For me, Silence’s tale is very different from anything that we have read so far. There are elements of God’s will, the supernatural, and courtly love which are easily found above the surface of the text. But, I do not think that any of these things are the most important elements to be discovered within this story. Even Silence’s hidden sex seems to be equally unimportant. The most important aspect of this story to me is workings of diplomacy between kings and lords. Silence’s true sex never comes into question by either of the two kings’ advisors. When the King of France and England are deciding Silence’s mortal fate, their most trusted men never ask if this pretty young dude is actually a dude. What does come in to question is if these men are acting honorably according to the standards of their culture? Do you think that these two Kings acted honorably or not in their handling of the problem with Silence?
King Arthur & His World
ENGL 361 | Spring 2019 | Dr. Myra Seaman
I agree with Matt that the diplomacy and negotiation between England and France is a striking theme in this second portion of Le Roman de Silence. It is significant that we as the audience experience the “dreadful dilemma” (4459) of Silence’s fate getting hashed out through an extensive dialogue between the King of France’s three most trusted advisors, rather than just through the King’s own voice or interior monologue. In this conversation, counts Blois, Nevers, and Clermont prioritize not just their cultural customs, but also logic and reason as they try to decide what would be the best course of action for their king to take. The main issue they are questioning is one that does not have to do with Silence as much as one might expect. They discuss, rather, whether the King of France’s reputation and honor would be tarnished most by (a) not following the orders they (wrongly) believe that King Evan gave to have Silence beheaded, and thus breaching King Evan’s trust and friendship, or (b) executing a youth who he has welcomed into his kingdom. To put it in the counts’ own words, the two principles that are at odds are: “honor me, honor my friend; shame him, and you shame me too” (4561-62) and “no man should give up honor for some piddling amount of money” (4736-4737). The king’s complete reliance on his counts’ counsel was surprising; at the close of this discussion, it is one of the counts that dictates the explanatory letter to King Evan, not the King of France. (Ironically, of course, this entire debate about King Evan’s moral conduct and friendship to the King of France is baseless, because it was Eufeme that sent the note they are referring to.) All this given, I think this part of the narrative provides another example of King Evan attempting to solve a problem, but not having enough foresight to anticipate possible ramifications (the first being outlawing minstrels), and then kind of blundering the aftermath of it. As for the King of France, the main message I gleaned was that he was wise enough to depend on trusted advisors and not to make the mistake of rash decisions like Evan did.
According to the code of ethics at the time, I do believe that the King of France and King Evan acted honorable. I was particularly intrigued by the debate surrounding what a king’s word meant. In kissing Silence, he implicitly gives his word that Silence will come to no harm while in France. Ultimately, that becomes more important than his alliance with King Evan. This traces back to the central argument throughout the poem, that generosity and honor are far more important than money. When debating about what to do with Silence, the Count of Clermont says, “Rather than be dishonored for King Evan’s sake / it’s better for our lord to spend freely / and pay the money to retain his honor. / A man may lose his property and recover it later, / but I can see no way / to retrieve honor lost / through a dishonorable act. / Just as silver is worth less than gold, / honor is worth more than wealth.” The king’s word is worth more than the monetary help which King Evan has offered in the past, and he behaves accordingly.
I do think the two Kings acted honorably with Silence: when Evan’s queen wanted Silence dead, he could have killed Silence, but instead, he sent Silence to the King of France and later to capture Merlin. When the King of France received a letter instructing him to kill Silence, he not only summoned a council of counts to advise him but verified the contents of the letter by writing back before acting. King Evan tries to do right by both of them just as the King of France tried to do right both by the new guest, Silence, and his old ally, King Evan. They are, for the most part, displaying the traditional good judgment of kings. Evan’s judgment was flawed when he enacted the ban on women inheriting–but he wasn’t acting dishonorably. He was just trying to keep a problem from reoccurring and acted a bit too rashly. The only person who didn’t behave honorably was Eufeme, and she is the one who is punished in the end: “the queen was drawn and quartered” (6656), “caught in the trap / she had set for Silence. / That’s how it goes: he who plots / to harm others / seeks his own undoing. / No one was sorry for Eufeme.” (6658-6663). Everyone else basically lives happily ever after, as the good people in Arthurian romances usually do.
