In his influential work, The Allegory of Love, C.S. Lewis addresses the notion of courtly love by assigning it the characteristics of humility, courtesy, adultery, and the religion of love. He also goes on to claim that this notion of love is based on the lord-vassal relationship as he wrote, “The lover is the lady’s ‘man.’ He addresses her as midons, which etymologically represents not ‘my lady’ but ‘my lord.’” In the courtly romance, The Romance of Tristan and Iseult, the concept of courtly love exemplifies the characteristics of the feudalization of love put forth by C.S. Lewis, transforming the chief dilemma faced by Tristan into Roland. Through an exploration of the dynamics of loyalty, duty, and the four characteristics of the feudalization of love, this essay will examine how Tristan’s adherence to the codes of courtly …show more content…
While Tristan and Iseult continue to have the same feelings, Tristan’s predicament was causing himself, and those around him, too much pain and suffering than he could bear. In the Song of Roland, the main character, Roland, finds himself in his own lord-vassal dilemma. From the surface, it appears that Roland’s conflict is whether to blow the horn or not, when the issue is whether he is willing to sacrifice his pride and ego for the sake of being a good vassal. As Oliver begs Roland to blow the horn, Roland refuses as the text states, “Roland replies: ‘That would be an act of folly; // Throughout the fair land of France I should lose my good name.’” This excerpt highlights how Roland is more concerned with his image and self-love than how he can best serve King Charlemagne, which would ultimately lead to his downfall. Overall, the dilemma that Roland is facing is rooted in his egocentric nature and fear of not living up to the expectations of the perfect
and Criseyde. The most interesting character by far is Pandarus. He serves as the protagonist and go between for Troilus and Criseyde. In fact, one could argue if it were not for him, Troilus may never have attained the brief affections of his lady love, Criseyde. When Pandarus comes across an uneasy Troilus and inquires as to the cause of his trouble, his speech is very eloquent. It is this speech that gives the reader his first glimpse of how subtlety and indirectness will initially characterize
stories may be broken apart or combined. Often the story-teller will adapt the tale for his own purposes to emphasize some theme of his own. C. S. Lewis uses and modifies older sources in many ways in his novel That Hideous Strength, incorporating themes and portions of Arthurian literature to add color and emphasize the subjects of his plot. Lewis includes many direct references to older Arthurian literature in his novel. The leader of his group of heroes is the former philogist Ransom,