Analysis Of Lanval By Marie De France

Outline:

Thesis: Lanval’s lover challenges gender roles common of her time.

As reader’s, we often find ourselves thinking that women didn’t gain any kind of power until the 20th century. In “Lanval” written by Marie de France, this idea is proven wrong. Through centuries, women have been trained to believe that their place is to take care of men. Commercials and television in previous decades have had women believing that their role is to cook, clean, have kids, and make their husbands happy. Many other pieces from Marie de France’s time also give women a passive role. Marie de France wrote about a woman so beautiful and powerful, who held a very high power. She was above a King and Queen of an entire village, and this isn’t something commonly

seen in writings of this time.
The voice that Lanval’s lover holds stands out so much.

Just her words alone saved Lanval and took precedence over what a man said. Throughout the medieval period, women were often cast aside from major events, such as politics and sports. They were expected to be beautiful and gentle. In an article by Reet and Maxwell Howell, they highlight the position women were expected to take and how insulting it seems. They write “The virtues of the Lady were extolled by the troubadours, who emphasized beauty and gentleness. This idealization and glorification actually was a detriment to women, as it was a superficial reverence and accentuated their inequality. Furthermore, the real world of feudalism demonstrated their subjection,”. There is a difference between being seen as powerful, with beauty and elegance being a bonus, like Lanval’s lover, and being expected to be beautiful and elegant for the sole purpose of being objectified for

it.
From this piece of work, some questions come to mind, such as, “If she could do it, why couldn’t other women have done the same?” or “How did his lover become so powerful?”.

It is never really explained how she gained so much power, but that doesn’t mean it was easy to obtain. There were roadblocks that were thrown up at women, which could be said to be like those that were faced during the Civil Rights Movement. Often, it was almost impossible for a woman to get ahead because of the basic things they were denied, such as education and employment. You would never hear of a great female doctor or politician. Women would have to find alternate ways to contribute to certain aspects of their society. Instead of being a doctor, they would have to settle for being herbalists, midwives, and nurses, a far cry from a life-saving doctor. William Minkowski writes, “because they were excluded from academic institutions, female healers of the Middle Ages had little opportunity to contribute to the science of medicine”. That speaks volumes when talking about the challenges women were faced with. How is there equality if men and women are not given the same opportunities? Minkowski also goes to state that “women have always succored the whimpering, feverish child and mended the wounded worker-warriorhunter husband.”. Raising a child can be a daunting and exhausting task, and women were expected to do this on their own, as well as take care of their husbands when they returned home. In

contrast, Lanval’s lover expects the men to make a place for her when she reaches the kingdom. She is not expected to take care of Lanval, and Lanval does not expect her to be a maid and slave to the household.

Sources:
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=24&sid=8c6be259-a1a7-4ee3-ba87-4fdb7cf3096e%40sessionmgr4008 Women Healers of the Middle Ages: Selected Aspects of Their History.
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=11&sid=03e92857-3f57-4ceb-8319-4308dc7accac%40sessionmgr103&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=21181836&db=s3h Women In The Medieval And Renaissance Period: Spectators Only.