“The Lady-errant in Aucassin et Nicolette: the subversiveness of the female knight” The aim of this essay is to illustrate how Nicolette, one of the two protagonists of the anonymous French chantefable Aucassin et Nicolette, subverts the accepted gender roles of the Middle Ages. By adopting an active, almost masculine role in the story, she challenges the medieval stereotype of the “damsel in distress” who awaits to be saved by her valiant knight. Instead, she becomes herself a proper courtly knight, after the fashion of Gawain, the perfect knight of the round table, in order to save her beloved Aucassin, her lover, but also her liege lord. Even in the context of the satirical, humorous chantefable, where her androgynous character can be considered mostly a caricature of femininity, she portrays a different, unheard of possibility for women, allowing them to consider themselves as heroines of their stories, and not only as passive, secondary …show more content…
She is inventive, when she tries to find a way out of her prison; hardy, when she endures cuts, bruises and several wounds as she tries to pass from the moat; and courageous, when she overcomes her fear for wild animals and decides to go in the dark forest. She speaks in a polite and courteous manner, even to people beneath her social status (the shepherds) and is generous in rewarding them, giving them all the money she has in her purse; “And lo! I have five sols in my purse, take them and tell him” . She is as beautiful as any high-born lady and her speech is frank, but she can also hide her true meaning behind equivocal sentences, when she parallels herself to a beast, in order to hide the fact that she resides in the forest, until Aucassin finds
In sixteenth century France, women were not independent and treated as equals as they are today. Women didn’t have much of or any identity of their own apart from their husbands, let alone any importance outside of their household duties; meaning, women didn’t have a voice within the home or publicly. Bertrande’s decision to go publicly to trail with the accusations of Arnaud being an impostor was a huge deal to the rest of the family; all of Martin’s family except for his uncle believed Arnaud was none other than Martin Guerre. This was pressure for Bertrande, to no longer go forward with the accusations against Arnaud. Determined, independent, honourable and brave were all qualities that Bertrande had shown through the actions she had taken to fight what she believed was the truth in the process of pursing the impostor. Bertrande proved women could stand up for themselves and not just stand behind their...
Marie de France’s “Lanval” is a brilliantly witty and captivating narrative poem—one illustrating a knight’s unyielding honor and loyalty to his king as well as his enduring chivalric devotion to the woman he loves. Written in the twelfth century, amidst a time when women were looked down upon and considered useless and unnecessary, Marie’s portrayal of a knight needing to be rescued by his female lover breathes comic irony into this otherwise misogynistic and antifeminist world. In addition to this cleverly depicted romance, a further literary work, Geoffrey Chaucer’s early fifteenth century “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” extends its own explicitly satirical outlook
Thiebaux, Marcelle. The Writings of Medieval Women: An Anthology. New York: Garland Publishing. 1994. Print.
Women were always viewed as weak, dependent, and powerless in the Middle Ages. Not only is it a common view during that time period, but this also is often stereotyped labeled to women today as well. In the romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the hatred of women is portrayed throughout. However, while women are certainly looked down upon, they also are influential to the knights. This romance also portrays how a woman having different characteristics, could change the way she was viewed as well. Although women in the Middle Ages appeared to lack power, the women in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight have a hidden influence over the men and actually drive the action of the medieval romance.
“Culture does not make people. People make culture” said Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian writer and educator, in a presentation on feminism in a TedTalk. The culture in which Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written was misogynistic and it shows in the writing of the poem. Medieval cultural misogyny manifests itself in multiple ways in SGGK. This paper will examine the negative relationships between Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and gender by discussing: the representation of female characters, gendered violence, and Christianity in the Middle Ages.
Often times in literature the body becomes a symbolic part of the story. The body may come to define the character, emphasize a certain motif of the story, or symbolize the author’s or society’s mindset. The representation of the body becomes significant for the story. In the representation of their body in the works of Marie de France’s lais “Lanval” and “Yonec,” the body is represented in opposing views. In “Lanval,” France clearly emphasizes the pure beauty of the body and the power the ideal beauty holds, which Lanval’s Fairy Queen portrays. In France’s “Yonec,” she diverts the reader’s attention from the image of the ideal body and emphasizes a body without a specific form and fluidity between the forms. “Yonec” focuses on a love not based on the body. Although the representations of the body contradict one another, France uses both representation to emphasize the private and, in a way, unearthly nature of love that cannot be contained by the human world. In both lais, the love shared between the protagonists is something that is required to be kept in private and goes beyond a single world into another world.
In The Descent of Alette Alice Notley has created an epic poem that confronts male hegemony. The tyrant symbolizes the corrupt patriarchy while Alette symbolizes the capabilities of a female to overcome their gender specific personality traits placed on them by society. Notley addresses the thesis continuously throughout the poem using form, symbolism, and historical context.
