Misogyny in medieval romance literature - Essay Example

Misogyny in medieval romance literature The medieval culture was always characterized by Misogyny, however in the late middle epoch; the issue became viral and more powerful. According to scholars, this was a result of the various factors that distinguished the fourteenth century including war, plague, revolt and class division. Women are subjects of the society and thus succumb to social ills. This is no exception to the church as romance literature provides evidence indicating that the church and feudal law viewed women as secondary individuals and characters in the society. Women in the medieval literature were made scapegoats by the society and law for the social crises and fears. This paper centers on misogyny in medieval romance literature, and how the church and feudal law stance is reflected in the literature. In this paper, I utilize the historical documents, and romantic literature with a contemporary psychoanalytic and feminist view. In reference to the medieval romantic literature, the men characters have often overshadowed their female counterparts. The characters in King Arthur and the brave Knights have always been portrayed as men of honor while women have been seen to depict hopelessness. Consequently, over the years male translators, artists and authors have received enormous recognition due to their contribution to the literary world (Bloch 57). In the documents, I acknowledge and analyze the issues in order to pinpoint the societal problems and concerns depicted in the various works. Therefore, in order to depict a woman’s worth in the medieval times, I seek to examine how a woman’s figure is portrayed and represented in the works and how the ideology of misogyny haunts them. For instance, I articulate the misogynist depiction of women as utilized to show a woman’s place in the “Stanzaic Morte Arthur, the abuse of law in “Piers Plowman” and “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”. In the medieval times, it is thus fitting to begin by arguing that literature of romance articulate the discourse of misogyny, which shows the subjectivity of women for the security of the male counterparts. The idea of middle ages brings to mind the superiority of male dominance in all aspects of societal activities. In the various middle age literatures little information about the activities, which portray the significance of women in the society, is in short supply in comparison to literature about men. This is because the society, church and feudal laws undermine the achievements of women. Most modern concepts view a woman of the middle ages as hopeless, oppressed subjects or superbly free individuals. Therefore, scholars often see little importance of women’s experiences and thus view their activities as irrelevant to the present and current challenges. This is a view that tends to explain the little accounts of historical achievements of medieval women (Bloch 57). However, the feminist theory is against this view and thus holds the concept of women’s history as a very important and significance part of the modern age. Consequently, in the nineteenth century, Feminists started to analyze and compile information about the women’s history. They thus turned to the Middle Ages to gather information on the concepts and issue that concerned women during that age. They organized information regarding women’s education, status under the feudal law and their participation to political activities. This has led to an affluent field that enhances literary and religious studies. The literary culture of medieval times was characterized by flourishing misogyny. The church’s efforts were seen to oppress women as its activities protected the men who were depicted as weaker individuals. This is because women were portrayed as a source of fleshly temptation. The whole scenario was as a result of the biblical story about Eve. The medieval church argued that women were the daughters of Eve. Contrary to the opinion of a woman as a temptress, the church still believed in Virgin Mary as a perfect woman. Therefore, the church celebrated Virgin Mary (Cline 56). The medieval literature depicts an irony on the equality of both sexes. Women are negatively portrayed in the literatures as they have been identified as a source of evil. The condemnation of women characterizes the society of the medieval era, which dates back to the biblical times, through Ancient Greek and stretching through the fifteenth Century. Misogyny dominates the letters, sermons, ecclesiastical works, cannon laws, works of scientific and biological nature, philosophy and medical knowledge. Romantic Literature that focused on courtly love, which flourished in England and France in the middle ages, was no different. The medieval literature portrayed women as subjects of men, as the romantic pieces of work depicted a man who fall helplessly in love with a married woman of higher rank or equal. The man suffers in silence for months before professing his love for the woman. Before declaring this, he has to show devotion for the woman by indulging in daring exploits and noble services (Cline 57). The Romantic literature was a set of regulations, which encouraged adultery. This is evident in pieces of literature like Chretien de Troyes’s “Lancelot” which was written in the twelfth Century, “Troilus and Criseyde” written by Chaucer in the fourteenth century and a thirteenth century piece written by Guillaume de Lorris’s “Roman dela Rose” (Bloch 57). In these literary works, women are portrayed without respect as men can declare his love to a married woman without fear that the husband will know. The virtues as portrayed in the Romantic literature were honor, chastity, loyalty, courtesy and bravery. This is apparent in the literature of Yvain as the ideology of gender inequality in medieval France was a major societal issue. Chretien’s romantic literature views female characters and leaders