for instance) threw my head for a loop and I had a great
deal of difficulty in resolving my feelings about them. Was I supposed to
believe that something like this actually happened? No, as it is clearly
impossible. But then how much of my disbelief should I suspend in order to
fully appreciate the story? How much of this tale – if any – did Chaucer’s
original audience relate back to real life situations?
The Man of Law's Tale by Anne Anderson
Questions like this prevented me from fully
connecting with the story and they continued to rattle around in my head for a long
time after I tucked The Man of Law’s Tale
away. However very much to my surprise, while reading Emaré this week absolutely none of them resurfaced! Considering the
stark similarities between the two tales, I was shocked to see the vast
difference in experience that I had while reading. Instead of focusing on the
individual events and elements of the plot within Emaré, I realized that, since I already had a general idea of how
the story would play out, it was much easier to consider the work as a whole. As
such I didn’t stop to ask myself what was going on or if I should believe every
little detail. Instead I just went with it, sat back and enjoyed the elements
of the tale that I hadn’t found in Chaucer’s version of the story, such as the
bejeweled dress.
Having Chaucer’s work sitting in the back of
my mind while reading Emaré was a
huge advantage and by understanding the type of story that I was confronting
(as opposed to when I first read The Man
of Law’s Tale and had never experienced that type of story before) I was
able to drastically increase my enjoyment of the work.
Source:
Osborn, Marijane. Nine Medieval Romances of Magic. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview, 2010. Print.
