The reader learns that the families Guerre and de Rols are both rich and prosperous peasant families living in the village of Artigues. The families had been rivals for generations, ever since there was a misunderstanding between the great-grandfathers of the young couple. However, the birth and betrothal of Martin and Bertrande, who were born a very short time apart, marked the end of the families' quarrels.…
Since the beginning of written history, marriage is portrayed as a sacred vow by almost all religions and peoples throughout the Earth while adultery is almost always looked upon as wrong. Marie de France was one of the few female writers in medieval times which made her very influential and well respected. In her book titled “The Lais of Marie de France,” she gives the reader a look into the affairs and adultery that was going on in the medieval courts. It seems Marie de France does not particularly agree with adultery, but her style of writing leads the reader to see that it is not so bad, depending on the situation. It is almost as if she separates the lais into two distinct groups. The first of which are…
Margot’s relationship with her husband, Raleigh, mirrors Franny’s relationship with her boyfriend, Lane: distant not-exactly lovers, “prestigious” males that don’t understand their partners. When Raleigh…
In this chapter we see that Helga doesn’t want to be apart of the school no more so she tells Margaret Creighton an English teacher that she is leaving the school. Helga wanted to leave her successful career as a teacher because she does not like the hopelessness of her teaching, where the education system for black people is very bad, and the way in which her school has become a place where the system is made to turn black children into white and to not act like black people. Everything is done without freedom, and she knows the students' true natures are being overpowered. She has made a decision that she is not for teaching in this society where she feels like young kids are told not to act like black people. Where unfair educational system is visible throughout the school, where you are not allowed to be yourself.…
Wengert, T. J. (2009). The Book of Concord and Human Sexuality, Seen Through the Institution of Marriage.Dialog: A Journal Of Theology, 48(1), 9-18. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6385.2009.00426.x…
Throughout the Lais of Marie de France there are several themes presented as central to the various stories. Some of these themes are present in all of the lais. One such example is that of courtly love and it's implications. Courtly love being one of the more prominent themes in all of medieval literature, it is fittingly manifested in all of the lais as well. Another theme present in two of the lais is isolation. The theme of isolation plays a large role in the stories of Guigemar and Lanval. In each of these lais we see isolation as a factor in determining the fates of the central figures. Within each lai isolation is represented on several different occasions, each time having a direct impact on the outcome. These instances of isolation may be seen at times to be similar in nature and consequence, and different at other times. By sifting through both works these instances may be extrapolated and analyzed.…
Panquette is a prostitute and has a friar as her current client. Paquette says, “That is precisely one of the agonies of this profession. Yesterday I was robbed and beaten by an officer, and today I must appear in good spirits in order to give pleasure to a monk.” A friar is normally thought of as a type of religious leader. He is immoral because he is the client of a prostitute, despite his religion. The friar is living one life, but is clearly showing his immorality in engaging in the sinful act of prostitution. Later on in the story we are introduced to an Abbe, a man who is the head of the abbey monks, another religious figure. The Abbe tricks Candide into going into a dark room thinking he would be seeing Cunegonde. However, in actuality it is a woman who works for the Abbe. Candide gives her diamonds thinking he is giving them to Cunegonde. If that wasn’t enough, then the Abbe has Candide and Martin arrested for being “suspicious foreigners”. The Abbe is more concerned about himself and his own personal wealth than his moral conduct. Earlier on in the story the old woman is attacked and says, “At last I saw all our Italian women, and then my mother, ripped and sliced and massacred by the monsters who disputed over them.” A few lines later she says, “As everyone knows, scenes like these were occurring for more than seven hundred and fifty miles around, without anyone failing to observe the daily prayers prescribed by Mohammed.” The contrast between the supposed religious devotion and immoral actions of the Old Woman’s attackers suggests a gap between religious standards and the actions of religious men. In this quote and section of the story hypocrisy is once again shown in how even these religious men who are supposed to be “Christian’s” actions do not reflect religious standards for the time period. Voltaire shows repeatedly in these three examples that…
Marie begins her collection of lais with the story of Guigemar, a noble knight who is cursed with the task of finding true love to heal a physical injury. This lay introduces two types of love: selfish and selfless. Selfish love is not courtly love. It lacks devotion and true loyalty. It lacks suffering and self-denial. Marie de France portrays this kind of love in the old husband of the woman whom Guigemar loves. The man locks his wife away in an enclosure guarded by a castrated man. By doing this, the husband shows a mean, limited devotion to his wife; perhaps even worse, he limits her ability to experience true love. This kind of love does not last; in fact, the husband is cuckolded when his wife has a year-long affair with Guigemar. He is made a fool, the dupe of love.…
In the journey of Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer paints a vivid image of the medieval world. He brings forth three prominent concepts in the General Prologue, Pardoner's Prologue and Tale, and The Wife of Bath’s Tale. All tales satirically drenched with persuasive ideas, most would agree that his iconoclastic stories are dangerous for introducing aloud a different view on the church, gender relations and economic divisions. Creating doubt against the morals and true intentions of the church, bringing to light the inequality between genders and proposing a division between economic classes.…
The common medieval Christian perspectives on gender roles must have also influenced Abelard and Heloise. Yet, one may argue that a few instances in the letters indicate that their gender views were considered unique compared to the norms of their contemporaries. Abelard indeed placed Heloise’s name in the very beginning of the greeting, which surprised Heloise, for it, was uncustomary for men in letter writing1. And, Heloise criticized the concept of marriage in that it merely creates unnecessary bondage between men and women2. However, despite their seemingly radical perspectives, their rational thoughts were ultimately confined in medieval thinking. Abelard, even after his castration, could not free himself from the typical masculine idea of medieval Europe that men are the sole purpose for the existence of women. Abelard in the third letter constantly asked Heloise to live a pious life, not…
Orenstein closes the essay by bringing in the true history of the wedding. Weddings weren’t evoked by undying lust and erotic love for a partner, but rather they were established by the parents of the two families often times to settle disagreements or to spread the wealth by joining themselves…
The letters between Abelard and Heloise present the reader with a great insight about the life of the scholar. Ultimately the life of the scholar was fruitless. Peter Abelard suffered many misfortunes for being a scholar. These are outlined in his first letter, ‘Historia calamitatum: The Story of His Misfortune,’ along with more written between himself and Heloise.…
At Madame Aubain’s, Felicite enters a routine which makes her life seem orderly. By conscientious work, she makes herself necessary to the family. Most important to her happiness is her increased freedom to love.…
The most famous love affair during that Middle Ages and happened with Peter Abelard and Heloise. This couple eloped without marrying, with Heloise having Peter’s child. Heloise refused to the idea that her uncle proposed about them getting married, she stated that it would undermine their love for one another.…
Throughout Sir Thomas Malory’s epic romance, Le Morte D’Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table repeatedly find themselves pressured to behave in ways that are contradictory to their knightly code. The restrictive social structure of Camelot, along with the problematic nature of the Pentecostal Oath, produces a paradoxical environment where knights find themselves compromised by opposing obligations and expectations. The incompatibility of knightly and chivalric duties within Le Morte D’Arthur cause the Knights of the Round Table to manipulate their own identities through disguises as a way to free themselves from an unattainable standard of behavior, thus, when they struggle with the inherent discrepancies within their knightly code, the knights’…