as a problem the advancement of literature. The author paints some of the female characters as a problematic inclusion to the stories of love and honor as he argues that they do not comply with the desires of brave knights. The Chretien’s romantic literature shows a knights love quest in the middle ages. The “the Knight of the Lion” depicts the life of a knight who seeks to shows bravery through marriage and combat. Moreover, in Lancelot the woman is an object, which is at the disposal of man. Therefore, these pieces of literature depict a contradictory role of the woman in medieval times (Cline 98). Any laws did not specify their role and the only responsibility depicted in the romantic literature was to serve the sexual pleasures of men. Moreover, even the married women underwent problematic times as the knights could only consummate love with either a married woman or a virgin. Chrestien portrays an ideology that a place of the woman in the medieval period was to succumb to the desires of men. Therefore, he is frustrated by the tensions between women and men. Moreover, he argues that it is a result of the women. The narrator brings to light the place of a woman in the society, as he calls to our attention that a woman is an object of exchange. In the Yvain the knight could only marry another man’s woman or a virgin. Therefore, the women were subjected to men as objects of chivalrous love. However, the chivalry duties were guided under feudal laws, therefore men who were outside the feudal law circle were not owed this duty. In the four Arthurian romances, women are also seen as object of knights and King Arthur. These medieval romances recall the issues of Misogyny. The knights who abide by chivalry’s codes after embarking on adventures to defeat monsters, thereafter wins the favor of a beautiful woman. In the real sense, the literature center on love and not adventure. The societal formation of the medieval period is very essential in explaining how the feudal society viewed woman. According to the medieval feudal culture, the society was divided into three estates, modernly referred to as social classes. This included the Church or Clergy as the first estate, the Nobility was noted as the second estate while the third estate was the peasants. The nobility was comprised of the knights who fought while the peasantries were the common citizens who offered support to the Clergy and Knights and were also involved in the food production. These estates were classified primarily by the tasks and responsibilities of individuals and the social class a person was born in (Bloch 57). It is noted that women had no place under the feudal law, as they were categorized differently. The women were born into either the third or second estates just like the men, and therefore entered the first estate by entering the church voluntarily or not. Consequently, females were also classified according to the feminine estate namely wife, virgin and widow (Cline 123). Therefore, under the feudal law women were noted and classified not by their profession but by their sexual characteristics. According to the medieval period a woman was thus categorized in reference to the class of men she slept with, did not or she was currently sleeping with (Bloch 57). Women were viewed as the extension of men spiritually, morally and legally. It was very difficult to come across a woman who was independent and owned land under the medieval laws. Moreover, in reference to the romantic literature, the average period of a widow to remarry was about a month. Men were supposed to put women in their right places. Consequently, beating of women was legal; as the medieval society argued that women were incoherent and thus did not acquire the capability of reasoning to enable them changes their behavior. During this period, men believed that it was their spiritual duty not letting women practice authority over men (Cline 123). In the medieval period, Christianity and the church was a force that dictated the progress and development of a society. The church in the middle ages controlled education, laws and thus developed ideals. Even though Christianity has been divided into different group, all of them follow Jesus’ teachings. The early church fathers and New Testament interprets these teachings. In the different literatures like those of the early church fathers and New Testament, have views and ideologies that tend to affect the attitudes of the church and society toward women in the middle ages. The views characterize and equate morality with sexual celibacy. Sexual continence thus became one of the aspects that determined the Christian doctrine and consequently became one of the conditions of righteousness. Moreover, the early church fathers regarded taint in an individual’s chastity was worse than death (Bullough 83). The Christian churches equated sex with females and thus they were regarded as the source of all societal and male problems. This worsened as the medieval society viewed this in reference to Jesus’ sermon on the mountain where He said, “every one that looketh on a woman to last after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Lacy and Joan 125). The society interpreted it to mean that women often reminded men of the sex needs, which were sinful. According to the church, a woman’s purpose was to tempt individuals even though the sexual desires of individual differ from one person to another, some individuals could remain celibate for a significant part of their lives while others found the path of celibacy very difficult to follow. Hence, it is quite essential to note that if the women had a vital role to play in the society, the Church would have had a different attitude toward women and thus men would have been on the receiving end of blame for women’s sexual problems. In this scenario, the Church would have a less impact on the notion of misogyny (Bullough 83). Despite the fact that the scriptural teachings offered