Everybody's Doing It!

               After having written about courtly love and how it conflicts with the marriage vows during this time period for the position paper, I have plenty to say about The Saga of the Mantle. This text was my primary example of the issues brought about by these conflicting systems.

                In one corner we have marriage. At this time marriages were typically arranged by the parents, with the man occasionally having some part in the selection, and this marriage was for either economic or political gain. Love was not at all a priority when it came to who someone chose to wed.

                In the other corner is courtly love: a list of rules to abide by when showing love and affection. To follow these rules was to be noble and chivalrous. However, a number of these rules conflict directly with how marriage went back then. Rule number one for example: “Marriage should not be a deterrent to love”. Really? How these two systems could ever coincide is mind-boggling!

                In comes this story about a man and his mantle, here to exploit the flaws in how this society conducted. I thought that using a “magic” mantle was actually a really great example to use for this story. The women (not the men) in the court all try on this mantle one by one, with it never fitting one properly. So now all of the women in this court, including the queen herself, are found guilty of adultery and shamed by this stranger. One woman, however, asks permission from her man. His reply that he will love her either way and that she doesn’t need to put it on is really what this story is about; love, faith, and trust. These are all values that all marriages need to be successful, and to try and fit into a mantle to claim purity isn’t going to solve anything.

                My take on this story, as was my position for the position paper, are that the marriage rules needed to change. Well, more of an update. In modern society we marry for love. Although with a 50% divorce rate I am starting to wonder how much that’s still occurring. I think that reading this story in this time period gave me a chance to see how the world has evolved and that even back then; people saw those flaws and the need for a change. It just wasn’t time yet.

You Can Call Me Al

Ever seen something that you find so humorous, but then you rethink what makes it funny and realize how sad it truly is? The first thing that comes to mind for me is the demon spawn show, Jersey Shore. I once watched fifteen minutes of that show (my other option was watching paint dry), and chuckled inwardly at the stupidity of everybody on that show. However, I soon became disturbed at the fact that people who are so influential in the world are also so ignorant.  
 

Why is this popular? At all.

The Saga of the Mantle was also like this for me. The true corruptness of the characters are what makes it humorous, and at the same this humor is an indicator of the cultural anxieties of the time. The fact that "well respected" people in Arthur's kingdom are full of disloyalty and adultery makes me wonder how much better other kingdoms are (and according to the mysterious visitor who brings the mantle, not by much). It also makes me question the successful-ness of courtly love.

Is Guinevere's affair with Lancelot a reflection of marital problems with Arthur, or is she just greedy with her love? I'm not sure yet.

Let's look at one couple, however, the one who ended up getting the mantle: Karadin and [insert name here]. Did anyone notice how Karadin treats his beloved...can we call her Betty? (A high five for anyone who gets that Paul Simon reference.) When she is asked to put on the mantle he says, "...I love you so profoundly that I don't want to lose your love- not for all the gold in the world, even though I were to be aware of any misdeed of yours." See, unlike the other couples, this mantle is merely a material object, less important than their love. His beloved answers, "...If my beloved does not take it amiss, then I will put on the mantle." The mantle ends up fitting her, and it is safe to say that neither one of them have been cheating on the other. Their love (a two-way street) reminds me of Odysseus and Penelope from The Odyssey. 
 

Odusseus and Penelope by Francesco Primaticco

Odysseus is gone for twenty years on a voyage, and Penelope stays faithful to him, after he is thought of as dead, after suitors enter her home and demand she marry one, after she is bullied time and time again. Odysseus returns, disguised as an old man, and beats Penelope's suitors in an arrow-shooting contest that only he could win. Returning to his normal form, Odysseus remains happily for the rest of his life with Penelope. It is stories like The Odyssey and The Saga of the Mantle that emphasize the importance of loyalty to the one you are betrothed to, and the troubles it can save you from. 

This makes me think...is courtly love good or bad? It gave Lancelot the strength of ten men, but humiliation to the women loved by such men.

Have a good day, fellow Arthurians! And if you never got my reference, this title will be 100% awkward.

Making Love with Sir Lancelot

While reading Knight of the Cart, my heart was full of wishful thinking. Surely you can be passionate about somebody AND marry them? Right...?

*crickets*

Well, apparently in this story, one cannot have their cake and eat it too. Not only do people fall in love with those they are not married to, but those who are betrothed do not love who they are married to as much as they should. What do I mean? While people in this class have been ranting about the hoe-bag Guinevere is (a point that is not altogether untrue), King Arthur does not love his wife nearly as much as he should. He is tricked out of giving away his wife by the evil Meleagant (whose name has an uncanny resemblance to Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty). What does he do? He basically says "my bad," suffers "great sorrow," and then sends Gawain and Lancelot to win her back.

Has Arthur gone soft since he's become king? Is some kind of tradition preventing him from rescuing his own queen? Make excuses all you want, Arthur, but I won't buy it.

I won't buy it.

Now, let's look at Lancelot. He stops at nothing to rescue his lady. He cherishes everything about her, even her hair, and resists the temptations of a woman who literally throws herself at him. Is that not enough for you, ladies? He crawls on a giant sword...yes a GIANT SWORD to get to her, and breaks through iron bars to make love to her (look back at the text: their time together is described as making love, and not just a one night stand). Compare him to Arthur and...

Well...if I were Guinevere, I'd fall for Lancelot too.

Perhaps that is why women identified with this story so much. Guinevere was like them: a woman married to a powerful man, but without the same passion in her marriage she wished for. Lancelot comes along, and not only is that s victory for Guinevere, but the female readers as well.

To wrap things up, I'll reference a story in which courtly love does result in marriage, and that is one of my favorite movies, The Princess Bride. It is because of this that I swoon every time my boyfriend says, "As you wish!"