Taking into account chapter 2 of Vibrant Matter, can you highlight a section in Sir Orfeo where an assemblage comes together to cause movement or change in the plot of the narrative? Consider the scene when the underworld king makes the bargain with Orfeo and must uphold it or when the steward’s loyalty to Sir Orfeo is tested in the end of the narrative. What are the actants coming into play in these instances?
ENGL 365 | Medieval Object Ecologies
Dr. Myra Seaman | Fall 2014
In lines 519-552 the steward talks about Orfeo without realizing that he is there. Their previous relationship, the stewards loyalty to Orfeo, Orfeo’s fair treatment of the steward, Orfeo’s musical skill, the harp, Orfeo’s beard which hid his face, the dining hall, and the cultural allowance of travelling minstrels at the table were all part of the assemblage that led to the steward’s believable demonstration of loyalty. All of the factors that made the steward act the way he did, and all of the factors that put Orfeo in the position of a poor travelling minstrel contributed to this event.
Specific assemblages come together in Sir Orfeo in both of the above instances as well as at the beginning of the lai when Heurodis is taken into the underworld through a dream and then physically vanishes. The end of the story when Orfeo (dressed as a beggar and ten years older than the last time the steward saw him) tells the steward that the king is dead. The king’s beggar rags and unkempt facial hair when he walks throughout the town is an actant which causes the disrespect of the people in the kingdom and is also proves the forgiving, kind nature of the steward, who is kind to Orfeo. The disguise is an actant on the king’s perception of the kingdom and the steward. Orfeo’s harp, which the steward insists he play inside of the castle, is an actant that serves as an identifier for and reminder of the king. This actant pushes the steward to bring up the king and ask how the “beggar” acquired the instrument, a question which prompts another actant in this assemblage which is the king’s false story about finding the harp laying next to a mutilated man who the steward assumes is the king. The steward’s resulting outward display of grief regarding the kings death is an actant which proves to the king that the steward is a loyal man. This actant proves the stewards love for the king, who reveals himself (another actant – the truth) and restores the kingdom to the state it was in before Heurodis was stolen by the fairy king. All of these actants work together in an assemblage to push the story in a direction of a happy ending.
I suppose the harp is a powerful actant. Without the harp, Orfeo would not be able to win his wife back. Without the harp, his steward would not have recognized him. The harp did no further action apart from being present and presentable, ergo, demonstrating the theories of “Vibrant Matter” in saying that nothing is an actor and that everything is an actant. So, the harp, while still being an actant, still had “thing power” in affecting Sir Orfeo’s story.