Marie de Frances' Eliduc, Boccaccio's Ninth Tale of the Fifth Day, and Shakespeare's As You Like It

Comparing Women in Marie de Frances' Eliduc, Boccaccio's Ninth Tale of the Fifth Day, and Shakespeare's As You Like It

Whether it is Greco-Roman, Judeo-Christian, or Renaissance writing, women have always played a significant role in literature. Sometimes they act as counterparts to men, but sometimes they dominate the storyline themselves. Helen of Troy, Guildeluec, Monna Giovanna, and Rosalind, among others, prove to be just as vital characters as the men in their stories. Whether it is beauty, kindness, or strength, each one contributes significantly to the grandeur of the classic in which she is a part.

Helen of Troy is perhaps one of the most famous women of all literature. It is her beauty that Paris desires, and it is her abduction by this handsome youth that brings the Greeks and Trojans to war. Helen is powerful although the Hellenic tradition stresses the importance of men's achievement. Sparking a war is quite a task for one woman to accomplish, and yet Helen in Homer's The Iliad does not play an active role as Achilles does. She is a stereotypical beautiful woman, whose physical appearance is all that counts, and her beauty becomes only a curse. As a woman, she is no more than an object of possession. Nowhere in the epic does the reader really gain insight into how she thinks or feels.

In Marie de Frances' "Eliduc," Guildeluec is Eliduc's wife, or first wife, who is a devout Christian. She, as well as the story, puts great importance on the pleasing of God. The Judeo-Christian tradition is known for God's adoration rather than man's achievement. The portrayal of Guildeluec, which is rather unrealistic, adds to the story's fairy-tale style. Guildeluec is the loyal wife who waits patiently at home while her husband fights for the good of his country as well as his Lord. She waits patiently once again when he leaves to help another king since his own monarch no longer trusts him.

Eliduc meets the king's daughter and falls in love, despite the fact that he has promised his wife he would never leave her. When Guildeluec realizes that her husband is in love with another woman, she not only saves this woman's life, but gives her to Eliduc as well. The fairy-tale characteristics come into play here because no woman in real life would be so kind if her husband cheated on her.