I think Silencia’s situation would have raised eyebrows in society, but in Arthurian romances, leaders consider all circumstances and exercise good judgment. We can assume that an Arthurian King would consider that Silence and her parents were protecting an inheritance and the injustice of the law itself, rather than be outraged at the bending of gender roles. Silence and her parents were deceiving everyone, but they didn’t do it to harm anyone, but to preserve Silence’s birthright. Indeed, when Silence’s biological gender is revealed and she explains her reasons, the king praises her loyalty to him despite his lack of faith in her and decrees that “women will be allowed to inherit again” (6643). No one is outraged by their deceit or by the switching of gender roles: “The courtiers were very happy. / They bowed deeply to the king, / and blessed Silence, / asking God to exalt her” (6647-6650).
The King of France is depicted very honorable in his actions. I think it is significant that we see him debating what he should in response to Silence and the corresponding letter. (4820-4825). Also King France, unlike the Count and King Evan earlier does not act rashly. He seeks advice from others and seeks to corroborate the letter with King Evan before he takes action. However, King Evan a little more problematically with Silence. He send her away mainly because he wants to keep the queen quiet while maintaining his reputation. When he finds about the falsified letter he gets so angry he throws the chancellor in jail. When he realizes its because of his wife, King Evan then makes another excuse, so that his reputation will be upheld. “He had no use for vengeance that may reflect on him badly. He told the chancellor to cover up the matter.” So describe his actions because I think on one hand while Evan respects Silence that’s why he spares Silence life against his wife wishes. On the other hand it seems that Evan can act on more selfish motives.
I agree that the tale focuses much more on the honor and relations between nobility than the hidden gender of Silence. Five or six pages alone are solely the King of France’s deliberation about making the most honorable decision when considering King Evan’s letter and Silence. When King Even hears of this he is also not concerned as to whether the King has killed Silence but, “He was pained to think that the king of France could think him enough of an imbecile as to even imagine anything that crazy,” worrying about his reputation (4905-4907). Reputation is what is really at stake here when they speak of their honor and nobility. Even when Evan believes the queen is raped, he is more concerned with his reputation and Silence’s lineage than punishing him. Although her accusations were false, I do not believe that he handled the situation in a courtly way because he did not fight for his wife. the king of France does, however, act honorably by not killing him because he does not even know the reason. King Evan praises this once he finds out.
I definitely think that they acted honorably at times but I’m not sure I think either King Evan or the King of France acted entirely honorably concerning Silence’s fate.King Evan thinks that Silence beat up and tried to force himself on Queen Eupheme. He wanted to protect his own reputation because people could think the queen had relations with Silence, he comes from a good family, and maybe they could forget the whole thing. The king does not hang Silence and she is sent to the King of France with a letter. Silence was innocent, but King Evan did not know this. The second time the queen lies to King Evan about Silence, it does not take much persuasion for him to send her into a seemingly hopeless search for Merlin.The queen is able to persuade him because he is prideful.
The King of France’s main concern is what will happen to his reputation if he does or doesn’t kill Silence. The Count of Clermont has to reason with the king of France that it most likely isn’t King Evan who sent Silence, and to write “you have never slighted your worth or reputation by turning your back on honor. You have invested too much in the past to lose your honor in such a way.” (4861-4863) but the King of France was willing to turn his back on honor, he was going to kill Silence after 40 days. It is a passive action, similar to King Arthur in the Knight of the Lion. He may know that killing Silence without any evidence is wrong but he doesn’t know what to do. One could argue that the King of France realizes his folly but I think he’s lacking wisdom a “king” should have and the count of Clermont has. It seemed like a force greater than the Kings helped Silence.
I agree with Heather in that for the most part the kings acted wisely. Instead of beheading Silence, both King Evan and the French King confer with one another and make alternative arrangements to protect Silence. Perhaps it says more about Silence’s ability to pass as either sex than it necessarily does about the Kings’ wisdom. However, the fact that King Evan does marry Silence in the end suggests to me an element of homoeroticism that may have always been there, even when Silence was a boy.