Bisclavret
Matt Ruffino
English 203
10/18/14
Bisclavret Analytical Essay They say that you’re only as beautiful as your heart is kind, and I believe that statement is very true to Bisclavret. My question I had when reading this text was, who was the real monster in this story? I thought this because the wife in the story has a battle with her inner beast whereas Bisclavret is controlling the actual beast he is. I came to the conclusion that though Bisclavret has undergone a physical transformation, his wife is the one who undergoes an emotional transformation and becomes the real beast in Bisclavret. At different points of the story Marie De France illustrates where Bisclavret’s wife shows she is the real monster. The story Bisclavret starts with a concerned wife, she is concerned that her husband leaves her for three days out of the week. After learning the reason he is gone is because he is a werewolf she “never wanted to sleep with him again” (De France 102) It’s at this point that his wife starts to undergo her emotional transformation. The way De France describes the wife’s love to Bisclavret is very physical where the first thing she could think of was how she would never sleep with him again, not over the fact that she had essentially just lost her husband. After she is told this news she immediately thinks of how to get rid of him. She decides that because werewolf’s need their clothing to turn back human again she would take them and hide them from him, leaving him forever a werewolf. She turns to the help of a knight who had always fancied her but she never wanted anything to do with him. Trading her body as currency she is able to persuade the knight to help her find and hide the clothes of Bisclavret. This is another example of how Bisclavret’s wife is undergoing an emotional change. She has just lost her husband and not only does she want to leave him to die in the woods; she’s fine with selling her body to another man to help do it. This is where I believed
English 203
10/18/14
Bisclavret Analytical Essay They say that you’re only as beautiful as your heart is kind, and I believe that statement is very true to Bisclavret. My question I had when reading this text was, who was the real monster in this story? I thought this because the wife in the story has a battle with her inner beast whereas Bisclavret is controlling the actual beast he is. I came to the conclusion that though Bisclavret has undergone a physical transformation, his wife is the one who undergoes an emotional transformation and becomes the real beast in Bisclavret. At different points of the story Marie De France illustrates where Bisclavret’s wife shows she is the real monster. The story Bisclavret starts with a concerned wife, she is concerned that her husband leaves her for three days out of the week. After learning the reason he is gone is because he is a werewolf she “never wanted to sleep with him again” (De France 102) It’s at this point that his wife starts to undergo her emotional transformation. The way De France describes the wife’s love to Bisclavret is very physical where the first thing she could think of was how she would never sleep with him again, not over the fact that she had essentially just lost her husband. After she is told this news she immediately thinks of how to get rid of him. She decides that because werewolf’s need their clothing to turn back human again she would take them and hide them from him, leaving him forever a werewolf. She turns to the help of a knight who had always fancied her but she never wanted anything to do with him. Trading her body as currency she is able to persuade the knight to help her find and hide the clothes of Bisclavret. This is another example of how Bisclavret’s wife is undergoing an emotional change. She has just lost her husband and not only does she want to leave him to die in the woods; she’s fine with selling her body to another man to help do it. This is where I believed
Cited: De France, Marie. "Bisclavret." The Medieval Period. Ed. Joseph Black. Vol. 1. Peterborough, Ontario [u.a.: Broadview, 2006. 158-66. Print.