Similarities Between Marie De France And Sappho

Love in The Lais of Marie De France and Sappho is seen as this complex source of emotion in multiple ways for their characters and themselves. In many ways, love is something the authors themselves are trying to understand, by grappling through the multi-faceted aspects of love. In both texts, love is characterized as a dichotomy; positive aspects of love—that are shown through the properties of pleasure and healing, and there are negative aspects of love—that are expressed through suffering and jealousy. While it is difficult to define what love truly is through the texts, the reader can better understand the multiple waves and dimensions of love as experienced people who serve it.

Love is remarked as something that is pleasurable by both De France and Sappho. In the story of Guigemar, when he finally finds his true love in a woman who shares the same level of admiration, they are overcome with affection for each other. The text states, “The lady realized he was telling the truth, and immediately granted him her love, then he kissed her. From now on Guigemar is at ease. They lie down together and converse, kissing and embracing often” (De France 161). Love

is represented as this extremely powerful sense of pleasure that is experienced when one is overcome with infatuation. In addition to this story of experiencing love as a source of pleasure, the story of Laustic shares a similar example. The woman is so love-struck by a man, she peers out of the tower she lives in every night to catch a sheer glimpse of him. When she is caught by her husband she explains, “that’s why I stand there. It sounds so sweet at night that it gives me great pleasure; it delights me so and I so desire it that I cannot close my eyes” (De France 180-181). Although the woman is using this as a cover up she is ultimately claiming that she derives so much pleasure for her love of him, she is unable to sleep at night.
Sappho uses sparse instances of poetry to express the ethereal sense of bliss that is experienced with love. Sappho notes, “I confess I love that which caresses me. I believe love has his share in the Sun’s brilliance and virtue” (Sappho 6). Sappho compares the effect of love as powerful as the sun’s light. This comparison of the sun and love is full of depth, as the pleasure that is received from love is also seen as immensely powerful. Furthermore, love is something that Sappho explains “caresses” her—meaning that despite loves intense force, it is something that feels gentle and embracing to the person involved. Furthermore, in referring to a man’s love for a woman, Sappho states, “Charming to look at with eyes as soft as honey, and a face that Love has lighted with his own beauty. Aphrodite has surely outdone herself in doing honor to you” (Sappho 30). Love is seen as something that has given great pleasure to another person. The rhetoric used personifies love, in its ability to emit a glow from the woman.
The healing powers of love coincide with the pleasure derived from love in both the lais and Sappho. In the lais, suffering plays a prevalent role in how love is characterized; almost every character has some pain they have to overcome through love. In Guigemar, the main character is struck with a wound that is set to torment him until his death—unless it could be healed by the power of love. The text states, “he reminded himself, that he’d never seen a woman to whom he wanted to offer his love, nor one who could cure his pain” (De France 151). The main character is not only searching for a woman who could please him, but also a woman whose love could cure his pain. The text indicates that love contains healing properties that are so powerful, they could rid of an individual’s suffering. The character suffers deep agony until he is able to be cured by the power of love. When Guigemar does find this true love, it is stated, “love struck him to the quick…his other wound no longer bothered him” (De France 157). In Guigemar’s example, although love caused him to suffer temporarily, it ultimately saved him and remedied his pain.
Sappho also conveys loves healing powers through empowering moments. Similarly to Guigemar, Sappho experiences moments of distress and empowering moments through love. In one instance Sappho raises the potential healing property of love by overcoming her sadness and picking herself up. The text states, “Get up, unleash your suppleness…like a lily leaning into a spring, bathe in water…you will have a cloak thrown over you and flowers crowning your hair” (Sappho 43). There exists a notion of self-healing and a lot of pain in this moment. Although Sappho is empowered in this moment, she is also coming to this awareness with a lot of pain. This makes the healing properties of love almost contradictory since love causes pain on Sappho. Yet if we interpret the tone of the text, there’s a sense of Sappho coming to terms with the hardships of love, and because of it, is encouraged to regain her strength and confidence. Sappho is motivated to beautify herself as a resilient act towards the pain she has suffered, this alone is a revitalizing moment for Sappho—as she learns to overcome the pain of love. Despite Sappho’s eventual moment of self-awareness, it is important to consider the irony in the text between pain and suffering.
The sentiments of suffering in pain are expressed in the Lais. In the story of Guigemar, the text states, “love is a wound in the body, and yet nothing appears on the outside, it’s a sickness that lasts a long time, because it comes from nature” (De France 160). Love and pain intersect through the language of the text. Comparing love to an invisible wound on the body, characterizes love as an uncomfortable and annoying pain that one must continuously suffer with. In addition, the text states that the agony that lasts a long time, and that this pain is the nature of love itself. Using this interchangeable comparison between pain and love, show the underlying message that love is distressful. Jealousy is also used as a theme to represent suffering in the context of love. The theme of jealousy is prevalent in the story of Guigemar. The woman who Guigemar seeks is a victim of the constraints of jealousy. The woman expresses, “on my word of honor, he has me locked up in his stronghold…I’m shut in here night and day, I’d never dare to leave except at his command” (De France 156). The woman’s husband feels jealousy so strong, that the woman is suppressed from even going outside. The husband’s jealousy imprisons the woman in her own home and causes Guigemar to fight for her freedom.
In addition to the lais, Sappho displays the existence of suffering in love.

Sappho struggles with rationalizing how pain and love coexist. In a moment when Sappho loses her virginity, she experiences deep agony stating, “why am I crying, am I still sad because of my lost maidenhead” (Sappho 36). Her sorrow of her loss of virginity adds to the idea that a recognizable act of intimacy is painful. Furthermore, Sappho is honest and transparent in what the loss of her virginity meant to her. For Sappho, the loss of her virginity was something that she questioned and even possibly regretted. This sense of suffering further corresponds with the passion of jealousy. Sappho, experiencing an unconventional admiration for a woman, displays jealousy for the man she is about to marry. In a distinct moment, Sappho

states,
“He is a god in my eyes—the man who is allowed to sit beside you—he who listens intimately to the sweet murmur of your voice…that makes my own heart beat fast. If I can’t meet you suddenly, I can’t speak…I drip with sweat; trembling shakes my body and I turn paler than dry grass” (Sappho 39).
Sappho brings to light how powerful the emotion of jealousy can have on an individual. In this moment, Sappho compares the man set to marry the woman she loves to a God—as he has the greatest power in being the one who can love the woman. There is not only envy but deep pain in Sappho’s voice as she states her resentment for the man who has the privilege of being with her lover. In addition to her jealousy, one can see how this envy has harmful physical effects on Sappho—as she explains the physical torment she suffers because of her jealousy. Although Sappho experiences tremendous pain because of her jealousy, she is not able to fully let go of the envy.
By grappling with the many aspects of love in Sappho and The Lais of Marie De France, the reader can better come to terms with the complexities of it. Although love connotates a positive force in mainstream society, Sappho and Marie de France don’t shy away from delving into the adverse qualities of love. While both texts agree that love is a source of pleasure for people involved, both texts overwhelmingly highlight the pain of love.