lanval Flashcards
Picture of Lanval
painted as a stranger in a foreign land, he is gracious and says nothing when he is forgotten by the king when handing out gifts and patronage
common rhetoric seen in Lanval as in other lais
she compares the beauty and superiority of the lady to nothing that has ever seen before as if to suggest that she is from a world greater than the real world -eg there is an eagle with no price, one which no king from the real world would have been able to afford
what does the woman represent-
she has the knight within her control- he says he would do all he can to obey her
symbolism of the horse
horse an intrinsic part of the image of the knight, therefore by leaving it behind he is moving from one world to another
the utopian world speaks about desire
as bien fondé whereas in the real world this desire is not possible and
power of the court
loyalty not rewarded as the lies of the queen suffice to force a trial
how does the real world compare to the utopia
something so intimate contrasts with the intrusion of privacy of the real world. the beauty of the love and the utopia has no place in the ugliness and the disputatious nature of the real world
The poem parodies
the typical damsel in distress narrative and looks to challenge the typical class structures by providing a fantastical solution to the problem.
the beauty of the two women…
surpassent de loin la reine
connection to the otherworld
Lanval is an anagram of ‘Avalun’- the arthurian word for an utopian Island, by connecting Lanval with this place and the ‘Queen’ of this Land we see how this world is a mirror of the real world where in fact the male character is subservient to the Female Queen.
Gay
The queen suggests that he may be gay- his answer is instinctive and he wastes no time in disclosing the secret relationship he has had with the fairy- who is even more beautiful than the most beautiful lady in the land.
Lanval irony in being overlooked
Marie emphasizes the richness of the court in order to render Ironic the loss of Lanval.
Reverse fortune
when Lanval reaches the other world he overjoyed at the sight of the fairy queen ‘un étincelle enflamme et embrase son cœur’
- contrasting with his state of destitution before leaving for the otherworld. This presages the new found fortune he will encounter in the new world. The otherworld- by offering Lanval unlimited riches responds to the injustice of the real world
justice served
through the fusion of the two worlds- the unjust nature of the court is balanced by the new world. Before this Lanval is subject to double alienation- he is at once alienated by the court and secondly alienated in the new world for having broken the secret. This alienation is countered though when the utopia pervades the reality offering a solution to natural problem found at court- injustice. In this respect the utopian world is of equal significance as the real world in providing a proposition for change or simply correcting the injustice with relative ease. The way in which the fairy appears is by no means made to look difficult- the way in which the court becomes immediately apologetic highlights the possibility of correcting such wrongs.
the ladies tent is so rich that
not even the emperor Octavian could afford it
poetic use of Anaphora
the repetition of ‘lanva’ giving out gifts to strangers serves to emphasise the character, whereas previously he had been ignored this technique underscores the generosity of the knight and his subsequent attention of the back of it
Example of betrayal being an important element
the Queen tries to explain her love for him but he rejects it noting his fidelity to the King
to question the beauty of the queen
is to depreciate the qualities needed to exist at the top of feudal society- in courtly literature beauty is a symbol of wealth/ power chivalric beauties. Hence the anger caused by asserting that the Queen is in fact not the most beautiful thing alive
How does Lanval react to the events that took place
‘il ne sait que penser et n’ose croire que tout cela est vrai’
he is shocked and overwhelmed by the world and come to terms with it- belittled by it.
How is Lanval described when he is left out of the Kings gifts
he is bien soucieux and malheureux - this is expected according to Marie
