Bodytalk: When Women Speak In Old French Literature

Le Roman de Silence has caused significant discussion by critics on how to define gender and how gender affects a character’s power. Critics choose to explore the literary devices used by the author, and the literal text to examine how they affect both Silence’s gender and the power that gender possess. Elaboration on the text is also done through exploring the characterization of King Ebain, Eufeme, Eufemie, and Silence herself, and the relationships these characters have with one another. In Jane Burns’ book Bodytalk: When Women Speak in Old French Literature, she addresses how Silence’s male identity helps her from being reduced as a person. When Silence first meets nature she comments on her gender, Burns uses the translation “I am silent about my female identity (a male appearance) or else I am nude” (243). Burns conjects that the translation shows “The female body is here shown to be a nobody, a nonperson” (243). If Silence were to adopt her birth sex she would be “reduced to body alone, to being just a body, a body without the powers of
One of these is the relationship between Silence and Queen Eufeme. The relationship between Silence and Eufeme is one that is deeply affected by Silence’s hidden gender. Eufeme attempts to seduce Silence, but the knight refuses her as it would expose her female gender. Kinoshita notes if Eufeme were to expose Silence’s gender she could end up “exposing the instability of a social order based on an equilibrium between feudal loyalty and genealogical continuity” (404). Here Silence’s gender holds the power to disrupt every aspect of social life in medieval England. Silence’s undefinable gender takes power away from the male-controlled society and shows the ability of the female gender to perform as