I'm sure like most people in the class I was shocked about what happened in The Saga of the Mantle.
I think what shocked me the most was the fact that only one women was found to be faithful to her beloved in the story. I didn't even think women back then even had affairs let alone let their men actually touch them, hence the courtly love rules. Appearently even women back then like today , have problems staying faithful to one man. I was also surprised that not one women even thought about questioning the men in the room. If that many women were unfaithful, my first instinct would be to also find out how the men in the room add up. I did find it funny that the group of women just kept getting bigger and bigger as they tried the mantel on like " oh hey just add yourself to the large group of women over there, it's no big deal. " I know the men in the story were mad about the affairs, but I thought they would be a lot more upset about it. The one thing I enjoyed was at the end of the story when the knight told his beloved that she didn't have to try on the mantel because he believed in her and he didn't care if she was unfaithful or not, he would still love her either way . This made me believe that true love can still exist.
In a room full of people, there was only one perfect woman. Like the man who brought the mantle to King Arthur's court, I'm surprised he found one at all. Then again, where else would I expect perfection be discovered?
ReplyDeleteI think the idea that perfection not existing-especially in courtly love-was revealed in this story. I think most of the people in this story and in King Arthur's time knew that the "courtly love" in fact was a paradox..that courtly love is a senseless, emotionally conflicting and never ending labyrinth.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, I thought there would have been at least one other woman that the mantle would have fit. Also, the amount of sadness/sorrow shows how much the men thought and cared for their "love".
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you. I did enjoy reading the story and how all the men made fun of the women, but if I were them, I would not stand for it. No one questions the men. But we have to remember that the men took the translating the mantle upon themselves. Did the mantle only reveal physical unfaithfulness or was it other types as well?
ReplyDeleteThe more I think about this mantle... I wish it would have fit two women, but had those women be two completely different sizes. That would give so much credibility to it's "powers" instead of just being a really odd size. If giants can be 20 feet tall I'm assuming this mantle can fit multiple women.
ReplyDeleteI think the fact that he found one woman in Arthur's court was a way to show that Arthur's court was as close to perfection as possible.
ReplyDeleteI think my favourite part of the story was just the growing pile of women. It just seemed to be expected that they would fail after while. Like, the first twenty five failed, why should #26 pass? And of course it was literally the last possible woman who the mantle fit. They couldn't have stopped half way through the court. It does make you wonder, would they have kept going or would they have stopped on one and left half the women untested. Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that really frustrated me was that this Virtuous woman was not even named. I think her anonymity speaks volumes on how little women were valued during the Middle Ages. Would anybody else like to see a piece of fan fiction which focused on this unnamed women and provided us with insight as to what made her so virtuous?
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