4 thoughts on “Lanval, Marie de France”

1. In neither of the versions of the stories, Marie de France’s Lanval or the other Sir Launfal, does the fairy queen’s independence appear as an object. It is more of a defining feature of her personality, but they do not overpower her as its own entity. On the other hand, Guinevere’s jealousy appears to have its own agency. After hearing of Lanval’s fairy queen, her jealousy causes her to go “to bed sick” (Marie de France 113) because the jealousy causes her illness. The jealousy also causes actions to be taken against Lanval. The jealousy seems to have a larger and much more active role than the fairy queen’s independence.

   Reply ↓

2. No I do not believe that this faery queens.independence is or.should.be considered an object. In the same respect I dont believe Guineveres jealousy should be treated as such. Capital virtues like faith or other concrete fixtures like fate or destiny are more acurrately figured as objects within the medeival sphere. The faery queens independence is more an anomoly which posits her charater as an object whose agency surpases those objects arpund her. This removes her from the human and plces her into the nonhuman and also others her from the less independent female objects acting within the same sphere.

   Reply ↓

3. The lady’s independence does have thing-power as Bennett would say, and in this way it is an object. The period in which Lanval is denied her seems to be the most indicative of her independence as power. And yet the lady herself (or her body) is very objectified in the description of her public arrival at King Arthur’s court. It is this objectifying of her body and evaluation of it as beautiful that ultimately proves Lanval’s claim and demolishes Guinevere’s accusations. Guinevere’s jealously also has thing-power in that it almost costs Lanval his life, but it is the lady’s appearance and richness that proves to have the greater power. As far as her independence goes it seems to be emphasized mostly in her wealth. Before Lanval reveals their affair “she was completely at his command,” (218) so I think that Lanval’s attractiveness to the lady is also an important object. Even after he has revealed the affair the Guinevere his attractiveness to the lady still seems to have enough power to draw her out to his defense. Lanval was supposed to “never see [her] again” (149) if he told anyone about their relationship, but that obviously does not happen, and I think that is due to Lanval’s own power of attraction.

   Reply ↓

4. I think that the fairie queen’s independence does have power, in that she gives objectification over her body to Lanval, even though she warns him that he needs to keep it a secret or he will never see her again. But what it interesting is that it through this power of their relationship, however short it was, that Lanval stays loyal to her, rejecting Guinevere’s advances. It can also be said that Guinevere’s jealousy, through her independence, has power as. Guinevere could ultimately be a foil to the fairie queen in how women, in power, weld their independence differently.

   Reply ↓