Duchess of Aquitaine, Queen of France, Duchess of Normandy, and Queen of England; Eleanor of Aquitaine was arguably the most influential woman in history. After her father died in the early 1100s when she was fifteen, Eleanor became Duchess of Aquitaine, perhaps the most powerful Duchy in France at the time. She had been raised with almost no guidance after her mother died when she was a young child and because of this, she became very independent. After her father died, she immediately married Prince Louis of France at the King’s order. Soon after that the king died and she became Queen of France while still at age fifteen.
Mariah Hobbs English 295-014 9 February 2018 Unit 1: Analytical Essay Marie De France's Lanval In Marie De France's short narrative poem, Lanval, she illustrates through her characters how love, desire and fidelity go hand and hand. Lanval is described as, "a very noble vassal" (line 3) of King Arthurs court but soon becomes troubled by desire's temptations. Many of Marie De France's lays contain elements of magic and mystery. In this case, she tells the story of a human and a supernatural being becoming lovers and the connection between the two different worlds.
Marie de France’s Lanval outlines not a joyous, beautiful tale, filled with love and last second heroics, but a story fraught with fey consequence, predatory behavior, unhealthy reliance, and psychological enthrallment with Lanval the knight himself as the shallow damsel in distress. The main female character, entitled only as The Fairy Queen, already is obviously not to be trifled with, considering her ethereal origins, but she takes an uncharacteristic saunter far past both her female and fey limitations and expectations with her actions towards Lanval. Indeed, she could be said to flirt with godly territory in her machinations of Lanval’s personage, disregarding her more easily detectable entrapment of Lanval’s mind via her control of Lanval’s
In “Lanval” by Marie de France, Lanval is a hero, though parts of his journey are sometimes hard to identify as herioc. Lanval’s story follows the basic elements of the monomyth, or Hero’s Journey, when read closely. He begins his journey in a vaguely unsatisfying ordinary world where he is unappreciated and where “he could see nothing that pleased him” (52). Leaving that world, he enters into the world of Queen Semiramis, wherein he is not only beloved of the Queen but assured that “he would never again want anything / he would receive as he desired” (135-36). When Lanval is challenged by his Lady “if this love were known / you would never see me again”, he accepts his quest readily (148-49).
Although they view each other as equals, "my dearest partner of greatness," it's Lady Macbeth who is established as the dominant partner in the dynamic, inverting typical 17th century gender and social roles. (Since husbands were supposed to rule their wives in the same way that kings ruled countries, Lady Macbeth's plan is just another version of treason: taking power that doesn't belong to her.) Upon reading the letter, she worries that Macbeth is too kind-natured to be able to take the crown and is determined to assist him through the, "valour of her (my) tongue." She emasculates Macbeth and challenges his bravery, which to him is the essence of a being a man, "coward." Compelling her husband by giving him an ultimatum, be a coward or kill the king.
In Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart, the major theme around this famous story written by Chretien de Troyes, is romance. Of a knight who fell in love with Queen Guinevere, of whom is married to King Arthur, and who Lancelot was sworn to protect, and to always tell the truth; even if this meant costing their lives. Thus, creating a dilemma for a normal person, but Lancelot would have no trouble doing everything it takes even risking his life multiple times to be with who he loves. Lancelot would prove his love to Queen Guinevere by doing everything that she would ask of him, showing that only she could control him; in which he could be an unstoppable force not to be reckoned with.
Marie De France is scornful at the fact that the queen must be disloyal to her husband as she is not truly in love with him. I believe that Marie De France wrote her lais in a hope that one day her audience will understand and start to accept women into being in more influential roles; she wishes that she can influence women to want to become powerful and have more of a say in their future and who they will marry. Her lais seem to want a change to come by mocking how social order is in her time, pushing forward the idea of finding true love, and forcing the idea of giving women their own mind and love whoever they
Mare’s family are nothing short of pathetic and woeful, Maven suffers from ridiculously deep complexes, the evil queen gives Maleficent a run for her money, Cal finds himself unable to reconcile the disparate roles of lover and warrior, and the king remains obdurately out of touch with his people. The undercurrents of Roman insanity and cruelty in the society of the novel, such as a gory tradition analogous to Roman gladiator fighting, make parts of the novel slightly sickening — we are also introduced to a woman who has had her tongue cut out in the manner of the ill-fated Lavinia of Shakespeare’s horrific Titus
The poem, in brief, is about the struggle the speaker faces as he prepares for war and attempts to explain to his lover how important honor is to him, surpassing even his feelings for her. It is written creatively, with a unique style. The poem is also personal and temporal, a trait of poems of this era. The poem is written in a conversational tone and is read as if by a male writer to a female lover. Lovelace weaves poetic techniques such as assonance, and metaphor together to create a good rhythm, and a theme based upon honor.
Lady Macbeth takes on a “manly” role, which is surprising because of how patriarchal the society is. However, she “gradually falls apart, consumed by guilt, and eventually commits suicide”. (Klett) Lady Macbeth does not conform to medieval Scotland’s female stereotype of being a domestic wife.
In the beginning Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth was a ruthless and masculine woman. She showed the audience that, mentally and emotionally, she was stronger than Macbeth. Although as the story started to continue the audience began to see that she was becoming mentally insane. Throughout the story there was also evidence of shakespeare showing the more masculinity you had the more cuel you became.
Western Literature serves as the foundation all literature. In Marie de France’s poetry, she incorporates the work of Homer, the Bible, and Ovid into her own poetry. Both Marie and Homer use detailed writing styles in order to portray their devotion to family and their Gods. Similarly, Marie borrows inspiration from the Bible in order to show her devotion to God as a savior. She also uses Ovid’s stories in order to depict morals throughout her fables.
Lady Macbeth and Medea are therefore considered tragic heros because they put their loyalty above their own self-worth. Ultimately, this ideal encompasses how femininity is controlled by men, because the actions of the Macbeth and Jason were the cause for Lady Macbeth and Medea’s
She is a loyal though misguided wife, not without tenderness and not without conscience. Lady Macbeth’s willingness to sacrifice her femininity exposes her loyalty towards Macbeth. After reading the letter regarding the witch’s prophecies, she decides she must do whatever it take to make Macbeth King: Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty.
He was crazy in love and the sad fact was that it was only because of the stress caused of his brother dying. During this time the woman who had been giving Samuel’s watch had come bearing it. The love between him and Susannah though was never true love. Tristan came and went when he please. Additionally, he wrote her a letter telling her that she could move on from him, but she had never real got over
