Marie de France’s Lanval and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Essay Example

has in their respective narratives and how they affect the characters around them.To begin to analyze the effect that the supernatural has in aligning contemporary medieval ideologies, the nature of fey court that is constructed by Marie de France reveals a commentary on patronage by contrasting the supernatural world against that of the Arthurian court to provide deeper insight into how medieval literature measures human achievement.

The first lines of the lais familiarize the reader with the titular protagonist of the narrative, Lanval, a “very noble vassal” (Lanval 3) and member of King Arthur’s court.Though Lanval is a knight of the Round Table, whom it is said “had no equal in all the world” (Lanval 16), he is spurned by Arthur because he was “far from his heritage” (Lanval 27). This image is juxtaposed against a deeply ingrained view of Arthur’s court being the pinnacle of medieval honour and conduct; rather than portraying respectable conduct, the members of Arthur’s court are shown to be insincere in their conduct with Lanval who desires their camaraderie and approval.Elements of the supernatural gradually come into play as Lanval leaves the court to find solace in the outdoors and comes into contact with the fey world, represented by the river which divided the land where he came to rest.

Upon awakening he is met with two beautiful maidens whose mystical qualities are stressed by the narrator who goes so far to reaffirm the veracity of the narrative, “I shall tell you the truth without fail” (Lanval 63).The supernatural factor of the world that Lanval has been invited into is further highlighted in the description of his entrance into the

fey court, contrasting it directly against the courts of mortal men. Not Queen Semiramis, when she was at her richest and most powerful and wisest, nor the emperor Octavian could have bought the right flap (Lanval 83-86) . On a purely material level, everything about Lavnal’s fey host’s wealth trumps that of Arthur’s court as it is said that, “no king under heaven could buy them/ For any wealth he might offer” (Lanval 91-92).This is the background to which Lanval’s lady offers him a chance at acceptance within a social order which Lanval so desperately longed for but could not find in the courts of mortal men. In his paper, Marie de France: Psychologist of Courtly Love, S.

Foster Damon further extrapolates on Lanval’s dealings with the fey world in the following quote, “So Lanval […] is the man with the idea so intense that for long it dims reality” (Damon 986).From this statement, one can gather that in this narrative the supernatural is a metaphor for the ideal medieval court, something that surpasses all mortal expectations and is only called into reality by the excellence of Lanval’s character and injustice met against him. The fey court treats Lanval with absolute consideration and benevolence unlike the treatment he receives from that of Arthur and the knights, highlighting the disparity between the mortal and fey worlds.In this regard, the supernatural is seen to amend injustices against medieval ideals even at the highest level of human achievement and it serves as a reminder that in spite of the great degree of mortal ideals that they are still fallible. The supernatural is employed in Sir Gawain and the

Green Knight to demonstrate a similar relationship between the narrative and medieval ideologies as it is uses magic to draw comparisons to Christianity and convey a unified message of spirituality through its discourse.In the poem the first immediately recognizable supernatural entity that is encountered by Gawain is the Green Knight: When there bursts in at the hall door a terrible figure, In his stature the very tallest on earth.

From the waist to the neck so thick-set and square, And his loins and his limbs so massive and long, In truth half a giant I believe he was (Sir Gawain 136-140) In addition to his unnatural size and presence, his magical nature is further hinted at as he appears “completely emerald green” (Sir Gawain l50) and later affirmed when he picks up his severed head and reminds Gawain of the rules of the agreement they made.This imagery of a seemingly omnipotent figure that a mortal man enters into an agreement is an allusion to the spiritual promise that individuals of the Christian faith enter with God. Ironically, the idea of the Green Knight acting as a metaphor for a supernatural power is part of a larger paganistic culture that stretches across the world and includes such figures as the Aztec “Corn King”, a “vegetation spirit representing fertility and involved in a sacrificial beheading (Benson 67).The supernatural is being appropriated to connect to the growing Christian culture of medieval Britain and make the narrative resonate with the general populace. Sir Gawain’s journey to fulfill his covenant with the Green Knight is fraught with supernatural perils, disorientation, and temptations but it eventually leads him to a chapel

to fulfill his promise to the Green Knight: “See, Gawain, that you carry out your promise exactly,/ And search for me truly, sir, until I am found,/ As you have sworn in this hall in the hearing of these knights” (Sir Gawain 448-450).Though a similar quest of this undertaking would be impossible to replicate in the real world, this pilgrimage represents the spiritual journey that both medieval and contemporary readers may take to gain a higher understanding of God.

