During the Middle Ages, a woman was generally forced to depend on a man for her livelihood. However, in the fictional world of courtly love, a 12th-century philosophical phenomenon that some believe originated as a form of goddess worship, a man is unable to survive without his beloved. As a result, her love drives him to aspire to perform noble deeds and he becomes obedient and submissive to her in hopes of winning her heart. In Marie de France's Lais, particularly in “Chevrefoil”, “Laustic”, “Lanval” and “Yonec”, the author does not at all follow all the rules of courtly love, but models the relationships between man and woman his beloved after his aspects mentioned above. She brings beauty, intelligence, and wisdom to her heroines, giving them power over the men who love them. While Marie de France often forces women into the oppressive realities of the Middle Ages, she allows her characters to unwittingly rebel against the social norms of that time by using the courtly love relationship as a way to empower women. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In his essay “Women in Love,” Glyn S. Burgess states that “the cruel way in which [husbands] treat [their wives] arouses in Marie an outburst that she reserves for those who deny young women the opportunity to place their affections where they wish” (102). In the Middle Ages, most marriages were arranged. That said, society at that time was largely patriarchal; women were forced to marry men they barely knew, men they didn't love. By allowing women in her lais to escape their husbands and be with men over whom they have power, Marie de France elevates women onto a pedestal and allows them to be adored by men, those whom they are traditionally expected to honor and obey. Within such a relationship, the time a man spends separated from his beloved brings nothing but heartache. Yet, according to Marie de France, this is not the case for women. In “Chevrefoil,” Tristram becomes “distressed and dejected” when his uncle sends him away from his kingdom, and it is because of this separation from his beloved that he is said to have risked “death and destruction” (de France 109). However, the queen does not overtly experience the same degree of emotion, making her seem like the stronger individual; she is the one who has the upper hand in the relationship, and therefore the one with the most power. A woman not only fails to express her pain during the separation period, but also fails to verbally express her love and need for her beloved. This also gives her more power, leaving the man vulnerable and feeling like he has to fulfill his every desire to win her love. In “Chevrefoil” the queen never proclaims her love for Tristram. Instead, the only time her love for him is declared is when Tristramus himself declares it: “Sweet love, so it is with us: without me you do not survive, nor I without you” (de France 110) . We must therefore ask ourselves if the queen really loves him, or if she is simply using the power she has over him to get what she wants. After all, from the very declaration of love it is clear that Tristram is not able to survive without her. Therefore, he would stop at nothing to keep the queen by his side, as his livelihood depends on it. Even though the details differ a bit in "Laustic", the idea remains the same. The woman does not actually declare her love for the knight, but the narrator tells us that “she loves him above allthing” (de France 94). However, the reasons given for his love trivialize it immensely. It is said that she loves the knight “forever she has heard of him and because he lives near here” (de France 94). The chances are slim that one could truly love another for these reasons, and so he suggests that the woman uses the knight's love for her own desires, such as the gifts he throws at her window. The fact that one of the things she has heard about him is that he “spends freely and gives generously of all he has,” only further proves this point (de France 94). Burgess suggests that the relationship is simply a means of providing the woman with “a period of happiness enriched by risk” (109). The seemingly loving gesture of “smuggling the dead nightingale out of her house and into the hands of her beloved” can be seen simply as a way to “won a small victory over her oppressive husband” (Burgess 110). No matter what the real reason, by misleading the knight and taking advantage of his love for her, the woman gains power over him, allowing her to use him as she wants. The same is true in "Yonec", but the woman uses the man for things other than small gifts. After being locked up in a tower for years, “the lady is in great distress” (de France 86). Burgess describes the man to whom she was entrusted as “intensely jealous. . . The fact that he called himself lord suggests that he was intent on usurping power and influence. At this point, the woman desires a man, and so when one appears in her chambers and professes his undying love for her, she is quick to take advantage of the situation. The power that woman holds over man is so strong that when she desires his presence, he is “with her within an hour” (de France 88). This power makes the man do everything to please his beloved. He, for example, does not limit himself to professing his faith in the Lord, but takes the trouble to assume the guise of his wife in order to have the possibility of receiving the body of Christ and "reciting to her all his creed" (de France 88) . In addition to this, the man goes so far as to risk his life to love the woman. He has always known that "for the love of his woman" he will lose his life, yet he loves her anyway (de France 90). The woman has enough power over him that he risks his earthly life for her love. However, this is not surprising, given that, according to Robert R. Edwards and Stephen Spector, she possesses the only power to escape a tyrannical marriage by desiring the birth of a lover “through the power of her imagination” (9). It is she who creates her beloved. In his essay “Love and Power,” RW Hanning states that God is not the sole creator in the lai, but the lady herself is also; she "undertook to create her own love story on the model of others she has heard, and in this way conveys her close encounter with the bird species" (de France 98). The woman possesses such great power that she is able to desire the existence of her beloved and control everything he does. Marie de France not only shows the philosophy of courtly love relationship through the words and actions of its characters, but also through symbolism. In “Chevrefoil,” he uses honeysuckle and a hazel branch as metaphors for Tristram and the Queen: Both resembled the honeysuckle that clings to the hazel branch: when it has wrapped itself around and attached itself to the hazel, the two can survive together : but if anyone separates them, the hazel tree soon dies, as does the honeysuckle. (de France 110) Even if one is condemned without the other, it is clear that the hazel branch represents the Queen, since it is the more solid and stable of the two. The honeysuckle, on the other hand, represents Tristram, for it feeds on the queen's love as the honeysuckle feeds on the hazel branch. The symbolism in “Laustic”,however, it is used to convey an entirely different message. Although the women of these lais receive power from the men who seek their love, they