| "Men myghten asken why she was nat slayn/Eek at the feeste? Who myghte hir body save?/And I answere to that demande agayn,/Who saved Danyel in the horrible cave/Ther every wight save he, maister and knave,/Was with the leon frete er he asterte?/No wight but God that he bar in his herte." (470-476) | ||||||||||
| This continuous comparison of Constance to Biblical heroes helps this argument as well. All of them were only able to survive due to God's intervention. | ||||||||||
| Another theme that seems to be common is that of the mothers in this story, the Sultaness and Donegild, both pagan women, who seek to destroy Constance when they take their sons away from their original pagan faith. One question I have about this theme of mothers intervening to keep Constance out of their sons' lives is, why? Are they simply being protective? Are they afraid of their sons losing their faith? We can see the utter hatred and animosity towards Constance here from Donegild: | ||||||||||
| "But who was woful, if I shal nat lye,/Of this weddyng but Donegild, and namo,/The kynges mooder, ful of tirannye?/Hir thoughte hir cursed herte brast atwo./She wolde noght hir sone had do so;/Hir thoughte a despit that he sholde take/So strange a creature unto his make." (694-700) | ||||||||||
| From this we might gather the reason for Donegild's actions as simply fear of someone strange taking her son and changing him. I don't know enough about the medieval mother-son dynamic to answer this with any kind of authority. It seems that throughout this tale, even though the Sultan and the king are at the top of the political food chain, they live in a predominantly matriarchal world. This might, in fact, be characteristic of the pagan faith they subscribe to, since the Christian world that Constance originates from is clearly dominated by men. | ||||||||||
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Jealousy, Faith, and Fairy Tales
In discussing a very simple theme, I noticed that this tale reads an awful lot like a fairy tale, albeit a religious one. A "damsel in distress" (Constance), evil "witches" (Sultan's mother, Donegild), and a savior (God and Christ). While this is a very loose way to look at this tale, it makes it quite predictable. In all fairy tales there has to be a happy ending, and the hero or heroine normally prevails against all odds. In this tale, this is because of the help that Constance receives from God:
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Like Adam, I too saw the comparisons of The Man of Law's Tale and fairy tales (especially Snow White). I think the main reason we make this comparison is because of two main factors: the evil mother/stepmother/witch character and the romance (involving her son and a pure woman) that provokes her. As far as wondering why exactly these women feel the need to destroy any and all relationships that their sons begin, I think we should look at character traits. While I have no doubt that their protective behaviors stem from religious differences (pagan and Christian), I think that another reason could be for self protection. Women like Snow White and Constance are typically described as being pure, kind, and almost godly. In The Man of Law's Tale, Constance is described as so, "To rekene as wel hir goodnesse as beautee, nas never swich another as is she. I prey to God in honour hire susteene, and wolde she were of al Europe the queene" (lines 158-161). The pure Disney fairy tale princesses are typically described in similar manners (as being both beautiful in appearance and personality). When you look at the evil mother figures, they are sharply contrasted with the new women who enter their sons' lives. In the Man of Law's tale, perhaps these pagan women feel threatened that Constance's goodness and beauty will expose their true evil nature to their sons who have not seen such purity (especially not in their mothers).
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