The Controversial Heart In The Lais Of Marie De France
The Controversial Heart
In “The Lais of Marie de France: Les Deus Amanz” Marie de France uses affections of the heart and mind to contradict one another. Two of the main characters each have fatal flaws that become the cause of their demise. The king and the noble young man acted selfishly by following their hearts instead of their heads, causing problems that could have been prevented. It is seen that using your mind would benefit more than going by the feelings in your heart. The king is seen as very selfish in this lay. He has used his daughter as, “a comfort,” since his wife died. Besides the fact that he was incestuous, he was only thinking of his own pleasure and happiness. Did he ever stop to think of the emotional toil his actions had on his daughter? Furthering his selfish motives, he wanted, “to prevent anyone seeking his daughter’s hand.” The king wanted his daughter all to himself and would go to extreme lengths to keep it that way. Even if having the love of …show more content…
If the young man would have used his head and reason, he would have drunk the potion. The potion would, “refresh his whole body, even his veins and his bones, and restore all his strength to him as soon as he had drunk it.” He and his love would not have died had he drunk the potion as previously planned. Therefore, the king would not have had to lament over his daughter’s death. The entire outcome would have been changed. On the king’s account, if he had not wanted to keep his daughter to himself, there would never be a challenge for her suitors to complete. In his mind, he knew someone would eventually pursue his daughter. However, he had affection for her in his heart and refused to let her go. While, by some of society’s standards, it would normally be the best to go with the sentiments of the heart, in this case, the mind and common sense would have benefited everyone
In “The Lais of Marie de France: Les Deus Amanz” Marie de France uses affections of the heart and mind to contradict one another. Two of the main characters each have fatal flaws that become the cause of their demise. The king and the noble young man acted selfishly by following their hearts instead of their heads, causing problems that could have been prevented. It is seen that using your mind would benefit more than going by the feelings in your heart. The king is seen as very selfish in this lay. He has used his daughter as, “a comfort,” since his wife died. Besides the fact that he was incestuous, he was only thinking of his own pleasure and happiness. Did he ever stop to think of the emotional toil his actions had on his daughter? Furthering his selfish motives, he wanted, “to prevent anyone seeking his daughter’s hand.” The king wanted his daughter all to himself and would go to extreme lengths to keep it that way. Even if having the love of …show more content…
If the young man would have used his head and reason, he would have drunk the potion. The potion would, “refresh his whole body, even his veins and his bones, and restore all his strength to him as soon as he had drunk it.” He and his love would not have died had he drunk the potion as previously planned. Therefore, the king would not have had to lament over his daughter’s death. The entire outcome would have been changed. On the king’s account, if he had not wanted to keep his daughter to himself, there would never be a challenge for her suitors to complete. In his mind, he knew someone would eventually pursue his daughter. However, he had affection for her in his heart and refused to let her go. While, by some of society’s standards, it would normally be the best to go with the sentiments of the heart, in this case, the mind and common sense would have benefited everyone