a higher meaning of the relationship between women and men, the medieval society modified the concept to conform to the traditional views about women. The society viewed that women’s beauty was a curse as it was considered as greatest snare. It was said to divert man’s path from righteousness. According to the society, a woman’s new purpose for life brought difficulties for men. In reviewing the works of the church fathers and evangelists, it depicts that they believed that women should be confined in their traditional responsibility in a family, church and in the house. In this way, women were not to regard themselves as equals in comparison to men even though the scriptures were of the view that men were equal in spirit with women. This view was disregarded and emphases were put on keeping women in their place in the society (Bullough 84). Therefore, as women were regarded as “joint heirs of the grace of life” they were also known as “weaker vessels who were to remain in subjugation to their men folk.” Even though there was neither “Greek nor Jew” or “female nor male,” the kingdom of God was preserved for the male counterpart as he was regarded as the image of God. In reference to this ideology, women were consequently made for men and hence “women were the glory of man” (Lacy and Joan 120). For the man is not of the woman: but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but woman for the man” (Lacy and Joan 120). During the medieval periods, women were refrained from church duties, which were traditionally held by the men like preaching and teaching in the church. Consequently, the Clergy ordered women to remain silent while in church and if they had any question or had a yearning to learn anything, they were to raise their problems to their husbands at home. Consequently, they were to learn in total subjection and quietness. They were to obey these orders in order to make sure that they did not seize the husband’s authority. Therefore, they were to obey men at all times (Bullough 84). During the middle ages, a woman was viewed as a creature that lied to Adam into indiscretion. St Paul believed that women’s seductive power were very strong that they could tempt an angel into committing sin. Therefore, according to the legacy of the early church father, men would live a righteous life if they could manage to ignore women. According to St. Luke a man must despise his own children and wife for him to be the Lord’s disciple, even though in the gospel of Luke he utilizes the word “leave” instead of Hate” (Lacy and Joan 120). Therefore, the early Christian view puts the blame on Paul for the misogynistic outlook due to his scriptures. However, Paul’s views and believes tend to be that of an open-minded individual who valued celibacy for himself and not for the Christian community (Tracy 217). He recognized that women were an essential part of God’s plan for humanity as marriage was very important. The misogynistic views and concept of the early church fathers can be summed up as a summary of Methodius views, a bishop of Olympus who believed that women were the daughters and product of Satan. He argued that it was man’s responsibility to lead women out of the sinful world and lead them to the righteous path. He noted that virginity was the highest level of Christianity (Bullough 86). Hence, the writers of the medieval era centered on asceticism, which entailed sexual continence. The main problem with asceticism is that it often reminded men of their sexual desires by females. Therefore, misogynist view characterized Christian asceticism during the middle ages and this is mainly attributed by the fact that only men wrote the medieval literature (Bullough 86). The responsibility of writing the literature gave the men an upper hand to portray women as weak and hopeless and thus required the help of the church and men. Therefore, it is evident that the medieval times were characterized by issues of exclusion of women in the various activities pertaining to the church and political spheres. The church promoted the ideology of Misogyny as depicted in the various romantic literatures. Women were seen as objects of oppression and exchange. The women were portrayed as weak and therefore required help from men (Pearman 84). Moreover, the Christian society viewed women as a source of sin and carried the plague from the Garden of Eden. This was because they were believed to be the children of Eve, and therefore had the capability to suppress the power of male self-control. Consequently, they had the power to lure men. Moreover the women were condemned during these times. Consequently, medieval literature depicted women as objects who could be utilized at the mercy of men. In analyzing the romantic literature, we conclude that women were viewed as a source of community problems. Under the feudal law, women were hopeless as they could not help themselves out of the problems they underwent and thus only suffered in silence. Therefore, there was an irony in the equality of in men and women. In this case, women were portrayed negatively in the various literatures (Tracy 217). Work Cited Bloch, R H. Medieval Misogyny and the Invention of Western Romantic Love. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991. Internet resource. Bullough, Vern L, Brenda K. Shelton, Sarah Slavin, and Vern L. Bullough. The Subordinated Sex: A History of Attitudes Toward Women. Athens [GA: University of Georgia Press, 2004. Cline, Ruth Harwood. Chretien DeTroyes: Yvain, or the Knight with the Lion., Athens [GA, University of Georgia Press, 1975. Lacy, Norris J, and Joan T. Grimbert. A Companion to Chre?tien De Troyes. Rochester, NY: D.S. Brewer, 2005. Pearman, Tory V. Women and Disability in Medieval Literature. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. Internet resource. Tracy, Larissa. Torture and Brutality in Medieval Literature: Negotiations of National Identity. Cambridge [England: D.S. Brewer, 2012. Read More