Beauvoir's Lanval

Feminist theory includes how women write, and how women are portrayed in literature. However, it is becoming increasingly challenging to define what it means to be a woman. Simone De Beauvoir stated, “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman” (330). Society seeks to label people: men, women, black, white, rich, poor–the list is endless. Often this is done through stereotyping. Beauvoir presents the idea of Eve and Mary stereotyped as evil temptress on one hand and Christ’s virtuous, angelic mother on the other. Scholar Steven Lynn said, “Such a representation of women,... serves to make women unreal, other, the absence of maleness, rather than anything positively female or mutually human: this vision is especially pernicious when it is

It has been studied through the lens of the political and religious contexts of the time it was written. There have even been some attempts to interpret the poem through the biographical information of Marie De France’s life. This aspect is largely unexplored due to the extreme lack of historically recorded information about Maire De France. Despite the many areas it has been studied, the scholarly conversation surrounding “Lanval” is largely overshadowed by Feminist and Gender Theory. Critics have even described the Lais of Maire De France, and through association “Lanval,” as “a natural point of departure” for studying the female voice in medieval literature (Kinoshita 263). There have even been studies which exclusively examine Beauvior’s Eve and Mary stereotypes in the poem. One such examination, written by Michelle Sweeny, highlights the obvious stereotypical roles Gewnivere and The Fairy Queen play. Sweeney spends ample time arguing that Gewnivere, as portrayed in “Lanval,” is the embodiment of the Eve

If Gunievere was truly motivated by her lust for Lanval, then why would she put in the effort to gather thirty beautiful women? Lanval is surrounded by beautiful women and could in essence be tempted by any of them and not solely Gunievere. Gunievere’s actions seem to suggest that she is in fact not seeking Lanval’s company for herself, but rather testing Lanval. It is only when Gunievere notices Lanval’s seclusion from the group that she approaches him. As Queen, Gunievere felt it was her duty to test the knights to insure their dedication to the King and the Church. The moments leading up to the apparent seduction attempt suggests that Gunievere was not seeking to fulfill her own carnal desires, but instead seeking to test Lanval and ultimately quash sinful rumors about him. Due to the political and religious landscape of the time the story occurs, Lanval's alleged homosexuality would have provided Guinevere a reason to test Lanval’s loyalty. It is obvious this is at the forefront of Guinevere’s mind because she says people have often told me that they have no interest in women. You have fine-looking boys with whom you enjoy yourself (Maire lines