The supernatural again forms a bridge to span the ideals of religion with that of the reader, acting as a conduit through which Christian theology may be explained in simpler but no less poignant terms. The supernatural’s interaction with religious teaching also factors into Gawain’s acceptance of the magical green girdle and its impact on the outcome of the Green Knight’s challenge.In order to save himself from certain death, Gawain accepts the green girdle of invulnerability as a gift from Sir Bertilak’s wife but, in doing so, transgresses against the rules of the Green Knight’s game and tarnishes his honour: “Now I am false and unworthy, and have always dreaded Treachery and deceit: may misfortune and grief befall both! Sire, humbly I confess My good name is mared. Let me regain your trust, Next time I’ll be on guard. ” (Sir Gawain 2382-2388)Rather than rely on his faith in as he had shown when he had prayed to Mary earlier, “Earnestly Gawain then/ Prayed Mary that she send/ Him guidance to some place/ Where he might lodging find” (Sir Gawain 736-739), he instead relented and put his faith into an item obtained by ill begotten means

to save him.

As observed R. H. Bowers in Critical Studies of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, in spite of Sir Gawain’s deceit, “Bertilak enacts the role of priest and ‘absolves’ the hero after the girdle is revealed and the hero’s abject admission” (Howard and Zacher 81).To further advance this relationship between magic and religion, it comes to pass that the green girdle that Gawain continued to wear as a token of his shame is instead adopted by King Arthur’s court as, in the Green Knight’s own words, “So is Gawain, in all truth, before other fair knights. / only here you fell short a little, sir, and lacked fidelity,” (Gawain 2365-2366). The court praises Gawain because in spite of his lack of fidelity he had been more trusting in God when they had been terrified; his mark of dishonor becomes a benchmark to for the other knights to emulate.

The magical nature of the green girdle acts as a catalyst for Christian values to be observed in the context of a faithful man’s failure and the supernatural elements help to highlight the religious lesson that everyone at some point falls short of their covenant with God. Lastly, aspects of the supernatural are observed to have a direct interaction with medieval literary conceptions of chivalry in both Lanval and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. On the characterization of chivalric values in medieval literature, Wendy Clein writes: In the self-defining quests of romance heroes projections of knightly ideals can be seen.Romances are vehicles for the demonstration of a range of chivalric virtues: prowess, piety, loyalty, mercy, and courtesy. In fictional form they delineate the knightly

qualities that chivalric treatises anatomize. (Clein 19-20) Clein indicates that by using the medium of romantic fiction that the “chivalric treatises” are able to be given an idealized form in the protagonists of the narratives.

As this relates to the interplay between chivalry and the supernatural, elements of enchantment are seen to underscore the chivalry of each stories’ protagonist and reveal the difficulty of maintaining such attitudes.In the case of Lanval, the magically binding agreement between Sir Lanval and his fey lady emphasizes Lanval’s loyalty to both his love and his chivalry, “I command and beg you,/ tell no one about this! / I will tell you the whole truth:/ you would lose me forever” (Lanval 144-147). This supernatural agreement plays upon the chivalric virtue of loyalty as to break this promise would be a mark against his values and the loss of his love; the supernatural serves as a backdrop to the larger issue of the viability of chivalry in the face of duress.As the narrative progresses, Lanval is shown to deviate from his promise when confronted with an insult upon his honour, “I love, and am loved by,/ one who should be valued more highly/ than all the women I know” (Lanval 293-295).

In breaking his oath to his lady and the resulting thought to be had an immediate magical outcome on his current state; the supernatural demonstrates the failings of man by enhancing the consequences of Lanval’s actions.Ironically, it is that same model that later serves to reinstall hope in chivalry as we see Lanval saved from a certain death by what is portrayed as a supernatural miracle that supersedes his fate.

As a supernatural entity, the Lanval’s lady knows all that happens to her lover when he is away from here, in truth making her Lanval’s guardian, and in spite of him breaking their contractual agreement she forgives him and intervenes in his court hearing.The fey lady proves herself chivalrous in her generosity and compassion, two chivalric virtues that the knights are seen to be lacking in, illustrating how such a code of conduct is only attainable by a supernatural perfection. Similarly, the temptations of Sir Gawain reveal the incomplete nature of human chivalry when contrasting the figures of Sir Gawain and Lord Bertilak de Hautdesert.

In this navigation of the chivalric code, Gawain’s failing is in showing an abundance of courtesy to Bertilak’s wife; more specifically it is Gawain’s failing to exchange his gains equally with Bertilak.The magical green belt is a symbol for the weakness in all men and reveals to Gawain the impossibility of the standards he has set for himself. In spite of having this girdle which is to protect him against harm, his chivalry is further tainted when he flinches against the Green Knight’s first blow. His shame in accepting the girdle shows that to completely abide by the code of chivalry would necessitate being a perfect man and not even with supernatural aid could he reach the pinnacle of perfection.In conclusion, Marie de France’s Lanval and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight both demonstrate how the supernatural is used to further support medieval ideologies of culture and societal attitudes.

The existence of magical beings and objects in each text serve to further ideals of court conduct, religion, and chivalry while,

at the same time, providing a means for the reader to link those ideals to there own due to the universal nature of the supernatural. Therefore, it is fair to say that supernatural elements in medieval literature are a vital in the understanding and proliferation of their contemporary ideas.