lose all this power when they look beyond these relationships. This is to be expected, since it must be remembered that during the Middle Ages women generally possessed little power. It is only in the imaginary world of courtly love that they are raised onto pedestals and adored by their beloved. In this lai the nightingale represents the love between the woman and the knight. Despite her control over the knight, the woman is unable to prevent her husband from symbolically and realistically destroying their love for each other. When she learns of this, her husband takes the nightingale and "evilly breaks its neck with two hands," despite her asking him to return it to her safely (de France 95). From this episode it is clear that, faced with a man other than her beloved, the woman has no power. Her husband refuses to let her have something he believes means so much to her. After all, if he didn't believe that she truly loved the knight, he wouldn't have bothered to kill the nightingale. Even in “Yonec” it is clear that a woman possesses no power outside the confines of courtly love. relation. Faced with her husband, the woman finds herself completely helpless. As in “Laustic,” the husband exerts his power over his wife by destroying the one thing that brings her great joy. The bird whose appearance her lover takes represents that little freedom that prevents her from wishing to die (de France 86). However, her husband's oppressive actions don't stop there. Before the woman even meets her beloved, her husband holds her prisoner in a tower because of her beauty, only allowing her older sister to enter the room to “prevent his wife from going astray” (de France 86). The constraints that medieval society imposes on women are seen once again towards the end of the lai, when the woman is forced to depend on her son to avenge the premature death of her beloved. The fact that the woman must wait until her son "grows up and becomes a worthy and valiant knight" demonstrates that medieval society places men above women; this leaves women completely helpless outside the imaginary world of courtly love (de France 91). In “Lanval”, however, things turn out to be different. In the three lais already discussed, each woman can be assumed to have been part of an arranged marriage. The men they are married to do not allow their wives to place their affections wherever they want, thus forcing Marie to allow women to rebel and possess power over their beloveds. However, as we see in Lanval, a woman does not need to be part of an arranged marriage to have the pleasure of being placed in a position of power with a man. The woman in this lai is an unmarried fairy. However, her beauty gives her complete control over the man she desires. According to Burgess, “the fairy has the power to impose on Lanval the taboo of secrecy and possesses the omniscience to know the circumstances in which she is forced to break the taboo” (104-105). She is an intelligent woman who has clear ideas about what she wants and knows how to get it. Her beauty hypnotizes Lanval, and soon after she professes her love for him, "the spark of love pricks him so that his heart burns" (de France 74). Lanval is immediately attracted to the fairy and it's not hard to understand why. Not only is she beautiful and intelligent, but she also has many other attractive aspects. According to Burgess: She is extraordinarily wealthy and capable of offering Lanval unlimited pocket money and instant sexual gratification... In short, she represents a fearsome combination of beauty, wealth, power and knowledge. (104-105) It is thanks to these characteristicsthat the fairy has complete control over her beloved. When Lanval first meets her, he is so in awe of her beauty and her love for him that he confesses to her that there is nothing he wouldn't do to please her. He states: Beautiful lady, if you would like to grant me the joy of wanting to love me, you could not ask for anything that I would not do, no matter how foolish or wise I might be. I will do as you ask and abandon all others for you. (de France 74)However, the fairy has no power over anyone else in the society where Lanval lives. After the queen unsuccessfully tries to seduce Lanval, he is forced to reveal his love for the fairy. Because of this broken vow of secrecy, “he loses the ability to 'see' his woman in person and now suffers greatly, as he has lost something he once had” (Mickel 110). When Lanval claims that his beloved's beauty surpasses that of the queen, he is forced to appear in court. To avoid punishment or death, he and his beloved must leave the world of Lanval for Avalon, the “beautiful island” from which the fairy comes (de France 81). The story may have a happy ending and Lanval and his beloved may be able to love each other without enduring constant suffering, but “it is only 'out of this world'” that this is possible (Mickel 110). The fairy possesses no power over the court or the rest of society, and therefore cannot find happiness in the world of Lanval. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a custom essay The power that Marie de France gives to the women of her lais from many different places. Glyn S. Burgess states that Marie of France's ladies possess “exceptional characteristics,” similar to the lady of the court, who “possesses an in-depth knowledge of the needs of the court. . . knows how to deal with a delicate or complicated situation and demonstrates responsibility and astuteness in treating others” (114-115). Eleven of the female lovers in his lais are specifically described as beautiful, while eight of them are described as wise. The women in “Lanval” and “Laustic” are described as curteise, a word that, according to Burgess, “has a strong cerebral element” (115). The fairy of Lanval is not only said to have a “well-formed and beautiful” body, but is also described by the word cointise (de France 74). Burgess states that this word covers a wide range of meanings, including wisdom, sagacity, knowledge, skill, elegance, and refinement (115). And while the women of Marie's lais always go after what they want, they don't do it in a rude or unseemly way. This can be seen from the fact that he uses the word frank to describe some of his heroines. Franche “expresses nobility of perspective” and can be interpreted as “a blend of kindness and sensitivity” (Burgess 115). Marie de France once described her vision of an ideal woman, and when you compare the adjectives she used with those she uses to describe her heroines, you often find that they are identical (Burgess 115). In addition to possessing exceptional characteristics, Marie de France's heroines are often of noble origins. Because “there is never a thought in her mind of presenting a relationship between a member of the nobility and a partner of markedly disparate social background,” her heroines' lovers are also often of noble birth (Burgess 129). Not only are they able to exercise power over men, but they are able to exercise power over some of the best men society has to offer. These men are often handsome, strong and capable of doing almost anything for their women. It is thanks to the beauty, wisdom and intelligence of the women in the lais of Marie de France that they are able to completely control such men. Works Cited Burgess, Glyn S. The Lais of Marie de France: Text and Context. Athens, Georgia:.., 1974.