The Lais Of Marie De France English Literature Essay

Adultery has always been seen as morally wrong. However, marriage has been seen as a sacred institution that is shared by most of the people and religions of the world. In Marie de France’s “Lais”, we are given insight to five adulterous affairs, six pre-marital sexual encounters, and one instance of impure thoughts. Marie de France’s writing allows readers to feel sympathy with the adulterers. Her lays are separated into two different categories. In the one category, readers feel empathy and compassion for the couple, as seen in “Yonec” and “Lanval.” In the second category, there is a combined idea of sympathy and disdain, as seen in “Bisclaveret” and “Equitan.” Marie de France’s lais focus on sex outside of marriage. However, the affairs that take place are often rewarded with children, wealth, healing, and loving marriages.

In Marie de France’s first lai, “Yonec” tells the tale of a young woman who is kept locked away in a tower by her rich and old husband. We are told that “he kept her there more than seven years” (37), and that she was never allowed to come down not even “for a relative, not for a friend” (40). The young woman, who had no contact with anyone other than her husband’s sister, began to let herself go. “She lost her beauty, as a lady would” (48). We begin to feel sympathetic for the young woman. Although her marriage to the man is sacred, we see the situation as cruel and unjust. When we are told that her beauty is fading, we feel a desire to see her made whole again. “God, who have power over all, Please hear, please answer now my call” (62-63). The young woman, although already married, prays that God will send her someone. A hawk soon appears and transforms into a knight. The affair seems acceptable to us because it is as though God has answered her prayer. The adulterous affair becomes even more acceptable in our eyes when we realize that their affair is not about only sex, but that they share a deep and tender love. The love that these lovers share brings the woman back to life. When the husband learns of the affair, he kills the knight. The woman is heartbroken until she learns that she is pregnant and will give birth to a son who “Someday he will kill his and her enemy, be there avenger” (102). When the son grows up and learns of his real father, he kills his stepfather. The poem concludes by saying “All they once suffered for their love” (158). Although the poem perhaps does not turn out the way we would like it to, we are left with a sense of happiness in the end.

The next lai, “Lanval”, tells much of the same type of story. A distraught knight, who is frequently overlooked for his service, meets two women while wandering around. These two women bring the knight to their maiden who is waiting for him. The lady had a tender love for Lanval and has traveled very far in order to be with him. When Lanval hears this, he tells her “All others for you I abandon” (55). This begins their love affair. Being that they are not married and therefore should not be together so intimately, we don’t see what they’re doing as wrong until much later. The lady tells Lanval that she much never tell anyone about her or she will leave him, so when he refuses Queen Guinevere’s advances, he is accused of being a homosexual. In order to disprove her accusations, Lanvel quickly brags about his lady and insults the queen’s beauty. King Author, hearing of this altercation, says that Lanval much face a trial and prove his claims. Lanval is distraught and cries out for her to come to him but she does not. As the trial nears its end, two of the woman’s servants appear. Lanval claims that “Her serving maids…Is better than you are, Lady Queen” (106-108), is proven and shortly after this, his lover appears. The crowd feels that she is “just the most beautiful girl, of all girls living in the world” (137-138). In the end, Lanval and the woman end up together and we feel as if justice has been served. Even though the lovers are not married and marriage is not even suggested, we are still satisfied that the two lovers are able to be together.

Unlike the first two lais, the next two belong to a different category. “Bisclaveret” is a lai in which an adulterous affair takes place which can only be viewed as negative. In this poem, a seemingly happy couple “He loved her, she him” (24), end up apart and as enemies. Every week for three days, the man disappears and the unnamed lady has no idea when he goes. The man finally reveals his dark secret of being a werewolf with his wife. Instead of remaining true to her husband and loving him, she began to look elsewhere. She refused to share his bed anymore, and in turn made herself the lover of a man who had loved her for a long time. Knowing her husband’s secret, the woman now knew that all she had to do was hide his clothes for him to become forever trapped as a werewolf. This lais is unlike the other lais because we do not feel sympathy for the woman having the affair, but for the husband. The man did not have to share his secret with his wife, but he wanted to be faithful and honest. In return, the wife betrays him and begins an an adulterous affair with another man. Although the other affairs in the lais were morally wrong, the extenuating circumstances that surrounded the women and men made them more acceptable. In this story, the wronged man gains revenge. The Bisclaveret is taken in by the King and is kept there until he comes in contact with his estranged wife and her husband. Though he had not ever hurt a human, he attacks both of them and bites the nose off of his wife. The king demands that she bring him his clothes and he is transformed into a man again. As a result, the women’s children are born without noses and the former husband has the greatest revenge. The adultery that takes place in this story, although the wife and lover do get married, is never looked upon approvingly. The circumstances that surrounded this story never allowed for us to feel any kind of sympathy for the woman at all. As tragic as it might have been that her husband was a werewolf, it was when she plotted maliciously against her husband that we felt nothing but disdain for her.

In the final lai, “Equitan” is much like Bisclaveret. The King of Nauns desires his seneschal’s wife. She is described as “beautiful in face and figure” (49), and the king says that he loves her. He tells the lady “For her, he is near his doom” (75). He tells the woman that he wants her to be his lover, but allows her to think about it. The King offers to marry her if ever he husband were to die and there is so much love that accept the affair. However, we begin to feel contempt for the couple when the woman begins to plot the death of her husband. Her plan to kill her husband backfires when he finds out about their affair. As a result, the king dies by his own hand and his lover by her husband. Any sympathy that we might have felt for this couple disappears once ill will is plotted towards the husband

Marie de France creates poems that tell stories of true love, betrayal, and adultery. She presents us with situations in which we decide for ourselves whether or not they are right or wrong. We feel sympathy and understanding for the couples in some lais, while we feel disdain and contempt in others. Sympathy arises in the situations where there are cruel and unusual circumstances, while contempt develops when mischief and evil are plotted. One moment as we read, we as readers are hoping the couples end up together, while the next moment we are hoping for revenge. In the end, Marie de France’s lais take us on a wonderful journey that is filled with many exciting highs and disastrous lows.