As this paper will argue, this framework complicates the poem's presentation of gender and sexuality. Rather than a clear opposition between, say, marital sexuality and everything else, we find a situation in which potentially adulterous acts and kisses among men are vested with varied--and shifting--values. The poem uses references to the (imagined) British past to complicate any simple reading of the tale it tells in terms of sexual morality or transgression.1 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight opens with a summary of the events leading from the fall of Troy to the establishment of Britain. Sien e sege and e assaut watz sesed at Troye, e borgh brittened and brent to brondez and askez, e tulk at e trammes of tresoun er wroght Watz tried for his tricherie, e trewest on erthe: Hit watz Ennias e athel, and his highe kynde, at sien Fro riche Romulus to Rome ricchis hym swye, With gret bobbaunce at burghe he biges vpon fyrst, Andnewestes hit his aune nome, as hit now hat; Tirius to Tuskan and teldes bigynnes, Langaberde in Lumbardie lyftes vp homes, And fer ouer e French flod
Men and women were held under drastically different expectations in Spain and the Spanish colonies in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. These set gender roles are effectively demonstrated through the life of Catalina de Erauso, who experienced the entire spectrum through her adventures as a transvestite in this time period. Opportunities and freedom in culture, politics and economy, and religion varied greatly between men and women. Men were capable of living out their lives independently and ambitiously. Women, on the other hand, were taught to be reliant and mild-mannered characters in the background. De Erauso shatters this idea of a woman’s role by fulfilling a life of adventure and power. In doing so, she briefly dispels the obligations of gender roles, if only for herself. Catalina de Erauso was a nun, a lieutenant, and a history-maker.
This paper will argue that Beatrice and her cousin Hero are used to show the gender inequality of the the Elizabethan era. The first scene gives good insight into Beatrice’s character. Benedict tells Beatrice how he will never marry a woman, and he will be a bachelor forever. To this Beatrice responds: “A dear happiness to women. They would have been troubled by a pernicious suitor” (1.1.126-127).
In the poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," Gawain is a guest at Hautdesert Castle. During his stay at the castle, three separate hunts take place. These hunts also parallel temptations aimed at Gawain by the wife of the Lord of Hautdesert Castle. In each hunt scene, a characteristic of the prey of that hunt is personified in Gawain's defense against the advances of the Lord's wife.
The achievement of gender equality is one of the most important movements for advancement of society. In the High Middle Ages, however, it was even more challenging to bring such sensitive debate. Christine de Pizan, a highly educated and religious woman, chose an unusual pathway for a woman in her era that she became a writer to support her family. Christine’s work, “The Treasure of the City of Ladies,” could be seen as feminist because she offered a broad view of how an ideal artisan’s wife should be.
Woman in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” compared to the women in Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight shows a progress or a power shift between men and women. When the knight sees the old lady and asks her for her help, she’s the only one who has that power to help save him. Now in terms of power, the old lady and the Wife differ in how they show their power. For example, The Wife in the prologue, she talks about her having five husbands and is looking for the sixth one and how her husband who “shal be bothe my dettour and my thral / And have his tribulacion withal / Upon his flesh whil that I am his wif.” (shall be both my debtor and my slave / And bear his tribulation to the grave / Upon his flesh, as long as I’m his wife) (The Wife of Bath’s Prologue 161-163) and even how she “have the
Social factors have always encouraged the idea that men embody masculinity and women embody femininity and, thus, certain gender-norms are expected accordingly. In the past, such expectations were traditional and to go against them was frowned upon by the general public. Contemporarily speaking, there is more freedom to avail oneself of today than there was once upon a time. Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont’s fairytale adaptation of ‘Beauty and The Beast’ was published in 1740. During this time, men and women were compelled by the social conventions associated with their gender. When analyzing the literary work, the reader can grasp what gender roles are eminent in the characters identity and motives. By exploring the choice of language being
As a man fascinated with the role of women during the 14th Century, or most commonly known as the Middle Ages, Chaucer makes conclusive evaluations and remarks concerning how women were viewed during this time period. Determined to show that women were not weak and humble because of the male dominance surrounding them, Chaucer sets out to prove that women were a powerful and strong-willed gender. In order to defend this argument, the following characters and their tales will be examined: Griselda from the Clerk's Tale, and the Wife of Bath, narrator to the Wife of Bath's Tale. Using the role of gender within the genres of the Canterbury Tales, exploring each woman's participation in the outcomes of their tales, and comparing and contrasting these two heroines, we will find out how Chaucer broke the mold on medievalist attitudes toward women.